Roadkill (2011 film)

Kate (Kacey Barnfield) is traveling around Ireland in an R.V. with her ex-boyfriend Ryan (Oliver James), brother Joel (Colin Maher) and friends Hailey (Eliza Bennett), Chuck (Diarmuid Noyes), Tommy (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and Anita (Róisín Murphy). After driving into the countryside, the group stop off at a small shop, where they encounter Luca (Ned Dennehy) who attempts to scam them from buying a medallion, and warns them it is dangerous before Chuck steals the medallion and the group attempt to make a quick get-away. However, as they drive away in their R.V. they hit an old woman, who puts a curse on the group, telling them the mythical bird the roc will take vengeance on them, before dying. The group quickly drive away in their R.V. but hit a patch of thick fog and become lost, as fears of the curse heighten. Stopping the R.V. they encounter a young boy in the road. Anita leaves the R.V. to talk to the boy, but he runs away before the roc grabs Anita and drags her into the air. Her body is dropped in front of the R.V., with half of her face mauled off before the roc returns and flies away with her.

Ryan continues to drive down the road, as the group begin to panic as they have no way of contacting help. The roc attacks the R.V. and causes a tire to be blown. Armed with a road flare, Tommy goes to change the tires. As he finishes, the roc returns. The group hears the road flare set off and rush outside, to find Tommy with his face mauled off. The roc swoops down grabs Tommy, flies off and decapitates Tommy, while the others retreat into the R.V. The group begin to argue, but the roc reappears, chasing after the R.V., however it flies away when the R.V. reaches a secluded house. The group enter the house and find a family, including Drina (Eve Macklin), who are willing to let them use their phone. However, Luca arrives and takes them outside at gun point. Drina takes Kate to retrieve the medallion from the R.V., however Kate instead knocks her out and escapes, having already put the medallion on, while Luca ties the others to wooden poles so the roc can get them. As the roc arrives, Kate manages to free her friends before the roc flies away after seeing the medallion. However Luca shoots Hailey in the stomach, killing her and forcing the others to flee into the surrounding forest.

Luca chases them throughout the forest, but they manage to escape back to the R.V. where they find Drina once more, who begs for the medallion. Kate discovers the medallion is protection against the roc, so escapes with it, leaving Drina to be killed by the roc. After driving down the road farther, the group pass a service station. Ryan leaves the R.V. after reconciling with Kate, to call for help, while the others continue to drive down the road to create a distraction. The roc briefly follows the R.V. but soon circles around to go back for Ryan. As Ryan is about to be attacked, the others distract the roc and manage to harm it with fire. They leave the R.V. to find Ryan missing and the phone broken. They hide in a restroom before they hear a policeman, Seamus (Stephen Rea) arrive, however he begins to tie them up for the roc, but they overpower him and knock him unconscious. While escaping, Joel is carried away by the roc. As Kate and Chuck are leaving they run over Seamus, killing him.

After driving down the road, Kate receives a call from Ryan, however the line is cut dead. Kate manages to get a signal and phones Ryan back. Hearing the cell-phone ring, Kate rushes out into the forest only to find Luca, who shows Kate the rocs nest, filled with her dead friends. Chuck arrives and sends Luca away at gunpoint before Kate takes the gun and sends Chuck back to the R.V. to escape, while she remains mourning in the nest with the bodies of her friends, including Ryan, to be killed by the roc.

Chuck, the sole survivor of the group, reaches a gas station and stops for gas, but Luca is already there and forces Chuck to give him the medallion. The roc arrives, but Chuck manages to ignite some spilt gas, blowing up the R.V. and Luca with the roc. The roc however, somehow manages to survive and attacks Chuck as he is walking away, completing the old woman's revenge.

• Kacey Barnfield as Kate
• Oliver James as Ryan
• Diarmuid Noyes as Chuck
• Eliza Bennett as Hailey
• Colin Maher as Joel
• Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Tommy
• Ned Dennehy as Luca
• Róisín Murphy as Anita
• Eve Macklin as Drina
• Stephen Rea as Seamus

Dread Central gave the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, writing, "All in all Roadkill is a solid entry in the Syfy Original genre. While it suffers from some of the shortcomings we’re used to seeing with these films, there are enough pleasant surprises to keep it interesting. The filmmaking is strong overall, and it’s clear everyone involved was actually trying to make a good movie here. You never get the sense anyone involved simply showed up for a paycheck, and their dedication shows."[2] Bruce Kooken from HorrorNews.net gave the film a positive review, writing, "The distinction that Roadkill makes is that the acting is surprisingly good, the story concept is rather nifty even though the gypsy-curse angle has been recycled .. and there’s actually some credible character development."[3] Justin Felix from DVD Talk gave the film a negative review, writing, "Roadkill takes full advantage of its Irish countryside location, but little else works in this SyFy Channel Maneater Series entry that unsuccessfully tries to merge the creature feature template with the backwoods killer genre."[4]

• Roadkill at AllMovie
• Roadkill on IMDb
• Roadkill at Rotten Tomatoes