Death Valley (I) (2004) User Reviews

Everybody is somebody's bitch. That's just the way life is.

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 30 May 2009]

There is only one thing of interest in this film. That is how long before Reno (Vince Vieluf) gets what he deserves. The little inbred slime that raped Amber (Genevieve Cortese) and started this whole disaster going has to get his due. I hung in just to see how he gets it.

The story is familiar. Two inbred crackheads terrorize a group that is out celebrating in the desert. Before they can get help, the head dude Dom (Dash Mihok) gathers a whole tribe of back-country bikers to dispense his brand of justice.

We know they will escape; it's just a matter of waiting until Reno and Dom get wasted, and Josh (Eric Christian Olsen) rides off into the sunset with Amber.

Well, it ends as expected, and it was an OK trip.

Not bad

[mhf34 · 6/10 · 26 May 2005]

It might be easy to criticize a film without major stars, a big budget, and lots of special effects, but I found the film to be quite enjoyable. There is nothing spectacular about the story, the dialogue, or the acting, but it manages to entertain nonetheless. According to the filmmakers, it was an homage to the drive-in movies of the 70's ("The Hills Have Eyes"), and it certainly has that feel. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in heart. I found the casting to be pretty good (especially the villain) and the stunts to be above average for such a small film. The film should certainly find a place on late-night television and for devotees of decent shoe-string independent productions.

An Old School Feeling Survival Horror

[lukem-52760 · 7/10 · 28 September 2018]

Another Gem of a movie that slipped by in 2004 without any notice what so ever!!!

Also again another great performance by Genre legend RIDER STRONG who has starred in many Horror Thriller films & is a VERY GOOD & UNDERRATED ACTOR!!!

Here 4 friends travell to a rave for the weekend to have some fun & forget about their boring lives & end up getting into some serious danger with a drugged up biker gang & that's all you need to know.

This is also based on a true story so makes everything that happens to these friends all the more scary.

All the performances are fine & like a said, Rider Strong stands out again as the best performance of the movie like he did in Borderland (2007) & Cabin fever (2002).

This little Low-budget B-movie horror is a decent bit of entertainment & often keeps you on the edge-of-the-seat with some thrilling sequences.

This exciting survival film has that feel of the old school greats like Deliverance or The Hills Have Eyes or Straw Dogs all those super gritty & disturbing 70's survival films & that's a good thing!!!

This is an exciting suspense filled survival Thriller with some very brutal scenes & a real sense of danger.

Death Valley is gritty & savage & should definitely become a cult classic or at least it has for me!!!

A raw,gritty survival horror thriller.

Best Movie of the LAFF So Far!

[superherolza · 21 June 2004]

I just saw this movie last night and it is the SH*T! This is by far the best movie I've seen at the LA Film Festival so far. In my eyes, its one of strongest showings of up and coming talent in a while. Its a great example of a genre movie with an exceptional cast and strong directing. The character Daniel, played by Rider Strong, had me laughing and then crying in one of the most moving and real scenes the whole film. Not only did it have strong performances from the cast, but it posed serious moral questions as well. What would you do if you were placed in an impossible situation when your life is on the line? This movie had me on an emotional roller coaster ride and sitting on the edge of my seat the whole way.

Fake comments and bad acting

[strykermcguireny · 1/10 · 12 August 2009]

I want to agree, albeit belatedly with the gentleman below me, the comments praising this movie are clearly written by cast or crew. Their so transparent I felt like I could see through my computer screen. Anyways, I always loved Boy Meets World, though when I watch it now I realize how horribly it has aged, but Olsen is not a good actor, at least not in this movie. I watched this movie for about 15 minutes, the semi-beginning. The rape scene, which is the first thing that upset me. This is a horror movie right? Horrify me. Don't just show me a shaking arm wrapped around a throat, lame. That whole scene was really just awfully done. With how much those two inbred morons got distracted, coupled with their gun that looked like it was straight off the set off a john Wayne movie, it was just unreal to me that the black guy didn't so something. He could have stopped them. Then Shawn Hunter and pals come back and have a guilt trip, just pop the inbred rapists and be done with it. I get it there would be no movie if they had, but that's not an excuse. Movie's should at least follow the real actions of people if not in totally realistic settings. That's all I've got. 15 minutes of that movie made me so mad I spent double that time creating an IMDb account and posting this just to make people aware of how horrible it is.

If it "Rocked" so hard...

[indelibleinc · 1/10 · 19 October 2009]

...why'd they CHANGE THE NAME? This flick comes on once or twice a month on Showtime under the name "DEATH VALLEY". For months, we looked and looked and found no such movie fitting the cast and crew cited on the program guide.

Then we looked up a couple of the cast... A-HA! So "MOJAVE" "rocked" so hard, the producers decided to change the name to "DEATH VALLEY" and take the whole thing for a second spin.

UGH. That -- plus the fact that all the reviews say how great a movie this movie that none of us have ever heard of is -- should tell you the whole story.

I heard the bad guys described as "crackheads" in an earlier review. Personally, i think this director must have taken a toke or two, because even the half-baked kids that work here think this film is a bad joke top to bottom. This is not spite, just pure honesty. There is no story here. There is no plot. There are no characters, no journey, no viewpoints and so no real point point in discussing this piece at all.

Moreover, how anyone with even the slightest clue about what cameras do could go out into the raw beauty of the desert and fail to bring one decent photo to the screen is in itself beyond reason. I'm sure there are worse films out there -- but none that I've seen where folks have actively set out to deceive you into spending time and money on them. And for that, "MOJAVE a/k/a "DEATH VALLEY" deserves all the bad press we can muster.

You literally could not have made a worse picture if you hired a crew and drew up the plans.

No disrespect to cast, crew and producers, but sometimes a BAD MOVIE is just a BAD_MOVIE, and no amount of exuberant reviews or spinning or name changing can make a bit of difference. In the end, people have to sit down and watch the thing and in that respect, this thing never had a chance.

To anyone considering a buy or rent, if you're the kind who likes to support indie-cinema just to thumb your nose at Hollywood, this is the tip-jar for you. Be warned, though -- there's a good reason you never heard of "MOJAVE".

I don't know what movie you saw -- this movie was AWESOME!

[kuma101 · 10/10 · 30 July 2004]

This movie ROCKS! I saw this at the LA Film Fest and I really enjoyed it. I never write on these boards, but seeing some of the wack reviews, I felt like I had to say something. The acting is top notch with Dash Mihok and Vince Vieluf killing it as the bad guys. It's cool to see a movie where the bad guys are as fleshed out and interesting as the heroes. And for the first time in history, a movie rave actually looks and feels like a real rave. In my opinion, the only downfall is that it was a little bit slow getting the action started, but once it's rolling, it's game on! I was totally into this movie (if you can't tell) and when it gets to the theaters, y'all should definitely check it out. So, all you haters, keep hating, you don't know what's up.

Fun and Exciting!

[chrissyelizabeth-14563 · 10/10 · 8 December 2019]

This is a fun movie with an interesting plot. My favorite character in the movie was Daniel(Rider Strong), while at the beginning of the movie Daniel seemed like a bit of a spoiled jerk at the point where the real action started and one of the bad guys got shot he was the only one who genuinely wanted to help the guy even if at first it was coming from him being afraid of going to jail. Unfortunately for Daniel his desire to do the right thing ends up putting him right in the crosshairs of the bad guys. The hardest part of that and in my opinion one of the best acted and dramatic scenes for Rider Strong comes when he is being held hostage by the biker gang and his life is being threatened, he basically has to beg his friends to help him and when they don't come down he ends up being held down on the hood of his car while the gang leader gives his friends until the count of ten to come down before they kill him. Although this whole scene is hard to watch the part that made me feel like Daniel was really desperate was when he was begging his friends to help him he got to the point where he was so desperate he begged Anthony for help. If you watch Daniel and Anthony interact in the movie it doesn't seem like Anthony can stand Daniel and I think Daniel knew that so for him to ask Anthony for help shows how truly desperate he was. Unfortunately for Daniel while the one person in the group who genuinely seems to care about him actually wants to help and even tried one of the other so called friends stops him which then leads to Daniel being shot in the head and then his body is thrown into his truck and the truck is set on fire. After that it's basically a free-for-all between the biker gang and the survivors. This is a well-paced and tense thriller but much like other Rider Strong, horror or action movies he never seems to make it out alive. However he is always good in these roles because much like his role on Boy Meets World you can see how good he is at portraying honest and genuine emotion, and it's fun seeing him play something so vastly different from who he was on Boy Meets World.

I saw the movie in L.A. At the film festival and it rocks

[tuck86 · 10/10 · 2 July 2004]

Mojave is an awesome movie. I was expecting to see some retarded movie where a bunch of people bunched up and filmed some guys being chased in the desert, but much to my surprise, the movie was fantastic. The characters are very dynamic and I felt bad if something happened to them (I don't want to give anything away). Rider Strong was absolutely hilarious and Eric Olsen was a complete bada$$. I would definitely recommend this movie to the age group of 16-35. I hope that this movie gets the credit it deserves and if whoever is reading this gets a chance to see it in theaters, please take it because you won't be disappointed. Also, if you ever wanted to see Shawn from Boy meets world trip on mescalin(sp) then you gotta see this.

Gut-wrenching tale of survival

[quirkysituations · 9/10 · 25 May 2006]

Who are you? You may think you know this answer while you're photocopying spreadsheets at the office but you won't truly know it until someone puts a gun to your best friend's head and gives you ten seconds to make a decision. That's what "Mojave" is all about -- the person you are when the comforts of your daily life have been stripped away and you're doing what you must to survive.

This film hasn't been released yet and that's a shame because it tells a harrowing tale, packed with action and plenty of tense situations that prompt the viewer to think "What would I do if..."

A road trip to a desert rave turns into a weekend from hell when a group of city boys runs afoul of the local meth-head biker gang. Dash Mihok and Vince Vieluf are especially terrifying as the two main villains because of how real they seem. Rider Strong also turns in a great performance as the spoiled rich kid -- most notably in an excruciating scene where he tries to transport a wounded boy to safety on a dirt bike.

Well written, shot, acted and directed, "Mojave" is that rare film that puts you on the edge of your seat AND makes you think. If you ever get the chance to see this movie, check it out. You won't regret it.

Riveting thriller

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 14 September 2015]

Four thrill-seeking friends venture deep into the California desert to attend a rave. Things go dangerously awry after the quartet run afoul of a gang of lethal bikers called the Scorpions led by the vicious Dom (a frightening portrayal by Dash Mihok).

Writers/directors Rudi Liden and David Kebo keep the taut and gripping story moving along at a zippy pace, build a considerable amount of nerve-shredding suspense, ably craft and sustain an uncompromisingly harsh'n'gritty tone, make fine use of the isolated desolate landscape, and stage the rousing action with flair and skill. Moreover, the hard-hitting script warrants praise for its startling insights into how people can easily devolve into outright savagery if taken away from civilization and placed in a desperate situation where the only thing that matters is survival at any cost. The excellent acting from the tip-top cast keeps this picture humming: Rider Strong as the brash and carefree Daniel, Bumper Robinson as the tough Anthony, Eric Christian Olsen as the amiable, yet frustrated John, and Wayne Young as the soulful and reflective Brick make for sympathetic protagonists, Genevieve Padalecki impresses as vulnerable teenager Amber, and Vince Vieluf has a lip-smacking nasty field day as the sadistic Reno. The moments of brutal violence pack a ferocious punch. Thomas Harting's glossy cinematography provides lots of snazzy flashy flourishes. Nathan Barr's rattling score hits the stirring spot. A real nail-biter.

This movie more than Rocked !!!

[houseofspl · 10/10 · 4 March 2016]

I saw Death Valley and it rocked me into unconsciousness. I had the greatest sleep ever. Please let me know when it's coming out on DVD because I need my ZZZZZs. The lack of originality was only toppled by the disappointment I had that the filmmakers couldn't even get the truck from Duel. I'm thinking it would have actually saved the movie for me. Maybe the filmmakers can do the sequel based on their experiences pretending to be writer/directors and call it a, "Movie" and then change the title to the more honest, "Spoof." I did have a friend at the Austin Film Festival who told me to bring a pillow, so when I saw it at the Los Angeles Film Festival I was actually safe. Unfortunately I can't say the same about others who awoke with kinks in their necks. Thank you Death Valley and Beauty Rest. Together you are a winning combination.