If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This was perhaps my least favorite of the Joy Ride movies, as the psychotic truck driver Rusty Nail returns for his third go-round. This time, a bunch of car racers head down the "Bermuda Triangle" highway that Rusty Nail haunts, draw his ire, and he starts pursuing them. The "tricks" aren't as fresh as they were in the first movies, and a couple torture scenes and scenes with victims on top of the trucks were a bit unpleasant to watch. Rusty Nail is still a fun villain though. It was more fun when you just heard his voice. Just watch this if you're curious about the Joy Ride movies.** out of ****

The original Joyride is one of my favorite horror films/thrillers: lots of tension and though it was a little derivative of The Hitcher and Duel, it had enough originality to keep you guessing as to what happens next. It also had better actors playing more likable characters than the teenage clichés presented here. It also relied mostly on suspense rather than the gratuitous gore thrown in here. I watched the first sequel (even though it was a direct-to-video) and it was pretty bad, but this one is terrible. Rusty Nail is no longer mysterious; he's on full view here and is thus just another slasher killing for no reason (other than being cut off in traffic by one of the characters). In the first film he was genuinely humiliated. But being cut off on the highway doesn't seem like much of a reason to go on a torturing, killing rampage, building elaborate contraptions as part of his revenge. Most people just flip the bird when cut off on the roadway. Time to put the brakes on this series.

I found the original Joy Ride mediocre, but it was successful enough in order to have a straight-to-DVD sequel (Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead), which abandoned the road movie/thriller premise in order to belong to the horror genre. And now, Joy Ride 3 attempts to resurrect the franchise putting the emphasis on the villain; the result is mediocre, but moderately entertaining. The characters are slightly more intelligent and less irritating than in other horror films, something which creates a reasonable level of suspense; but the screenplay lies too much on improbable coincidences and on the villain's almost supernatural capacity to always be one step ahead of the victims. For example, the victims have constant difficulties to communicate through their mobile phones and civil band radios. Meanwhile, the villain doesn't have any problem in keeping a wireless connection to the Internet while he drives his truck at 100 kilometres per hour over an abandoned highway through the desert. And in that way, jumping through logical holes and employing trite situations (including the obligatory personal conflicts and romantic tension), the film advances by fits and starts, even though that doesn't avoid the movie from being tolerable. So, even though I didn't find Joy Ride 3 a very good movie, I can give it a slight recommendation, and I would place it above the second film of the saga and at the same level of the first one. And to the fans of J.J. Abrams', don't waste the opportunity of seeing this famous director's name in the credits of a mediocre straight-to-DVD sequel (he was a co- screenwriter of the original Joy Ride, and he keeps receiving the "Inspired on characters created by" credit; I'm sure that his publicist must have nightmares in that regard).

A race team is driving to Canada to participate in an auto race. They decide to take a shortcut through a lonely road and when they surpass the truck of Rusty Nail (Ken Kirzinger), the psychopathic trucker hunts the down and captures each one of them to torture and kill."Joy Ride 3" is an awful collection of clichés with the usual stupidities of the characters and situations and omnipresence of the indestructible villain. The car has a flat tire when the driver is not near his friends; the cellular never work when the group is in danger; the group splits and tries to rescue the friend that is in danger instead of calling the police; the killer does not die and is always one step ahead of the group; the girl leaves a safe position to help the good guy and only jeopardizes the situation; the police officers take always the most stupid attitude to die. The good thing is the gore and realistic special effects. In the end, I do not understand why I spent my time watching this predictable garbage. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Perseguição 3 – Correndo para a Morte" ("Pusuit 3 – Running to the Death")