By Forris Day Jr.
I enjoy low to no budget films as long as it has a good story and is shot reasonably well. “Stopped Dead” was written and directed by Jason Liquori, and falls in that category. I enjoyed the story, kind of a “Race With the Devil” feel to it, as a matter of fact there is a mention of “Race With the Devil” in the movie and I appreciate the fact that that was thrown in there. It’s the story of four friends who go on a road trip in an RV. There is tension right from the get go as we realize one of the guys, Bob, is lusting after his buddy Dante’s wife. As the journey progresses they run into a motorcycle gang who is camping near where they are. After Bob witness the gang kill someone the action begins. Bob frantically runs to the RV yelling “We gotta get out of here!”. As they roll down the highway, they are pursued by the bike gang. Tension mounts as we wonder if the gang is still chasing them or gave up. Will they get away? Will they survive each other? Only one way to find out. Watch “Stopped Dead”.
Overall, it’s a good movie. Watch it knowing it is a no budget film and you will like it. I can tell this was shot with lots of care. The acting was a bit choppy and very unbelievable at times, such as (spoiler alert) when one of the friends is killed and they hardly even react. It was kind of like “Oh well, let’s keep rolling”. I would hope that if I died on the road my wife would at least check my pockets and grab my watch, credit cards and last few bucks, instead of just leaving me to the vultures. I say the acting was choppy but not consistently bad. At times it was great. There was also a crazy guy they bump into at a doughnut shop that I thought would lead us somewhere. I would have like to have seen that character move the story forward, but I guess he was just there to make an appearance. I also got a kick out of how cheap the character Bob was. He added some humor every time he tried to save a dime. We all know cheapos like that.
Technically, simple things like using a tripod instead of all handheld shots would have made this better. A few more tight shots would have added to the suspense, and some cheap mechanics lights could have brought the feel to a better level, but technical stuff aside “Stopped Dead” is worth the watch if you are a fan of no budget movies. I can see that Jason Laquori has what it takes to make a good movie, and look forward to seeing what he does as he grows as a filmmaker.
Rating: 5/10 – “Road trip of death”
Hey Forris. This is a Great review!!! Can’t wait to watch it! Race with the Devil is one of my faves of all time and any movie that pays homage to it is aces in my book!