Roadkill(2024) Writen Movie Review.

 

Road Kill

Cast: Caitlin Carmichael, Ryan Knudson, Danielle Harris

Writer and Director: Warren Fast

*** out of 5 *’s

When a homeless drifter(Ryan Knudson) gets picked up by a young woman(Caitlin Carmichael) in a great car.  He thought he would be just helping her with directions.  But after an altercation at a restaurant, they both become fugitives from the cops and one of them harbors a dark secret in this thriller from writer director, Warren Fast.

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A lot of this movie takes place in a car with both characters talking and I enjoyed their chemistry quite a bit.  Both characters that Caitlin Carmichael and Ryan Knudson portray are very good and I love that they don’t get any names either. When things go sour and they go on the run from the law.  I was expecting something along the lines of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry(or is that the vice versa, I don’t know.) or Drive Angry. For a low budget feature this one does have some pretty good car chase sequences.   

While I liked both characters in Road Kill very much.  I’m a bit baffled on how they are used in this movie.  At the start we get a flashback of the man as a child where his mom makes him live in a doghouse.  This moment never comes up again and I don’t understand why it’s in here.  The movie could easily just start with him hitchhiking.   It also says that it takes place in 1983 and in the south which I thought was completely superfluous.  I like films that have almost a timeless quality about them.  Ones you’re not quite sure where it took place.

  I almost wish that we focused more on the girl instead because once you find out about her back story.  She is the most interesting character and one where you become more surprised with the more secrets are revealed about her.  The poster does feature her as the lead but the movie has the homeless drifter as the main character.   The movie wants you to be on the man’s side and then turn and agree with the woman.  I liked the tension it builds in some moments but after you established early on who did what.  It’s kind of hard for me to go back and forth between them.  I think if you set it up that the girl is the lead character and she picks up the vagabond.  You expect a certain kind of movie but then you get clues and start to unravel who these two really are.  It's a bit more intrigiuing for me.  The movie does have a surprise near the end I didn't expect involving other characters than our main two but I wish it dove more into that.

Featuring a cameo appearance form Danielle Harris (The Last Boy Scout,Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)  Road Kill is a pretty good feature that had me invested throughout it’s run time. It had good characters, fun action and if it made the changes I suggested.  I would give this a higher rating than I did.  The movie does have a great opening credit sequence and a cool ending credit sequence.  It would have been very cool to put all the credits of the main crew members at the start like they did with movies in the late 70’s early 80’s and then do all the cast members like it is at the end.