I'm not sure where anyone could find merit enough to give a movie this bad more than 3 stars at the most. It is total camp and filled with horrible acting. The story line itself wasn't that bad but the acting was so bad that at times it seemed like they were reading their lines from Que cards. The person or persons that own the wrecking yard has a gold mine though. The old Harley "Knucklehead" at the beginning of the movie was the only prop that was worth any real money. I have heard of shoestring budgets for making movies, this one is beyond broke. Glad I didn't pay money to see this flick, ugh. It gets a generous 3 out of ten.
12 Reviews
Not good, but still i liked it
valiant-5449111 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is not a good movie, but it is a VERY GOOD homemade/passion project movie!
The concept is good enough. A haunted junkyard guarded by the ghost of the former foreman. The pretty girls are pretty. The dirtbag guys are believable as dirtbags. The ghost foreman looks angry and mean, but not very ghostly, except for one time. The ghost car is wicked cool. I'm assuming that the entire cast is made up of friends and associates of the creator, not actual actors.
The cars are why I like this movie. It's main location is a fantastic junkyard that will keep fans of vintage cars scanning the background. Some of this "junk" would be worth some decent dollars in New England where everything vintage has turned into rust.
So while this is NOT a good movie I will probably watch it again just to see what other vintage iron I can identify in the background.
If your a hot rod, rat rod, or vintage junk fan you should watch it.
The concept is good enough. A haunted junkyard guarded by the ghost of the former foreman. The pretty girls are pretty. The dirtbag guys are believable as dirtbags. The ghost foreman looks angry and mean, but not very ghostly, except for one time. The ghost car is wicked cool. I'm assuming that the entire cast is made up of friends and associates of the creator, not actual actors.
The cars are why I like this movie. It's main location is a fantastic junkyard that will keep fans of vintage cars scanning the background. Some of this "junk" would be worth some decent dollars in New England where everything vintage has turned into rust.
So while this is NOT a good movie I will probably watch it again just to see what other vintage iron I can identify in the background.
If your a hot rod, rat rod, or vintage junk fan you should watch it.
Good horror-comedy -action movie
Jarod7013 November 2008
This movie surprised me-not only was there suspense but it also had some comedy-something I wasn't expecting from an action/horror movie. It also has a great 1950's flashback sequence which is my favorite part of the movie aside from the old cars at the junk yard.Some of the cars in the junk yard really gave the movie a creepy feeling.That is one junk yard I wouldn't want to be lost in! This also has a good cast considering some of the actor's were just starting their acting career. The character's Tom and Owen played well off each other and so did the blonde-Amy and her bitchy friend Kristy.Who ever cast the film did a good job.
Kids lost in a scrapyard, viewers just lost!
curlies719 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
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 grow tired of 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 to stimulate 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 - to vomit on the spot).
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 to you, Darrell Mapson). Thus these dead beings wander and wonder around in a suspense-less environment, dramatically pursued by an incompetent 'menace' (ahem) of a ghost (ahem) whose role is to be hellbent on 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, dumb through fear (or is it through shock of being cast in such a crap movie?) 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 achieved 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 aforementioned 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 are mute and stiff.
Others reasons for the poor acting and quality of HRH is the lame script everyone had to work with. Oh, if you check the credits, you'll notice that this is written by the same guy who portrays the menacing murderer, Axel (Willy Ortlieb). Why oh why didn't any of the cast or crew question the poor value of this scriptwriting? Lines are either unrealistic or just pointless... I guess there must have been a bit of nepotism going around concerning Mr Ortlieb's role in HRH (you'll also notice a couple of other Ortliebs in HRH too).
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' when you edit in future... pardon the pun.
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, which is an insult to films made on a cheap budget, but actually work!
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.
The makers of HRH (Hod Rod Horror - I've a feeling I'm gonna grow tired of 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 to stimulate 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 - to vomit on the spot).
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 to you, Darrell Mapson). Thus these dead beings wander and wonder around in a suspense-less environment, dramatically pursued by an incompetent 'menace' (ahem) of a ghost (ahem) whose role is to be hellbent on 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, dumb through fear (or is it through shock of being cast in such a crap movie?) 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 achieved 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 aforementioned 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 are mute and stiff.
Others reasons for the poor acting and quality of HRH is the lame script everyone had to work with. Oh, if you check the credits, you'll notice that this is written by the same guy who portrays the menacing murderer, Axel (Willy Ortlieb). Why oh why didn't any of the cast or crew question the poor value of this scriptwriting? Lines are either unrealistic or just pointless... I guess there must have been a bit of nepotism going around concerning Mr Ortlieb's role in HRH (you'll also notice a couple of other Ortliebs in HRH too).
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' when you edit in future... pardon the pun.
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, which is an insult to films made on a cheap budget, but actually work!
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.
Junk in a junkyard.
cathalosandair10 October 2009
Just spent the afternoon viewing a horror double bill before heading out for the night. The Shining was the other movie - understandably, that film has an experienced director, cast, crew and a budget that yielded what it sowed: a horror masterpiece. Hot Rod Horror - the second on the double bill - is the complete opposite. It wasn't the fatigue of the double bill that made me dislike this. We watched Hot Rod Horror first as we had preconceptions of The Shining through its reputation and having read the book. The thing I didn't like about this is its weak structure, terrible direction and bad dialogue. I got the feeling that the cast were amateurs - some were OK, whilst the others seemed not to know what they were doing. There's simply no tension or horror in Hot Rod Horror - the car lot of junk was cool and the film being shot in daylight gave me the presumption that I had a Texas Chainsaw Massacre / The Hills Have Eyes on me hands. Unfortunately, there was nothing here - no thrills, no suspense, no fun - looks reasonably shot for a low budget, but there's nothing here to write home about.
Not your typical horror movie
mjbink21 September 2009
This is not your typical horror-gore film. In fact a lot of the horror is left to your imagination-that's one of the things I liked about this movie. True-the acting isn't perfect-but then again-most of the teens in this movie were just starting out. I do think the editing could have been better. But I did get creeped out by this movie and at the same time I got a kick out it! It's also campy and funny. Whether the director was going for campy/funny-I don't know-but I think that's what makes this film work. Most of the film takes place during the day which is also different. The good thing about that is that you're able to see what is going on. A lot of horror films take place at night or they are just so dark you can't see anything. Over all I think this is a decent indie horror/action/comedy movie.
"You can puke in the car!"
Bezenby18 January 2017
Somehow this film managed to assure me that enjoyable low budget 'bad' films are still being made today. I thought that things were becoming a bit emotionally detached as people can insert more CGI into their zero budget films (like Battle:Earth) but here we have a genuinely low budget film, without CGI, or Tarantino rip-offs, or over the top camera work. It's just a straight forward horror with really bad acting that looks as if it cost about ten quid to make.
Story wise we've got a bunch of kids heading off to a scrap yard to get...something (not sure) while their girlfriends moan about such an unromantic outing. The sister of one of the guys there goes to get him as the scrappy is haunted. It is pretty much haunted by a guy who looks like a passing labourer who wandered onto the set.
He's got a backstory though, but we'll get to that in a minute. What we have here is a film where people are looking for each for most of the duration of the film (like Legend of the Mummy 2, Museum of the Dead and Psycho Cop), and it's a plot device I hate. However, in this film the actors are so awful at trying to convey emotion that it becomes almost charming (like the emoting in Zombie Nosh, another zero-budget film that's pretty enjoyable).
It's also a very vintage car oriented plot. I don't know if I would have survived the excitement of watching the actual race they carried out in the bad guy's flashback sequence, so I'm glad we just got a brief summary of what happened. If you like American cars, you might like this a bit more. If you like gore or boobs, then you'd better get out of here because you get about two seconds of gore and no boobs.
What you do get is a guy with a mullet, a bald patch and another mullet on the front of his head, and various scenes of a girl trying to find somewhere to have a pee (or a crap I guess, never quite specified the second time round). There's enough cheese, Garth Marenghi level acting, and general badness to enjoy this from start to finish. I was never bored for a second.
Story wise we've got a bunch of kids heading off to a scrap yard to get...something (not sure) while their girlfriends moan about such an unromantic outing. The sister of one of the guys there goes to get him as the scrappy is haunted. It is pretty much haunted by a guy who looks like a passing labourer who wandered onto the set.
He's got a backstory though, but we'll get to that in a minute. What we have here is a film where people are looking for each for most of the duration of the film (like Legend of the Mummy 2, Museum of the Dead and Psycho Cop), and it's a plot device I hate. However, in this film the actors are so awful at trying to convey emotion that it becomes almost charming (like the emoting in Zombie Nosh, another zero-budget film that's pretty enjoyable).
It's also a very vintage car oriented plot. I don't know if I would have survived the excitement of watching the actual race they carried out in the bad guy's flashback sequence, so I'm glad we just got a brief summary of what happened. If you like American cars, you might like this a bit more. If you like gore or boobs, then you'd better get out of here because you get about two seconds of gore and no boobs.
What you do get is a guy with a mullet, a bald patch and another mullet on the front of his head, and various scenes of a girl trying to find somewhere to have a pee (or a crap I guess, never quite specified the second time round). There's enough cheese, Garth Marenghi level acting, and general badness to enjoy this from start to finish. I was never bored for a second.
Could be the best of HOT ROD Horror films EVER !!!
guestar5711 November 2008
HOT ROD HORROR www.myspace.com/hot_rod_horror 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 !
Love Horror Flicks & Cars
carney818-121 June 2012
Heard of this one thru a friend. Took a chance on it and was glad I did. A Horror tale at a Cool Junkyard.Although The Acting was touch and go.The Story was well Written and The Main Bad guy Alex was Scary. There was some cool Crashes, Stunts etc.I have seen my share of low budget Films before.This one raises The Bar and tries a little more with what it had to work with. Director Mapson did a good job keeping The Story Flowing. The Main location is a winner for you car junkies and there is enough Horror to keep you interested.There is one death scene that Rocked.To sum it up I found Hot Rod Horror to be a nice mix of The old time Car flicks and Modern Horror of today. There are more than a few scenes that defy The Budget.I think you should give this Film a spin and check it out yourself.
This is an Insiders Review of our Low Budget Unique Film
mikezz3222 January 2015
I am the Executive Producer of our Low Budget Film that we had to Shoot on Sundays only because this was a working Wrecking Yard that was open 6 days a week. It took us almost a year to to shoot. We used Local Actors from DeVore Studios in Fresno CA. they all gave it their best and I am very Proud of everyone for working so hard and sticking it out. We shot in the Hot Summer Days, We shot in the Cold Winter days. Making a full length film is not easy and takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Myself,Willy and Darrell did what ever it took to make this film. We did our own stunts. I modified my Hot Rod in this Film to look the part. I drove this Hot Rod in most of the Scenes,I played a small role in this Film. I helped set up a few scenes as did all three of us making this Film. Willy and I wanted to make a Unique Campy Fun Film that highlighted Classic Cars inside of a wrecking yard so these Vintage Cars would be captured on Film for future generations to enjoy. Given the small budget that we had to work with and the limited time that we had to film this Movie, Sundays only I will give our Film 5 Stars because all of us,Cast and Crew Worked so hard to make this Film A Reality.
This Film was made with Car Buffs in mind who appreciate Classic Cars and Hot Rods..
Thank You, Respectfully, Michael V. Caldwell Executive Producer of our Film "HOT ROD HORROR"
This Film was made with Car Buffs in mind who appreciate Classic Cars and Hot Rods..
Thank You, Respectfully, Michael V. Caldwell Executive Producer of our Film "HOT ROD HORROR"
Music Makes & Brakes A Movie
huston-802-71689528 March 2015
The music in any movie, can make or brake it. I enjoyed the songs by a band Called Stones Fall Red.
This director has a vision like none other. He is down to earth, Salt of the earth man. He takes risk, that is a sign of a path finder. I love all his work. He is an artist and sees into the past, when needed, and the future too. He does brake the mold, he does things his way...
I keep my ears to the road when I hear any new worked that he is working on. enjoy a good time feel
its like stepping into the past, real fast I tell my family and friends when there is something new on the filming or releas's
This director has a vision like none other. He is down to earth, Salt of the earth man. He takes risk, that is a sign of a path finder. I love all his work. He is an artist and sees into the past, when needed, and the future too. He does brake the mold, he does things his way...
I keep my ears to the road when I hear any new worked that he is working on. enjoy a good time feel
its like stepping into the past, real fast I tell my family and friends when there is something new on the filming or releas's
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