Not THAT bad. Fairly good acting and a script that seems to work as well. It gives what it should, plus a lot of gore. Well worth watch if you liked the first, and maybe also "Duel" and "Breakdown" in the same style.

This serviceable follow-up to the 2001 thriller (renamed ROADKILL over here in the UK) has all the makings of a fairly enjoyable B-movie and none of the characteristics of a keeper. The slim plotting sees sinister trucker Rusty Nail once more behind the wheel as he pursues a quartet of four 20-somethings along America's highways. Cue a fair amount of car crashes, bloodshed and even a little torture at one stage as the film veers into HOSTEL territory in a dingy basement filled with torture implements.Director Louis Morneau has a knack for turning out entertaining B-movies on low budgets and originally became a filmmaker under the tutelage of Roger Corman. The highlight of his career is still the James Belushi sci fi RETROACTIVE, but I've also mildly enjoyed SOLDIER BOYZ and THE HITCHER II over the years (although the less said about BATS the better!). JOY RIDE 2 is neither his best nor his worst, merely another familiar road slasher film in a sub-genre filled with such fare.The cast is undistinguished, with Nicki Aycox showing mettle as the heroine and Kyle Schmid irritating as an emo character. Much of the focus is on titillation, with Aycox forced to strip to her underwear for the pleasure of the villain (and viewer). There's a sleazy atmosphere and plenty of hints at unpleasant torture and bloodshed, although it's more a case of what you don't see rather than what you do see given the paucity of the budget. The ending is straight out of DUEL, a much better film about a psychotic truck driver than this, although I did enjoy JOY RIDE 2 better than its predecessor as it has no pretensions to be an A-list thriller.

We watched the big truck jumping out of that cliff, then it exploded, the worst and the most disappointing thing was when I saw Rusty Nail again with a new truck , as if nothing happened to him , the question is : from where did he buy a new truck again? and I thought that I saw his body falling with his truck , right? Is he immortal or something? and I thought he killed those people because they made him angry but in the end , we saw him taking that woman without any reason, her car was just broken down please , it does not deserve 5/10 and please warn us about similar movies, I lost one hour and a half watching this movie at 2

It's been nine years since we have seen Rusty Nail provoke and antagonize teenagers. Now we see he has returned to a new bunch of innocents in the sequel, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead. I have to admit for a sequel to a cult classic movie that came out seven years ago at the time of this film's release, it had a lot of potential to it. The potential this film had was large, and it delivered it. It was a pretty honorable sequel, especially with no returning cast members. Not even Ted Levine (Rusty Nail) returned.The original film wasn't famous until it released on VHS and DVD in 2001. The theater viewing was lukewarm. This one was released Direct-to-DVD in 2008. The original focused more on the three kids freaking out, and with Rusty Nail being hidden most of the time during the movie. This one shows the lower half of his mouth with a cigarette in it whenever he talks which kind of kills the suspense in a way. Though still doesn't ruin the whole film.The movie centers around four main characters. Melissa and her fiancé Bobby (Nicki Aycox and Nick Zano), with her sister Kayla (Laura Jordan), and her online boyfriend Nik (Kyle Schmid), whom she picks up. After having car troubles, (who doesn't in Horror films?) they are forced to break into a seemingly abandoned house and taking the 1983 Chevrolet Caprice. Melissa leaves a note for the owner and her cell number. Little does she know that the house is home to a deranged trucker by the name of Rusty Nail (Mark Gibbon).Because of his anger that the four took his car, Rusty kidnaps Bobby while in the restroom of a truck stop and stalks Melissa, Kayla, and Nik and plays several unspeakable psychological mind games on the three and says if they do everything he says he'll return Bobby unharmed. I wont spoil the tasks, but just to clear up everything, he makes them destroy their cell phones to assure no police will be called.This is every torture porn fan's dream. This film will most likely amuse the fans who were asking for another Joy Ride film, but only slightly entertain the ones really involved in the series, like me. If I get really into a series, I get into it and need to know absolutely every little detail about it. So this amused me, but left me with some questions. I wish they would have brought up something about the first film. An article, a mention, even Rusty saying he's done this before. Anything to hint the first film was real. The time period of the first film was unknown. It could have been in the 90s or 2000s. This film mentions sites like Youtube, Myspace, Google, etc so it's more clear it takes place in present time.I enjoyed the first one beyond belief and one of the only downsides was Ted Levine did not reprise his role as the voice of Rusty Nail. That voice was unspeakably amazing and really gave a dark, convoluted feel to the storyline. So overall, the sequel is what I would call a sequel that does it's job to be a good Horror film, but fails to recognize it's predecessor in any way. It would have been cool to hear Rusty say "I've done this before, it ain't hard".Starring: Nicki Aycox, Nick Zano, Laura Jordan, Kyle Schmid, and Mark Gibbon. Directed by: Louis Morneau.