Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageRoad Flower (1993)
Director: Deran Sarafian
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A cautionary thriller which plays like a cross between The Hitcher and Cape Fear. It's the story of a middle-class family whose vacation turns into a nightmare when they get on the wrong side of a bunch of tearaways halfway across a Midwestern desert. Goaded into playing chicken with the youths, one adult ends up dead, and the others are taken prisoner while the mentally unstable leader (Sheffer) decides how to dispose of them. After a taut, provocative opening, the improbabilities soon mount up (a situation not helped by Sheffer's OTT performance). The film never really finds its feet, but settles down to a series of action clichés (note how Lambert's specs disappear once his gravitas has been established). It's ironic, given the emphasis on dysfunctional families of one kind or another, that the film is itself a family affair: written and produced by Tedi Sarafian, while sometime director Richard Sarafian appears in a cameo role.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Deran Sarafian
Producer: John Flock, Lance Hool
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Craig Sheffer, David Arquette, Adrienne Shelley, Noah Fleiss full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 86 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now