Nicole has decided to run away from home and together with her boyfriend Jess, they're driving from Texas on their way to Los Angeles. Along the way, they stop at a rest stop and it doesn't take long before Jess is abducted by some mysterious stranger. Left alone, Nicole is soon pulled into a cat-and-mouse game with a twisted psychopath and has to fight for her life to be able to stay alive.
Rest Stop was surprisingly enough one good terror type of flick that had the tension and suspense as well as some gruesome scenes that delivered the type of horror that affects you in a positive kind of way. It's not too often these kinds of flicks comes along, and for a while it reminded me a little about Jeepers Creepers, not the whole demonic thing that JP had to it, but the very tension that could be found early on in that film. It started off right away and had a nice flow from start to finish with not all the action happening in the last 15 minutes or so, but that was spread out little by little throughout the film. Even when Rest Stop slowed down it still delivered the tension which made it somewhat impossible to ever relax as long as the film kept on running. I found this to be a great thing since too many times it just takes too long for something to happen which makes you loose interest, but Rest Stop had a really good flow, delivering scenes filled with tension and right after came the calm, but that still had some of the tension in the background and that you never really could shake off either.
Another thing that made Rest Stop hit the spot right away was the score that the film had which made the movie deliver a certain feel. Instead of playing nu-metal and shit like that, the movie had some country music stuff to it as well as some other things, but that all captured everything in a really good way. So with that in the bag right away, everything felt and looked much better than I first had expected, not that I had too much expectations to begin with, but films like this can go either way, luckily this one kept on the right track for the whole ride. Sorry bout that, it actually didn't make it all the way since the last 5 minutes or so were confusing as well as a bit stupid. The ending made no real sense and it left you with some unanswered questions. But not those kind of questions that are needed to keep some mystery, but instead questions that made you question if the movie really was that great. When thinking about it now, it was not, but if it hadn't been for the very ending it would've been really cool all the way.
 
Now, since I started to complain a bit, I might as well complain some more. What I said before in a positive way about that the movie has scenes filled with tension, to right after those let things slow down was infact not all good. You see, Rest Stop deals with this serial killer who plays this game with Nicole. He appears and terrorizes her for a while to later go away and to later return once again and spread some more terror. This worked really well until maybe halfway through the film, but eventually it got a bit dull when nothing happened and the killer just kept taking off after a few minutes after scaring poor Nicole. In the end, I guess this works well as well as it does not quite work, you be the judge. At least I found the movie to be pretty interesting all the way through and these complaints that I've had are not that big of a deal really. So it might have a few faults to it, but still has a helluva lot to offer.
Acting-wise Jaimie Alexander who plays Nicole delivers a really good and belivable performance. Being stalked and harassed by some deranged killer can't be easy, but she manages to capture the fright and at the same time the anger she feels towards the psychotic dude. Talking about the killer himself, you never really get to see the guy, not clearly anyway and that kept some mystery which was a very good thing. The gore wasn't over-the-top and it didn't feature ridiculous amounts of it either, still the film sure had some to offer. But I wouldn't watch this for the gore or whatever, but for the suspense alone, because it's a pretty darn good suspense type of flick that has a gruesome horror theme to it as well.
I found Rest Stop to be very entertaining, and a few scenes will most likely keep you on the edge of your seat, that is if you get into the whole flick. It had good pacing and a terrific score as well as it looked sharp and had a very good cast with Jaimie Alexander as Nicole standing out. It sure delivered some fine tension and was all right all the way through except for the very ending which came off as a bit stupid. But in the end it had a lot more going for it rather than against it, and if you're a horror fan, you should check it out.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Raw Feed
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: John Shiban
WRITING CREDITS: John Shiban
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Jaimie Alexander, Joey Mendicino, Nick Orefice
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 92 min
RATING: 7/10
Rest Stop Website/IMDB Click here
Rest Stop Trailer Click here
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