Film
CreditsDirector: Alexandre Aja Starring: Aaron Stanford, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Emilie de Ravin, Dan Byrd, Robert Joy, Ezra Buzzington On DVD: March 18, 2008
In Theaters: March 10th, 2006
It all begins with a typically dysfunctional cross-country family road trip. It’s the wedding anniversary of rugged Cleveland police detective “Big Bob” Carter (Ted Levine) and his chatty wife Ethel (Academy Award® nominee Kathleen Quinlan) and to celebrate, Bob’s asked his extended family to cruise to California with them, hoping the joys of the open road might help fuse their frayed connections. No one is particularly happy about it. Eldest daughter, Lynn, (Vinessa Shaw) worries about her new baby’s safety and comfort while her husband, mild-mannered tech geek, Doug (Aaron Stanford), worries about close encounters with his father-in-law. Meanwhile teen daughter, Brenda, (Emilie de Ravin) detests the idea of leaving her friends for a family bonding trip, while young prankster Bobby, (Dan Byrd) is anxious to entertain the family’s two German Shepherds, Beauty and Beast. Nevertheless, the entire clan piles into a weathered Suburban pulling Bob’s beloved ’88 Airstream trailer and heads west.
Then, Big Bob takes a detour. Suddenly, the Carter family finds themselves in a desolate stretch of desert, with nothing seemingly alive for miles. When they run into a little unexpected vehicle trouble, they realize they are in dire straits, far from help, with a relentlessly sweltering desert sun overhead. But even as they fight to survive the deadly desert, a far greater threat emerges. Now the Carters become aware that they are not quite as alone as they first thought. There is another group of survivors in the hills surrounding the desert: a genetically mutated, insatiably hungry, blood-thirsty clan -- the terrifying offspring of miners left behind in the days when atomic tests spread radioactive fallout across the desert -- who will stop at nothing to prey on the Carters one by one. Facing the very depths of savagery, the Carter family must pull together if they are to find any hope of returning to civilized life again...alive.
FYI
A new take on Wes Craven's 1977 film of the same name.
