I'll go with 5 on this one, I don't think it's that bad of a watch, though it did lose me here and there and some of the flash-forwards and backwards threw me off in the way they're cut together. I do agree with others that this is a different role for Heigl and she doesn't do too bad at it. I'm not sure if she would take that as a compliment given the role, but I love seeing the diversity and you have to start somewhere, right :)? Why not Zyzzyx Rd? I guess I'm a little thrown by the different spellings of the road, since I believe the "other film" Zzyzx actually has it correct, which if that's the case, I'm not sure why they spelled the title of this film as they did. There's also the fact that the 2 apparently came out the same year. Nevertheless, this wasn't a bad watch and I would suggest it to folks who like the Horror/Suspense/Thriller thing.
14 Reviews
What a stinker
steve-496-3709497 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I rented this movie knowing nothing about it. I guess I should have gone with my gut instinct and skipped it.
The movie is about a married accountant (Grillo) and his girlfriend (Heigl) who are discovered fooling around by her psychopathic boyfriend (Sizemore). The accountant kills him with a vibrator (!), and they take him out in the desert to bury him. The name of the movie, for no apparent reason, comes from the road they take into the desert. Once they get to the desert, Sizemore's body seems to have disappeared from the trunk of Grillo's car.
The pacing and directing were absolutely awful. I would say the acting was terrible, but I can't blame the actors for having so little to work with. In fact, the only reason I gave this a 2 was for Heigl's game efforts to do something with this mess. The plot, what there was of one, was stupid. Worse yet, it went off in a completely different direction midway through. Plot holes? Why yes, there were plenty of them. They were so frequent and so big, it was hard to follow the story. If it had been campier and had something resembling a plot, it might have made a decent B movie, but it doesn't even rise that far.
I was particularly amused at the makeup. Heigl's makeup varies from scene to scene, and the blood effects are hilarious. Grillo goes through most of the film with a cut on his head from his fracas with Sizemore. It is obvious that the cut is drawn on with a sharpie and smeared with grape jelly. What's more, it looks the same throughout the entire movie. Sizemore has a bruise on his forehead from being bonked with the vibrator that keeps moving around.
John Penney, who wrote and directed this travesty, should never be allowed to make another movie. Heigl and Sizemore need to fire their agents. Even if you're a B movie fan, you should give this one a pass. It's 90 minutes of your life that you can't get back.
The movie is about a married accountant (Grillo) and his girlfriend (Heigl) who are discovered fooling around by her psychopathic boyfriend (Sizemore). The accountant kills him with a vibrator (!), and they take him out in the desert to bury him. The name of the movie, for no apparent reason, comes from the road they take into the desert. Once they get to the desert, Sizemore's body seems to have disappeared from the trunk of Grillo's car.
The pacing and directing were absolutely awful. I would say the acting was terrible, but I can't blame the actors for having so little to work with. In fact, the only reason I gave this a 2 was for Heigl's game efforts to do something with this mess. The plot, what there was of one, was stupid. Worse yet, it went off in a completely different direction midway through. Plot holes? Why yes, there were plenty of them. They were so frequent and so big, it was hard to follow the story. If it had been campier and had something resembling a plot, it might have made a decent B movie, but it doesn't even rise that far.
I was particularly amused at the makeup. Heigl's makeup varies from scene to scene, and the blood effects are hilarious. Grillo goes through most of the film with a cut on his head from his fracas with Sizemore. It is obvious that the cut is drawn on with a sharpie and smeared with grape jelly. What's more, it looks the same throughout the entire movie. Sizemore has a bruise on his forehead from being bonked with the vibrator that keeps moving around.
John Penney, who wrote and directed this travesty, should never be allowed to make another movie. Heigl and Sizemore need to fire their agents. Even if you're a B movie fan, you should give this one a pass. It's 90 minutes of your life that you can't get back.
Sexist piece of crap!
Spaceygirl21 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Absolutely one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time! It starts off badly and just deteriorates. Katherine Heigl is woefully miscast in a Lolita role and Leo Grillo manfully struggles with what is essentially a cardboard cutout character. The only cast-member with any enthusiasm is Tom Sizemore, who hams it up as a villain and goes completely overboard with his role. The script is dire, the acting horrible and it has plot holes big enough to drive a double-decker bus through! It is also the most sexist movie I have ever seen! Katherine Heigl's character is completely unsympathetic. She's seen as an evil, wanton seductress who lures the poor, innocent married man to cheat on his wife. It is implied throughout the movie that she's underage, and the message that accompanies that plot-strand just beggars belief! At the end, she isn't even able to redeem herself by shooting the man who's obviously (ha!) become demented with rage and guilt, but the script allows him to kill himself, thereby redeeming himself in the eyes of males everywhere. Horrible. Don't waste your time.
On some roads it is better not to fold ... And some movies do not look better ...
stevebushemi17 March 2012
On some roads it is better not to fold ...
And some movies do not look better ...
Hmm ladies and gentlemen, it happens sometimes! This film is accidentally caught my eye, but after reading an annotation to it, it interested me. I expected to see a strong thriller like "The Turn" by Oliver Stone, for all the description for this disposal - a married accountant and his young lover, former lover caught them at the most inopportune moment, and therefore became a "corpse", which is unfortunate lovers to hide , for which they are sent into the wilderness to the notorious Ziziks Road.
What in the end. From the film I began to turn up already for 10 minutes, helped by a completely useless and uninteresting диалог, however, it was longer, but it does not matter. Very pretty girl with a lollipop in his mouth has a conversation with her father Godea uncle that would be quickly buried the corpse of her former the groom and quickly get back on that uncle bravely replied that everything would settle. Lord, who chose for the main male role in this masterpiece of "intergalactic" popular singer textural roles of men over 45, Leo Grillo? Believe in the existence of certain feelings between the young beauty, and our superhero in предварительно-retirement age is absolutely impossible, remember what kind of "fountain" was the feeling between King Kong and actress from the same movie, there is no hint of passion, so to empathize with characters already as it is not want.
Somewhere in the 40 minutes I turned off the film to look at KinoPoiske what kind of people have written it. And what is revealed to me: the film's director - a mediocre writer of films class B or even lower, he is a screenwriter and producer with a couple (who would have thought) the great Leo Grillo, so the choice for the main male role in this project was a foregone conclusion. As for the girls, it was Katherine Heigl, recently flashed in a very cute comedy "Knocked Up," as she agreed to star in this opus - is unclear, do all the paper was much better than that was the result, or the question was about money, after having in his filmography of the films can be great to spoil his reputation.
But someone's reputation on roles in movies is not exactly worried about is the third member of this motion picture - Tom Sizemore. The actor has long removed for a pinch of cocaine, it goes to 157 films a year and not a good one ... But the money does not smell because, as lawyers and realibitatsionnye clinics have to pay, and that's removed once the invoice actor Tom in any trash.
I decided to watch the movie, what this is all over, and I got a surprise ...
In the middle of the film is like an unexpected turn (it may be someone waiting in between going to bed) and the film is developed in a different vein ... even more delusional, more incoherent and meaningless. Katherine Heigl is trying to show fear and it is tolerable but it turns out (it is still a pretty actress who has proved that in "Knocked Up"), but because she is opposed to strict adherent of the school of Stanislavsky, acting genius, Leo Grillo, and there is nowhere to go, to yield titanium.
In the film, awful everything from script to performance, диалог and disclosure of the plot can be cast into a shock film fans, and ward off from watching any movie was about two weeks. I watched the film only by Katherine Heigl, she is the only thing worth watching this film, but in general it is better not to look too much he is hopeless in my opinion.
The budget of the movie $ 2 million and $ 30 fee, it's the most amazing collections I have ever seen, he was still in theaters? I would not be surprised if the $ 30 paid by Leo Grillo himself that would be with his family to see what their dad a cool dude, with himself in the movie Tom Sizemore is removed ...
Rate this movie on a scale of 10?
I think -10 of 10 it just right
And some movies do not look better ...
Hmm ladies and gentlemen, it happens sometimes! This film is accidentally caught my eye, but after reading an annotation to it, it interested me. I expected to see a strong thriller like "The Turn" by Oliver Stone, for all the description for this disposal - a married accountant and his young lover, former lover caught them at the most inopportune moment, and therefore became a "corpse", which is unfortunate lovers to hide , for which they are sent into the wilderness to the notorious Ziziks Road.
What in the end. From the film I began to turn up already for 10 minutes, helped by a completely useless and uninteresting диалог, however, it was longer, but it does not matter. Very pretty girl with a lollipop in his mouth has a conversation with her father Godea uncle that would be quickly buried the corpse of her former the groom and quickly get back on that uncle bravely replied that everything would settle. Lord, who chose for the main male role in this masterpiece of "intergalactic" popular singer textural roles of men over 45, Leo Grillo? Believe in the existence of certain feelings between the young beauty, and our superhero in предварительно-retirement age is absolutely impossible, remember what kind of "fountain" was the feeling between King Kong and actress from the same movie, there is no hint of passion, so to empathize with characters already as it is not want.
Somewhere in the 40 minutes I turned off the film to look at KinoPoiske what kind of people have written it. And what is revealed to me: the film's director - a mediocre writer of films class B or even lower, he is a screenwriter and producer with a couple (who would have thought) the great Leo Grillo, so the choice for the main male role in this project was a foregone conclusion. As for the girls, it was Katherine Heigl, recently flashed in a very cute comedy "Knocked Up," as she agreed to star in this opus - is unclear, do all the paper was much better than that was the result, or the question was about money, after having in his filmography of the films can be great to spoil his reputation.
But someone's reputation on roles in movies is not exactly worried about is the third member of this motion picture - Tom Sizemore. The actor has long removed for a pinch of cocaine, it goes to 157 films a year and not a good one ... But the money does not smell because, as lawyers and realibitatsionnye clinics have to pay, and that's removed once the invoice actor Tom in any trash.
I decided to watch the movie, what this is all over, and I got a surprise ...
In the middle of the film is like an unexpected turn (it may be someone waiting in between going to bed) and the film is developed in a different vein ... even more delusional, more incoherent and meaningless. Katherine Heigl is trying to show fear and it is tolerable but it turns out (it is still a pretty actress who has proved that in "Knocked Up"), but because she is opposed to strict adherent of the school of Stanislavsky, acting genius, Leo Grillo, and there is nowhere to go, to yield titanium.
In the film, awful everything from script to performance, диалог and disclosure of the plot can be cast into a shock film fans, and ward off from watching any movie was about two weeks. I watched the film only by Katherine Heigl, she is the only thing worth watching this film, but in general it is better not to look too much he is hopeless in my opinion.
The budget of the movie $ 2 million and $ 30 fee, it's the most amazing collections I have ever seen, he was still in theaters? I would not be surprised if the $ 30 paid by Leo Grillo himself that would be with his family to see what their dad a cool dude, with himself in the movie Tom Sizemore is removed ...
Rate this movie on a scale of 10?
I think -10 of 10 it just right
I do not want to see this movie again
ioan-fantanaru22 January 2019
One of the weakest movies, poorly played. The scene when the dead man escapes from the car wants to be funny, but nobody really assured he's really dead. He closed the door, but the dead guy's hand was out. :)) It's a kind of comedy combined with the thriller, but neither has ever gone out well.
Great film!
amy-florom4 January 2008
This film is great. It's fun to watch Heigl in a different role from normal. She's a great actress. Check it out - worth the time! Grillo and Sizemore are also great, Sizemore is an awesome villain. The storyline is very different - lots of twists and keeps you on your toes. Overall, it's a fun and exciting thriller/mystery. Zyzzyx Road is the actual name of a road in Las Vegas. The film has a funny history -- grossing $30 at the box office! That makes it the lowest grossing film of all time, but there's a lot more to it than that. It's an interesting story, look it up on Google some time. I think that its also in the trivia on this page. For the record, it is pronounced "Zizzix"
Guilty Complex
claudio_carvalho3 September 2007
The family man accountant Grant (Leo Grillo) travels to Los Angeles and meets the lascivious "Lolita" Marissa (Katherine Heigl) in a casino. While in the motel with Marissa, her violent ex-boyfriend Joey (Tom Sizemore) surprises them on the bed, hits Grant on the head, but he kills Joey. Grant brings Joey's body to bury in the desert Zyzzyx Road, but after digging a grave, he finds that the body is missing in the trunk of his car. Grant chases Joey with a shovel in the desert, and when he finds the man hidden in a abandoned mine, Joey discloses a secret about Marissa.
I bought "Zyzzyx Rd" on DVD without any expectations and I really liked this low-budget movie. The story begins theatrical, claustrophobic and intriguing; there are two surprising twists and a tragic conclusion after disclosing the guilty complex of Grant. I like this type of films where screenplay, direction and performances prevail over a high budget and special effects. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Estrada da Morte" ("Road of the Death")
I bought "Zyzzyx Rd" on DVD without any expectations and I really liked this low-budget movie. The story begins theatrical, claustrophobic and intriguing; there are two surprising twists and a tragic conclusion after disclosing the guilty complex of Grant. I like this type of films where screenplay, direction and performances prevail over a high budget and special effects. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Estrada da Morte" ("Road of the Death")
Great action adventure, Raiders of the Lost Joan of Arc!
buttyfrench18 September 2019
Despite the negative reviews, this film rocks! When I was watching this, I just could not get up to go use the bathroom because I could not lose a minute of the wild things happening on my home epic film movie screen in my Man Cave. The girl from Gray's Anatomy was extra extra hot in this one! She shows all of her bumpy bit and kept them jiggling for use the whole time, if you know what I'm saying! Steven Seagal wrote parts of the screen plane so the talking part also had big action in them. There are 2 keys scenes in the movie that are completely lifted from Goodfellas and Gigli. Jennifer Lopez was great in this one even it was a small roll. I believe in the power to heal people, countries, and nations, so this is one of those kind of movies. It has a message! The message is that "If you mess with me or my stuff, I will rip your face off and burn it!". My wife found the sex scenes way way to graphic. I liked every second of them. Give this movie a chance to change your life, too!
More a novelty, curiosity, than anything else.
The_Melancholic_Alcoholic10 March 2009
I saw this primarily because boxofficemojo. com gave this movie the worst productioncost-to-visitor ratio, EVER! That's primarily because they didn't distribute it.
And showed it only in one theatre world wide But still. Officially, 30 people saw the theatrical release.
But since then, it has been downloaded many more times.
So .... I will give this an A for Effort.
It was kinda hard to sit through.
The story was hard to follow.
But Heigl was Okay.
I liked Madsen as well.
And showed it only in one theatre world wide But still. Officially, 30 people saw the theatrical release.
But since then, it has been downloaded many more times.
So .... I will give this an A for Effort.
It was kinda hard to sit through.
The story was hard to follow.
But Heigl was Okay.
I liked Madsen as well.
Far From Awful
aaronpalenski20 May 2023
It's hard to comprehend how this movie, or any other move for that matter, could have done this badly at the box office!!?
I found it an intriguing slow burn, with a couple of interesting turns along the way... even a little Twilight Zoney at times.
It's also nice to see Heigl in a slighty different role, who to this point, already had a fourteen year movie career behind her, but hadn't yet broken through! Talk about paying your dues! As a late blooming Katherine Heigl fan exploring her back catalogue, I found this a very easy watch.
Other reviewers seem completely polarised by the flick, but scores of 1/10 or 10/10 are extreme! This movie maybe a bit on the mediocre side, but I would happily kick back and revisit it.
I found it an intriguing slow burn, with a couple of interesting turns along the way... even a little Twilight Zoney at times.
It's also nice to see Heigl in a slighty different role, who to this point, already had a fourteen year movie career behind her, but hadn't yet broken through! Talk about paying your dues! As a late blooming Katherine Heigl fan exploring her back catalogue, I found this a very easy watch.
Other reviewers seem completely polarised by the flick, but scores of 1/10 or 10/10 are extreme! This movie maybe a bit on the mediocre side, but I would happily kick back and revisit it.
This is one of the greatest movies i've ever seen.
camerongrasso13 August 2022
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand zyzzyx Road. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. This movie can be compared to Rick And Morty, which is the best show ever. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick and Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a Rick and Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
Anyway best $5 I spent, I couldn't used this money to feed my family who are now dead but its all good because it was worth it.
Anyway best $5 I spent, I couldn't used this money to feed my family who are now dead but its all good because it was worth it.
Not bad.
roxy349911 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was not as bad as you think come on. Zyzzyx Road was confusing in some parts but in a good way. This film was a beautiful mess. I actually liked this film.
The performances were not bad. I found Joey (Tom Sizemore) the most menacing of the three. He keeps appearing and disappearing and it kinda freaked me out a little.
Katherine Heigl gave a pretty good performance as this Marissa who is trying to escape her psychopathic ex boyfriend to start a new life with Grant (Leo Grillo) and they get stuck in the middle of nowhere and is haunted by the ghost of Marissa's ex boyfriend.
The film went from Grant and Marissa being together to Grant turning on Marissa trying to kill her. Geez Louise the plot twist was surprising.
The performances were not bad. I found Joey (Tom Sizemore) the most menacing of the three. He keeps appearing and disappearing and it kinda freaked me out a little.
Katherine Heigl gave a pretty good performance as this Marissa who is trying to escape her psychopathic ex boyfriend to start a new life with Grant (Leo Grillo) and they get stuck in the middle of nowhere and is haunted by the ghost of Marissa's ex boyfriend.
The film went from Grant and Marissa being together to Grant turning on Marissa trying to kill her. Geez Louise the plot twist was surprising.
Can't wait to get my DVD!
nwedlock17 April 2008
This film is awesome especially for those that like hanging on the edge of their seat! I was so surprised at the ending. I spoke with some friends who also watched it today and we all seem to pick up different things and have a different take on it. I plan to watch it again tonight on my computer while it's still streaming for free. It's definitely one of those movies that you have to watch more than once. I know each time I watch it I'm going to pick up something that I missed. I'm glad I ordered the DVD, which remarkably was only $5.
After I watch it one more time, I'm going to come back and post a message where others who have seen it can give their opinions on what was going on. IF any of the filmmakers are on this board and care to give us some hints, that would be helpful! :o) Or perhaps they chose for us to draw our own conclusions.
After I watch it one more time, I'm going to come back and post a message where others who have seen it can give their opinions on what was going on. IF any of the filmmakers are on this board and care to give us some hints, that would be helpful! :o) Or perhaps they chose for us to draw our own conclusions.
Is Zyzzyx Road Really That Bad?
rdfranciscritic19 July 2023
No, it's not.
For all the bad press heaped upon Zyzzyx Road from various online critics: professional journalist and bloggers both, their QWERTY-bashing is based on the film's box-office notoriety and not the film's production quality, itself. Thus: bad box office means inept film.
Sure, one can name drop the fellow box-office failures of Heaven's Gate, Ishtar and Plan 9 From Outer Space in a sentence alongside Zyzzyx Road, but writer-director John Penney is no Tommy Wiseau in either department and Leo Grillo is no Neil Breen in the thespin' arena.
As Jeffrey Ressner accurately opined in his February 2007 review on the digitized pages of Time-CNN, Zyzzyx Road aspires as a noirish road picture in the vein of Red Rock West (a stellar, 1993 John Dahl film starring Nic Cage) or U-Turn (a not-as-stellar Sean Penn-starrer directed by Oliver Stone).
What rises Zyzzyx Road to that Dahl-Stone comparison (at least in its visual quality): Director John Penney hired Kevin Smith's go-to cinematographer, David Klein, who framed Clerks, Chasing Amy, Cop Out and Red State (he's since moved on to multiple episodes of HBO's True Blood and Disney's The Mandalorian). Together, with production designer Dorian Vernacchio (Hellraiser: Bloodline and TV's Babylon 5), they effectively capture the remote, Mojave parcels, making great use of an existing desert dumping site and its abandoned buildings, as well as an old mine left over from the days when the lands past Zzyxz Road was a hick town-mining community. Shooting in the desert-under direct sunlight, where lens-flares are the norm-the proceedings are far from amateur.
John Penney's script -- while far from being an Arthur Miller-inspired "Greek Tragedy" it wants to be -- deploys a non-linear approach and begins In medias res -- and probably inspired by the likes of Humphrey Bogart's Dead Reckoning (1947) and the William Holden-starring Sunset Blvd. (1950) and, of course, more so: the film adaption, Death of a Salesman (1951). Structurally, Penney's debut rises not to neither of those classics; for it unspools as a extended, '60s episode of The Twilight Zone (or HBO's '80s mystery-horror variant, The Hitchhiker) that leaves the proceedings not as noir cut-and-dry as most reviewers lead us to believe. Yeah, this would have worked much better as a 20-minute anthology segment (rife with sub-text) than a full-length feature film.
And to say more would be plot spoiling. I'll give this 5 1/2 stars.
For all the bad press heaped upon Zyzzyx Road from various online critics: professional journalist and bloggers both, their QWERTY-bashing is based on the film's box-office notoriety and not the film's production quality, itself. Thus: bad box office means inept film.
Sure, one can name drop the fellow box-office failures of Heaven's Gate, Ishtar and Plan 9 From Outer Space in a sentence alongside Zyzzyx Road, but writer-director John Penney is no Tommy Wiseau in either department and Leo Grillo is no Neil Breen in the thespin' arena.
As Jeffrey Ressner accurately opined in his February 2007 review on the digitized pages of Time-CNN, Zyzzyx Road aspires as a noirish road picture in the vein of Red Rock West (a stellar, 1993 John Dahl film starring Nic Cage) or U-Turn (a not-as-stellar Sean Penn-starrer directed by Oliver Stone).
What rises Zyzzyx Road to that Dahl-Stone comparison (at least in its visual quality): Director John Penney hired Kevin Smith's go-to cinematographer, David Klein, who framed Clerks, Chasing Amy, Cop Out and Red State (he's since moved on to multiple episodes of HBO's True Blood and Disney's The Mandalorian). Together, with production designer Dorian Vernacchio (Hellraiser: Bloodline and TV's Babylon 5), they effectively capture the remote, Mojave parcels, making great use of an existing desert dumping site and its abandoned buildings, as well as an old mine left over from the days when the lands past Zzyxz Road was a hick town-mining community. Shooting in the desert-under direct sunlight, where lens-flares are the norm-the proceedings are far from amateur.
John Penney's script -- while far from being an Arthur Miller-inspired "Greek Tragedy" it wants to be -- deploys a non-linear approach and begins In medias res -- and probably inspired by the likes of Humphrey Bogart's Dead Reckoning (1947) and the William Holden-starring Sunset Blvd. (1950) and, of course, more so: the film adaption, Death of a Salesman (1951). Structurally, Penney's debut rises not to neither of those classics; for it unspools as a extended, '60s episode of The Twilight Zone (or HBO's '80s mystery-horror variant, The Hitchhiker) that leaves the proceedings not as noir cut-and-dry as most reviewers lead us to believe. Yeah, this would have worked much better as a 20-minute anthology segment (rife with sub-text) than a full-length feature film.
And to say more would be plot spoiling. I'll give this 5 1/2 stars.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
