Other movies in this series:
Please see the Nightmares and Dreamscapes page.

Rish's Reviews
The Road Virus Heads North tells of a big-time novelist (Tom Berenger), who has to confront his own mortality after going to the city for an appearance/book signing, discovering that he has a potentially life-threatening medical problem, and also discovering a strange, almost fluid painting of a frightening-looking motorist. And if the cancer doesn't get him, that painting surely will.
The Road Virus is not one of my favourite King stories. It was written in that post-van accident, self-indulgent, all-things-serve-the-Tower period when it started to look like his best work was far behind him.
This is actually a pretty good adaptation, though. I'd say it's the scariest of the "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" episodes, with nice imagery, a scary concept, and a menacing threat. But it's uneven (much like the series, which started out so well). Tom Berenger, fatter and New Englander than we've seen him, wasn't too bad. It was interesting that the character ended up being so Stephen King-like ("Is Horror all you write?" "Do you ever scare yourself?" "How do you get your ideas?"), which usually annoys me (King didn't write the character as himself in the story, as I recall), but was mildly amusing in this go-round.
There was some creepy backstory about the painting, a well-done beheading, and enough buildup before the horror begins that I liked the main character and that of his aunt (and even the ex-wife, who is usually painted as Drucilla, Queen of the Harpies in movies and books).
But the adaptation doesn't quite work, especially the abrupt, "well, time's up, everybody pack up your things" ending. I'm not sure why people do that. Don't they know that the most important part of a horror story . . . Aww, I've said it before.
In watching this TNT series at the same time as the Anchor Bay/Showtime series "Masters of Horror," has really encouraged comparisons. And "MOH" wins every single time.
Posted: November 14, 2006

Total Skulls: 9

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?