Hell Ride

By Cyril Pearl -- Video Business, 9/29/2008

DIMENSION EXTREME/GENIUS

Street: Oct. 28
Prebook: now
> Tougher and more tawdry update of grindhouse biker flicks.

Hell Ride is described in its press materials as a “blood-and-sex-soaked motorcycle vengeance flick” … and ain’t that the truth. Concerning bad-ass bikers with names such as Pistolero (Larry Bishop), The Gent (Michael Madsen), Comanche (Eric Balfour) and Machete (Francesco Quinn), who hit the road to avenge the killing of Pistolero’s lover (Julia Jones) by a rival gang, Hell Ride offers an update (read: more sex and violence) of the grindhouse biker flicks of the ’60s and ’70s. Director/star Bishop, who starred in such movies four decades ago, is obviously quite comfortable with this kind of material.

Shelf Talk: The perfect Saturday night selection for frat boys, lovers of biker films of yesteryear and those who enjoy the genre homages served up by Quentin Tarantino, Hell Ride offers some period cred with supporting turns by veteran bad boys Dennis Hopper and David Carradine.

Action thriller, color, R (violence, language, drug use, nudity, sexual situations), 83 min., DVD $19.95, BD $29.95
Extras: commentary, featurettes, video diary
Director: Larry Bishop
First Run: L, Aug. 2008, <$1 mil.

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