‘Highway to Hell’ is A Campy Roadtrip Across a Twisted America

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Feb 7, 2022
Highway To Hell

The word “camp” has become shorthand for “intentionally cheesy” these days. While that’s often true, there are many times when a “campy” film is much smarter than it lets on. Such is the case with the 1991 straight-to-video horror/comedy Highway to Hell. It’s a film that, on the surface, seems content to just be a “Mad Max in Hell” chase movie. But, it also contains biting satire and social commentary delivered in a way that only an over-the-top horror film can.

It’s a film that’s not above making the obvious joke, especially a scene in which a road crew made up of Andy Warhol lookalikes working for the “Good Intentions Paving Company” grind up well-meaning but damned souls to be used to patch the road leading through the Underworld. But it also has something smart and still timely to say about the role of law enforcement and about America itself. Being “camp” means that the gloves can come off when it comes to a movie trying to deliver its message. This is a film that is proud to be as loud and unsubtle as possible. A horror film as ambitious, creative, and as fun as this could have only come out in the late 80s/early 90s and deserves to be rediscovered by modern audiences.

Chad Lowe and Kirsty Swanson star as Charlie and Rachel, two lovers eloping to Las Vegas to get married. Charlie is nervous about running afoul of law enforcement since Kirsty’s parents don’t exactly approve of their relationship or their decision to run away together. In typical horror movie fashion, the couple decides to take a lonely backroad to avoid police despite warnings from the obligatory gas station attendant harbinger named Sam. Charlie’s fears of running into cops come true in the worst possible way; they’re pulled over by The Hell Cop, also known as Sgt. Bedlam. He then abducts Rachel and takes her to Hell to be a bride for Satan. Charlie soon follows after receiving some help in the form of a new car and magical shotgun from Sam, who lost a loved one to the Hell Cop years earlier.

Highway to Hell

Like Dante in The Divine Comedy, Charlie must journey through Hell to save the love of his life. Literary buffs will appreciate that there are plenty of other references to the classic epic poem, including Cerberus, The River Styx, and Charon the boatman (played by Predator actor Kevin Peter Hall, in his final role). There’s also the classic “Abandon all hope, ye who enter” sign is now a scrolling LED sign outside of the bustling metropolis of Hell City, the heart of Satan’s domain. During his pursuit of The Hell Cop, Charlie faces opposition from biker gangs, demented hitchhikers, and succubi.

The only friend he seems to make along this journey is a kindly stranger suspiciously named Bezel. Anyone who’s seen a lot of horror movies knows to be distrustful of good samaritans, and someone should be extra wary of a literal denizen of Hell offering aid. But actor Patrick Bergin (who always rocked one of the most underrated mustaches of the 80s) brings so much charm and charisma to the role of Bezel that much like Charlie, the audience can’t help but drop their guard around him. Of course, it all ends the only way it could end: with a wager with Satan and one final race, with Charlie and Rachel’s eternal souls on the line.

As unapologetically cheesy and as unsubtle as Highway to Hell is, there’s lots of creativity and cleverness on display. The level of talent involved is surprising for such a forgotten film. Both Ben and Jerry Stiller cameo. Jerry plays another demonic cop and Ben plays a demented line cook at a hellish roadside diner. He also has a non-speaking cameo as Attila The Hun. Rocker Lita Ford also cameos as a sultry but deadly hitchhiker. The stand-out cameo, and the funniest, is comedian Gilbert Gottfried as Adolf Hitler. He’s unsuccessfully trying to get out of Hell by attempting to convince anyone who will listen that he isn’t actually Hitler. Behind the camera is director Ate de Jong, who directed another 90s cult comedy, Drop Dead Fred, and the script is by Brian Helgeland, who went on to write L.A. Confidential and A Knight’s Tale, among many others.

Despite the presence of Satan himself, the main antagonist up until the final moments of the movie is The Terminator-like, silent brute Hell Cop, played by C.J. Graham (who portrayed Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives). It’s not an accident that law enforcement is the main source of oppression in this film. Even the regular human cops are portrayed as a hindrance rather than a help. Hell Cop is very much a commentary on law enforcement in general. He shows that the true purpose of the police is to exist as henchmen for the elite and enforcers of inequality and suppression. But it also feels like career foreshadowing for when Helgeland eventually tackled police corruption outright in L.A. Confidential in 1997.

In addition, the Hell in Highway to Hell is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a place where everyone must fend for themselves to survive. Making Hell City stand in for Vegas, a city built entirely around decadence, is also a very deliberate choice. Satan is portrayed as living luxuriously in a corporate high rise while the rest of the inhabitants of Hell are forced to endlessly backstab each other for scraps. Coming out at the tail end of the 1980s, Highway to Hell feels like a satire of the excess and unfettered capitalism of the Reagan era. However, depicting Hell as a metaphor for a society where everyone has to become the worst version of themselves is still relevant today.

Unfortunately, it seems as if this was a case where a studio probably didn’t know what to do with a campy horror/comedy/action movie. Despite being shot in 1989, Highway to Hell sat on a shelf until it was released internationally in 1991. It didn’t even get a release in the United States until 1992 when it went straight to video. Somehow though, Highway to Hell managed to build a small cult audience over the year. But, it deserves to be rediscovered by casual viewers.

While other films from the video store era have been lost in the sands of time due to constant format changes, this is one that’s hung on. It’s even streaming on Prime as of the publication of this article. It’s not a particularly subtle film, but nor is it trying to be. It fully commits to the campy tone and understands how the medium can be used to get a message across. On the surface, it’s a cheesy, fun, and creative road trip across the Underworld. Yet at the heart of Highway to Hell, there’s also a poignant message. The portrayal of Hell as a metaphor for a society indifferent to the suffering of those living in it, and the police as protectors of a corrupt system, has only become more prevalent as time goes on.

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