Route 666 (2001)
- Andrew Smith
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
"One way in. No way out."
Plot
A team of US federal agents are sent to retrieve a high-profile mob witness who fled before he was supposed to appearing in court to testify. Eventually tracking him down in the desert, the agents aren't the only ones looking for him as mob hit men are hot in pursuit. Deciding to take a shortcut down Route 66, nicknamed locally as Route 666, the agents encounter the murderous ghosts of a dead chain gang who were killed on the road years earlier.
Review
In 1988, a first-time director by the name of William Wesley unleashed the cult hit Scarecrows upon the horror world but then disappeared off the face of the planet. You create something that genuinely resonates with the horror audience. You have this massive, undeniable early success which has been a cult hit. The whole industry is watching you as potentially the next big thing and then you walk away. Such a promising debut was never built upon, and Wesley's potential went to waste. That was until thirteen years later when Wesley returned with Route 666. Now I have no idea what happened and why Wesley stepped away from filmmaking so for long and I’m not going to speculate. Thirteen years is an absolute eternity in any profession but especially in a creative field – it might as well be a different century. The landscape changes, audiences change, the technology evolves. And when you step away for that long, the myth around your potential starts to outgrow what you produced in the first place. The question must be asked: if you're going to wait that long between making films, why make something as average as Route 666 on your return? Why bother coming back for this? It makes people question whether your original hit was a fluke.
It’s apparent though that Wesley hadn’t learnt any new tricks in his time away from the camera and so I’m confident that he had left the business entirely. In fact, Route 666 plays out in similar fashion to Scarecrows: an assorted group of people, some good, some bad, trapped in a location in the middle of nowhere with a small group of very deadly things after them. Swap the scarecrows out, put the chain gang zombie-ghosts in (it's never clear what they're supposed to be!) and you've got a very similar film. That's not maybe such a bad thing at times but it goes to show how little Wesley wants to experiment with a 'winning' formula (though it has taken years for Scarecrows to gain an appreciative following). Route 666 is a timewaster, plain and simple. There's nothing worth going back for. It just exists to pass away an hour and a half without too much fuss. There's little sign of the qualities that made Scarecrows such an atmospheric, moody horror flick. Route 666 is mainly set during the day, which is an odd stylistic choice from Wesley, as it makes it difficult to generate much suspense. The barren desert plains that sprawl for miles don't exactly lend themselves to things sneaking up on our heroes but at least they give the viewer that total sense of isolation. If you were in any doubt that these people were in the middle of nowhere, then the nice desert cinematography will quell that doubt.
Shooting during the day not only removes the use of darkness, shadows and creepy lighting to build suspense but means that the chain gang are fully visible in the daylight every time they appear. That's a gutsy move for any horror director in exposing your monsters in the sun for the audience to see them in all their glory, you know where the latex make-up ends and the actor’s neck starts. Thankfully the zombie-ghosts look alright - well they're basically in human form whenever we see them with a bit of fancy make-up slapped on and they have the ability to appear out of nowhere, which begs the question of why they don't just appear behind the characters to take them by surprise all of the time instead of telegraphing their arrival by appearing in front of the characters. It’s a contradiction in the film’s spatial logic. The zombie-ghosts like to use whatever tools they were using when they died so expect jackhammers, sledgehammers and other sharp and blunt objects used for stabbing and smashing the expendable cast. You have supernatural, teleporting zombie-ghosts, but instead of popping in behind a federal agent for a jump scare, they materialize a quarter mile away on a flat, sunny plain. And then these undead spirits must awkwardly jog across the desert carrying a 70-pound jackhammer while the heroes just watch them approach. Make it make sense! Route 666 isn't overly gory, but the odd punctuated moment of blood is a welcome addition.
Route 666 has some alright-looking zombie-ghosts to unleash upon the cast, and it wants to unleash them in a decent location, so where does it all go wrong? Route 666 has a terrible script. The unspeakably dumb things that these characters do to put themselves in peril to begin with and then continue to do throughout the film just smacks of lack of ideas on behalf of the writers. It's lazy writing that has characters doing things which fly in the face of what a normal, sane person would do in that situation simply to ensure that the plot is furthered. The writers just abandon logic. They stop treating the characters as human beings with survival instincts, and they start treating them like chess pieces that just need to be shoved to the next square, regardless of how unnatural it looks. The dumb script keeps the pace of the film as flat as a freshly squashed piece of roadkill too as a result, with the odd moment of violence and action being lost amidst a sea of talky exposition. All of the kinetic energy of the film is sucked away as soon as it is generated, leaving Route 666 floundering for excitement.
The cast isn't great either. Lou Diamond Phillips has the personality of a wet paper bag and is never able to grasp the mantle of being the main star. Together he and co-star Lori Petty have zero chemistry and seem to be reflecting on how far their careers have nose dived. Steven Williams has one of those instantly recognisable faces where you'll know what he's been in but not remember his name. He had a recurring role in The X-Files as the shady Mr X for a start but genre fans will most likely remember him from Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. Rarely the main man and always a good hand in support, Williams makes the most of some more screen time in a role mainly designed for comic relief. His motor-mouth mob witness character spouts off the film's best lines and he brings a much-needed dose of energy to the film. It's a shame that he couldn't share it around.
Final Verdict
Think about the core premise of Route 666. You have these undead chain gang zombie-ghosts who are literally doomed to repeat their actions, swinging their sledgehammers endlessly in a loop on a desolate desert highway. But then you look behind the camera, and you have a director who spent thirteen years away, paralyzed by expectations, only to come back and helplessly repeat his own past actions, making the exact same film he made in 1988. It really makes you wonder who was the one who was trapped in the loop here. Route 666 has fleeting moments of potential but they're too few and far between to make any sort of lasting impression. Wesley's eagerly anticipated return to the director's chair ends in a costly detour down Route 66, likely setting him back another thirteen years at least.
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Route 666 Director(s): William Wesley Writer(s): Scott Fivelson, Thomas Weber, William Wesley Actor(s): Lou Diamond Phillips, Lori Petty, Steven Williams, L.Q. Jones, Dale Midkiff, Mercedes Colon, Rob Roy Fitzgerald, Adam Vernier Duration: 88 mins |  |
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