Before Paul Walker's career was hijacked by the "The Fast and the Furious" movies, he starred in "Joy Ride", a road horror where he, Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobieski are pursued by the vengeful Rusty Nail (physically played by Matthew Kimbrough and voiced by Ted Levine, both uncredited), who went into jaw-ripping murder mode when his hot date with the fictional "Candy Cane" turned out to be a Walker/Zahn orchestrated prank. And while I haven't seen all the vroom vroom movies he did (nor the seemingly incredible "Tammy and the T-Rex") I'd wager this is still the high point of Walker's too-brief acting career. A no-frills road horror that really set standards for its own specific brand of horror (a la "Duel"), "Joy Ride" has become one of my comfort movies over the years; the kind of easy, turn-your-brain-off action-horror that never wears out its welcome. Could there be more gore? Sure. Is Leelee Sobieski kind of a bad actress? Also yes. But I don't go into a movie like "Joy Ride" looking for perfection... just entertainment. On that count, it delivers the goods.
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