‘Trucker’ VOD Review
Stars: Nicole Mattox, Dare Taylor, Katherine Gibson, Jim Palmer, Lauren Parkinson, Dwayne Hilton Jr., Chuck Cirino, Ian Hummel, Ryan Rathbun | Written by Steven Shaffer | Directed by Errol Sack
There’s a certain kind of low-budget revenge flick that feels like it was discovered on a dusty VHS shelf rather than released in the streaming age – and Trucker very much fits that bill. Directed by Errol Sack, this 80s-set throwback leans hard into grimy exploitation territory, with a premise that’s equal parts nasty and morally murky.
The setup is brutal. A group of reckless teens cause a crash that kills a trucker’s family, then, because apparently being responsible for manslaughter isn’t enough, some of them decide to humiliate the badly injured survivor. Fast forward a year, and said trucker – now a burnt, masked road warrior straight out of Mad Max cosplay – is back and very much in the mood for revenge.
And here’s where Trucker actually does something interesting… almost by accident… it blurs it’s own morality. The “protagonists” are, frankly, awful, at least some of them, so when the trucker starts picking them off, you’re not exactly rushing to root against him. But then the film throws in genuinely innocent characters and has them suffer the same fate, muddying the waters even further. It raises a surprisingly compelling question: where should your sympathies lie?
It’s not exactly high-minded horror, but the dilemma is there.
The salvage yard setting also does a lot of heavy lifting. It’s isolated, cluttered, and full of hiding spots – perfect slasher territory. Add in a visually striking killer (burn scars, face mask, Mad Max vibes) and a decent splash of practical gore, and you’ve got the bones of something entertainingly nasty. Unfortunately, Trucker quickly drives off a cliff when it comes to logic.
Nothing really makes sense. The killer somehow knows exactly who he’s targeting despite barely seeing them during the crash. A bizarre subplot involving a “crazy old man” rehabilitating (or possibly experimenting on?) the trucker goes unexplained. Characters make baffling decisions – like assuming a missing friend has just been hanging around the same scrapyard for a year. It’s the kind of storytelling where scenes exist because they look cool, not because they hold together.
The low-budget cracks show too. The crash sequence screams miniature work, the green screen driving shots are rough, and the acting swings wildly from serviceable to outright hammy, especially from the salvage yard’s eccentric owner. And then there’s the trucker himself. Despite being presented as a severely injured man hooked up to oxygen, he shrugs off damage like he’s the Terminator: no explanation, no logic, just vibes.
Trucker is pure, unapologetic B-movie schlock. There’s a scrappy charm to its grimy revenge setup, a cool-looking villain, and just enough moral ambiguity to keep things mildly engaging. But it’s buried under a mountain of nonsense plotting, questionable decisions, and bargain-bin production values. This is the kind of film you stumble across late at night and half-enjoy despite yourself. Just don’t expect it to make a lick of sense.
** 2/5
Trucker is available on digital platforms now.
