Main Cast: Lou Diamond Phillips, Lori Petty, Alex McArthur
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
The brutal murder of a prison chain gang reverberates through time, leaving an unsuspecting pair of special agents doing battle against the forces of the undead in this tale of highway horror from director William Wesley. When a pair of mafia hitmen force special agents Jack (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Stephanie (Lori Petty) off the beaten path and down a haunted desert shortcut, vengeful ghosts quickly take precedence over begrudged gangsters. Now left to do battle with the forces of evil on a lonely stretch of highway, Jack and Stephanie must face off against the brutal specters or risk losing their lives as well as their souls. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
When was the last time you saw stiff-legged zombies fighting screaming humans with heavy machinery? There's an authentic sense of B-movie whimsy amid the gruesome horror that doesn't rob the macabre monsters of their menace (think Tremors), and the witty one-liners heighten rather than dilute the action. The abundant action sequences are shot high-speed, à la Gladiator's leaping tiger sequence, a technique that works very well in the arid desert setting, and the editing for the whole shebang is appropriately blisteringly fast. Lou Diamond Phillips, Lori Petty, and the rest of the cast, including sci-fi favorite L.Q. Jones (A Boy and His Dog), sink their teeth into this slick production and raise it several notches above expectations. Horror and action fans should pass the word to others that Route 666 is a fun little romp worth a look. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
William Wesley - Director, Howard Flaer - Editor, Cami Winikoff - Executive Producer, Philip Lee - Cinematographer, William Wesley - Producer, Terence M. O'Keefe - Producer, William Wesley - Screen Story, William Wesley - Screenwriter, Scott Fivelson - Screenwriter, Thomas N. Weber - Screenwriter
In 1967, four convicts working on a chain gang attempt but fail to escape. The sheriff in charge makes them dig a hole in the road. When finished, the sheriff shoots the men, then paves over the grave, steamrolling them into the road.
The film then fasts forward to the present, where Jack La Roca (Phillips) and Stephanie (Petty) are US Marshals looking for a witness, Rabbit (Williams), who has escaped from the federal witness protection program, for the purpose of returning him to California to testify. They are traveling along a road when it comes to a dead end at a roadblock. While trying to evade federal agents, Rabbit has become familiar with the area, and knows where the road leads. The road is closed because of the "accident" that happened back in 1967. They proceed to break down the roadblock and travel on Route 666. The trio run into trouble with corrupt local law enforcement and other federal agents, but more serious problems ensues once they awaken four bloodthirsty zombies - the deceased chain gang convicts - one of whom is Jack's own father. They are chased by both the zombies and the corrupt sheriff and his deputies. In the end the deputies are killed and Jack manages to reach his father, who kills all of the other zombies. Near the end of the movie, the steamroller kills the sheriff. Jack has to save his father and also himself. He then takes out a knife and proceeds to cut his hand and put it to his father's to give him new life. The father then proceeds to kill all the other zombies before dying himself.
