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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Route 666 (2001)

Route 666 (2001)

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Released 17-Dec-2002

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Menu Animation & Audio
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 86:31
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By William Wesley
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Lou Diamond Phillips
Lori Petty
Steven Williams
Dale Midkiff
Alex McArthur
Mercedes Colon
L.Q. Jones
Case ?
RPI $36.95 Music Terry Plumeri


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Route 666 is a B-Grade schlock horror movie, made with an A-Grade budget.

    Jack La Roca (Lou Diamond Phillips) leads a group of US Marshals transporting a protected witness from the Arizona desert to Los Angeles. In order to save time, the group turns on to an abandoned highway, Route 666, which runs through the desert.

    Throw in a few rogue cops, mafia hit-men, a chain gang of un-dead zombies, plot holes that you could drive a truck through, and some obvious continuity and production errors (such as the crew being perfectly reflected during a close-up of one of the main character's sunglasses), and there are all the ingredients for a 'so bad it's good' movie.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The quality of the transfer is good, and is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness, black level, and shadow detail are all good.

    The colour is great, and is used effectively, with the bright red convertible contrasted against the blue desert sky and burnt desert landscape.

    There are no MPEG artefacts to complain of. If one wanted to be really, really picky, then one might spot some extremely mild (and rare) pixelization and posterization. But if I had a hat, I would take it off to the talented people who compressed this 16x9 enhanced widescreen movie with two audio tracks on to a single layer disc. However, there was mild aliasing throughout the movie, such as aslight shimmer on the car's grille at 7:11.

    Small film artefacts also appear throughout the movie, such as at 5:46, 10:57 and 34:53.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Apart from the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, there is also a Dolby Stereo-Surround track.

    I listened to both, and the dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent.

    The musical score is credited to Terry Plumeri and is mainly comprised of South-Western blues guitar-based music, which suits the movie very well.

    The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound mix is quite good, and the rear speakers are used to help carry the score, for example at 1:03 and 11:53, and provide ambience, such as at 43:59.

    The subwoofer is also called upon to support the score, for example at 14:54, and the sound effects, such as the gun fight at 8:04.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    The extras are slim.

Menu

    A very simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

Theatrical Trailer

    This one minute and thirty two second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, non-16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo surround-encoded audio.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Route 666 was released on DVD in Region 1 in October, 2001. As far as I can gather, there is no real difference between versions. Thus, I would favour the local release for its affordability, and its superior PAL image.

Summary

    As a movie, Route 666 is so bad that it's good. I imagine that was the filmmakers' intention, for the movie does not ever attempt to aspire to anything other than what it is. A must-see for schlock horror fans, but a movie for schlock horror fans ONLY!

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are slim.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Brandon Robert Vogt (warning: bio hazard)
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayGrundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-545
SpeakersSony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer

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