Get a load of this premise:federal agents taking a mob informant to a court date take an old road as a short cut to Los Angeles and find themselves being chased and attacked by the zombie spirits of a dead chain gang! For some reason these spirits(whose faces/skin are crumbling like old dirt and old prisoner uniforms ripped and tattered)are wandering the road seeking them and follow a repeated pattern where a few beat their victims with pick-axes while another drives a jackhammer into their stomachs. The film gets particularly interesting when a desert sheriff of the territory, Bob Conaway(LQ Jones)and his two deputies enter the picture with ulterior motives concerning the feds not leaving the Route 666 alive.Lou Diamond Phillips is ex Navy Seal and head Federal Marshal Jack La Roca whose father was one of the chain-gang who mysteriously vanished with a marked grave off the road of 666. He and US Marshal Stephanie(a peppy Lori Petty)are assigned to bring "Rabbit" Fred(Steven Williams, chock full of one-liners in a spirited performance as the obnoxious informant who changed his mind on giving key info on two mob organizations)into court, with an accompaniment of other agents, led by PT(Dale Midkiff), who's really difficult and always trying to rouse La Roca into arguments and fisticuffs..it's clear that he doesn't like taking orders from a superior just recently placed in command. Despite their differences, La Roca and PT will have to co-exist if they are going to make it out their difficult situation alive. Also important are these memories from the past, concerning the four prisoners of the murdered chain gang who return as zombie spirits, which pop up in agent La Roca's mind over and over during the film.This flick is just crazy. I mean a plot so ridiculous, and played so straight, must be seen to be believed. It plays, for a while, as a straight action thriller with this mob assassin in pursuit of the feds hoping to silence Rabbit, but then these zombies appear out of thin air, and the film really takes off into strangeland. The desert is an awesome setting for a horror film, and the setting provides a unique atmosphere for all the lunacy that takes place. The violence isn't too gory because the director shakes the hell out of the camera when the zombies are released on the road to exact carnage on those poor souls whose blood they crave to remain active spirits. The cast is quite fun..the chemistry between Phillips, Petty & Williams helps because they make the most of their roles in such a wildly bizarre film. The ending brings everything full circle and we get an understanding as to why these zombies are appearing on this particular stretch of road, what the sheriff's motives are for causing trouble with the agents, and why La Roca sees all those images replaying over and over in his mind. Unfortunately, most of the action sequences(..including the opening shoot-out between La Roca and Steph with the Russian assassins in front of the diner where they apprehended Rabbit)are shot through shaky-cam. I won't lie to you, though..despite the film's premise, I thought it was a lot of mindless fun. Dick Miller has a miniscule role at the opening as the diner bartender and Gary Farmer has a strange cameo as a sunshaded Shamman who befriends La Roca, offering him Peyote tea to drink.

Well I haven't really come across something like this before. "Route 666" tells the story of a cop and his buddies who retrieve a witness meant to testify in L.A. However, while on their way, aside from a group of men wanting to kill the witness, they attempt a supposed shortcut just off of Route 66, which inevitably spells death.Along this road lies a secret hidden for years. A small chain-gang that had, several years before, been in an "accident" lie dead in a small graveyard just along-side this road. Their spirits still walk among those roads and those who dare step out onto the road shall meet with these wrath of these long-dead criminals. In addition to that, a secret connection lies between one of the gang members and a certain traveler...If you have nothing else to do and you're in for a good "B" movie, take a look at this one. It has its faults and some of the effects aren't up to par with the 21st century exactly, but it's still worth a look.

I saw just the first hour of this movie trying to see what my guide meant by dead. Then when I find out the movie turns out to suck. The cinematography is horrible with the fact that you can see what is computer generated and what isn't. Give you an example, the first time the zombie gang attacks our "heroes" of this movie one of the marshals is firing out of the SUV and it looks like they used a blue screen either for the character or for the background. Why does a zombie carry around a jackhammer in the first place. Ohhh, and for an added bonus the marshals who are supposed to be trained at firing guns can't hit the jackhammer zombie because they are firing at the jackhammer that is just there.This "MOVIE" doesn't make any sense at all.

Went in with an open mind, looking to watch an entertaining movie and it turned out to be just that... Entertaining. Story could have been stronger, but the idea was very good and kept me watching. The arty camera shaking was pointless but didn't ruin the film for me. Not sure in the direction they wanted to take this film, but its definitely not a horror, more of a road movie with a touch of every other genre.ALL in all, if your lost for what film to watch, definitely worth checking out Route 666, its not the greatest film, but go with an open mind, and don't pick at everything you see, and you'll enjoy the film, I could quite happily sit through it again