Roadkill

Roadkill (2011)

Set in Ireland this movie tells the story of a group of high school friends who decide to take a road trip as a reunion. Pilling into a rented RV the head out to check the scenery. Not long into the trip they run into some of the locals and have an issue with them over a broach. This causes them to take off in a hurry. While driving away they run over an older woman and soon find themselves cursed. It seems this particular group of people were Irish Gypsies and they are out for some payback. One by one the friends are killed by a Roc that is chasing them.

This is another of those Sci-Fi channel movies with a giant CGI creature causing mayhem while the characters spout off lame dialogue and drink in montages set to generic music. Some of them are cheesy fun and others aren’t. Roadkill falls somewhere in between for me.

The story is predictable and is a combination of a creature feature and crazy “hillbilly” movie. Sadly we get more of the crazy Gypsies then we do of the Roc, which I found disappointing. The creature just shows up once in a while to pick one of the characters off. There are a few interesting bits with them trapped in an RV and a rest station bathroom. Though none of these situations build any tension they do make for some predictable fun. And while it is obvious which characters are going to get it next I still thought that it was kind of interesting overall. And while I’ve already mentioned the dialogue I did find it annoying that the characters get into these silly “confessional” conversations while trapped. It kills the pacing and trashes the momentum. Though there is one that I found kind of funny and is revisited at the ending. It was good for a few laughs.

Lets talk about the special effects and creature design. As I’ve already mentioned the Roc is totally CGI. It looks kind of silly and the digital effects aren’t that greatly rendered. There is some gore with a couple of gouged faces and blood splatter. Some of these effects are practical, but very basic. The best effect is actually a gunshot and has nothing to do with the creature. That said the few bits of blood and gore are the strength of the movie.

I was rather annoyed by the shaky camera work. The strange part is that they don’t even use it for the attack scenes but for stuff like the drinking and conversations. The camera swings back and forth between the characters as they talk. Some of the music also leaves a lot to be desired. There is some bad generic rock music for the party scenes and when the music should help build some tension it instead is so loud it distracts.

If you are looking for a way to kill 90 or so minutes then Roadkill is worth checking out. But I can’t imagine watching this more then once. So for sure this should only be a rental and not a purchase.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer