Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008) was a fun sequel!

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Well this was a treat! I enjoyed rewatching 'Joy Ride' the other day so why not check out the sequel? I may have seen it before but I definitely don't remember it very clearly whatsoever. If I saw it, it was a long time ago and only once. 2008 is nearly twenty years ago now.... Yikes.

But yeah this sequel was just fun. The people that made this did not try to fix something that wasn't broken and I love that. Rusty Nail sounded pretty spot on even though a different actor played Rusty. They had a new nickname for one of Rusty's victims. Instead of 'Candy Cane' it was 'Goldilocks'. He also ripped off a dude's jaw just like he did in the first movie. While these similarities are a bit blatant I really don't mind it.

The original 'Joy Ride' was better but, as a fan I kind of do get what I wanted for the most part in this sequel. The environment is just so ideal for a horror movie. In the a tough hopeless, rugged terrain in the middle of nowhere, full of mystery, and just a really unmerciful bad guy. Unlike some famous horror movie villains Rusty Nail is a bad guy you interact with often. Still you rarely truly see much, but he always seems to see you. If you're near him though, you are always in immediate danger. The guy does not play. His presence really does feel dangerous. You get to 'see' more of Rusty in this one compared to the original, although he is always shrouded in shadow or just otherwise hard to see with his hat or something. He's also more violent in this sequel. The torturous game they played in his barn or something was pretty nuts.

When the gang initially found Rusty's house and land, I was legitimately pretty scared. That's one house you don't want to be near. Then when they stole his nice car, I knew these people were cooked. I thought this was going to not include the radios which almost bummed me out but, they eventually were involved! This movie was SUPER 2008. When they mentioned that the boyfriend was big on Myspace I almost lost it!

Nicki was actually pretty cool as the hero in this film although she did make one glaring error that I just have to point out. It is simultaneously disappointing and a bit funny honestly. So, she was about to like kill her sister's boyfriend earlier when he wouldn't follow Rusty's orders. But later towards the end, she just like knocked Rusty out and simply left? This was AFTER Rusty flipped their car and brutally murdered her sister while attempting to kill them both. Oh yeah, Rusty has also captured and cut her boyfriend's finger off. I mean come on. You'd think she'd inflict like a bit more damage or like lock that dude up or SOMETHING.

Oh well, but yeah. I think this series has potential. I think you could do a ton of cool sequels to this. I can't wait to watch number three. I think Rusty could easily transition into like a supernatural type of being on the road someday. Can be critically injured but not killed easily. Very much Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees style. Or maybe by some insane chance Rusty has a kid or something. Who knows but there are options.

That's why I'm not mad that this sequel was not entirely different from the first movie. I think it actually allows more flexibility and interesting chances for the film to go through 'phases' maybe. I mean sheesh Jason Voorhees ended up in space and Michael Myers ended up fighting Freddy Krueger. Anything is possible.

But yeah. This as a standalone movie is not too out of this world but very average. As a sequel, this was really solid! I don't know, I feel like there's a difference somehow LOL.

I'll give 'Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead' an 8.19/10.

I MUST watch number three SOON.