Search - Hot Rod Horror on DVD

Possibly The Scariest and Best Filmed of 'Hot Rod' Genre !

guestar57 | Porterville,Ca.USA | 11/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"[...]
Combining Murder, Ghosts & Hot Rods with a driving soundtrack !
You know they say that nothing great came out of Fresno; Besides raisins, This was until now with HRH.
A nice collection of classic vehicles including Street Rods, Race Cars and a sweet motorcycle are used as props to enhance the authentic flashbacks.
Let's talk about "AXEL", The main bad guy...Maybe a ghost or demon and comes with some driving skills.
I like the Willy O interpretation, I wanted some scary makeup on character but, Maybe the car he drives like possessed and the ghost-like nuances were enough, He had to act more than Robert Englund with mask.
The stunts are pretty safe and then there was one, Done with a tire iron and blow torch, STEALS the whole movie and took a father and son stunt team to cook it !
Okay, Let's sum up to make this a Modern Cult Classic film, Guys get ahold of the Speed Channel on cable tv and sell this puppy to them, Talk with Autozone and get it carried in their stores by the counter and put Willy O and His Rat Rod on tour in car shows with copies of HRH to autograph/sell !"

Lukewarm, if not freezing Rod!

Tomas O. Toghdha | Helsinki | 09/19/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"With the development of film technology, anyone can knock out something visual for the 'entertainment' of others nowadays and at a next-to-nothing cost. Unfortunately, this has produced a load of tripe hitting the internet, and straight to release DVDs.

The makers of HRH [Hod Rod Horror - I've a feeling I'm gonna tire writing this title in this review] are no exception; what they may have saved on using a scrapyard as the set to this movie (and used scrap for the rest of it), they've neglected to spend on entertainment value.

One of the main problems (there are many) with HRH is that the audience's appreciation for entertainment is neglected; and that is a big problem if you create anything for an audience. Not that the actors are solely to blame for this. However, the selection is a desperate one... especially the big, ambling, constipated, blonde (Stephanie Hoover) who seems to barely exist as a human and always needs to run off to find privacy either to 'pee' or to spew (yeah, 'tis natural, if seeing a corpse and feeling nauseous, to have to hold it in and find a place to chuck instead of being real and doing what comes naturally).

When it comes to acting, what you discover in HRH, is a cast of amateurs (don't tell me that these individuals have studied acting - although Mark McPherson and Matt Severson do ok) thrown into a scrapyard and permitted to walk aimlessly around by a director who hasn't a clue to perform his main task... i.e. direct (just need to point that out for you, Darrell Mapson). Thus these dead beings wander around in a suspense-less environment, dramatically pursued by an incompetent 'menace' (ahem) of a ghost (ahem) hellbent of avenging his death 40-50 years earlier.

Now, the so called car, 'Hot' rod, that gives the main portion to the title of this movie is something to behold. Being less than tepid - I've seen lawnmowers move quicker... and that's an insult to garden tools - the movie consequently stumbles sluggishly along as the menacing motor hunts down the kids, who, 'frozen' (through fear of acting, no doubt) 'try' to flee, joggingly quiet into the next 'what do I do here, Mr Director' scene. Unintentionally amusing is one scene where the car runs over Jenny's cellphone. This is acheived with the 'Hot' rod slowing down (if that's possible) just to make sure it doesn't miss the phone in its tracks. Besides the car affecting the pace of HRH are the actors who aren't allowed to breathe and inject some life into this movie; as a result, there's little difference between the kids in their living and dead states - both mute and stiff.

The editor, Lisa Donette May, is another culprit for the catastrophe that is HRH through neglecting to control the finished state of this movie: there are so many pointless scenes where nothing happens and thus slow down a no-go film. Lisa, what did you actually cut? This is not a Terrence Mallick film, where a scene can compose of stillness yet resonate in tranquility and beauty. It's a disaster, so cut to the chase.

Regardles of all these faults, I managed to strenuously watch all of HRH - just out of sheer curiosity to see what else could go wrong. One bit of advice: fast forward the 'Hot' rod scenes - just as a means to inject some life into that wagon and make that piece of junk move.... oh, and if you're going to have a ghost, maker of HRH, give 'im a car that'll not age: the whole thing's a rust bucket.. and so is this movie!

PS: There are positive reviews to this movie, but as I sense they've been left by someone connected to HRH I'd be very wary."