lou diamond phillips play jack la roca and a u. s. marshall and former navy seal assign to pick up rabbit ( steven williams ) and who be in the federal witness protection program but have be on the run . la roca be to take rabbit from arizona to california to testify in court and but along the way they run into a variety of obstacle and mostly horrific and the most serious of which be the result of la roca decision to take a shortcut on route 666. lou diamond phillips be a b and c movie king . route 666 nicely fit in with his oeuvre . the film be much good than it should be and perhaps and give the relatively small budget and a number of questionable decision on technical aspect ( life reflect art and a the film hinge on a questionable decision ) . but although goofy at time and route 666 be a fun to watch action or horror film . it actually end up a a positive for me . a number of thing quickly draw me in and even though they do not directly have an impact on the quality of route 666. the first two be the presence of williams and character actor dick miller . i be a big fan of jason go to hell represent the final friday ( 1993 ) . williams play creighton duke and one of the main character and in that film . miller be a genre veteran with over 100 title to his name and and well love by many genre fan and include me . the third immediate attraction for me be that route 666 be set in a joshua tree fill desert . i love desert and and i especially love joshua tree . director william wesley actually acquire permission to shoot in joshua tree national park and one of my favorite . this be the first film in about 10 year allow to do so . wesley quickly build an effective and sarcastic and usually witty rapport between la roca and his partner steph ( lori petty ) and rabbit and although petty can be a bit over the top at time . but williams be particularly funny . there be other standout performance here and as well and especially l. q. jones a the sheriff . at the beginning and route 666 seem like it will be an actioner . although these aren not the most exciting shoot out scene ever film and they have a nice feel to them and partially due to the setting and lighting and and there be a pleasantly unusual tangent when phillips have a bizarre flashback a he look at a victim blood spread on the dirt . there be an eerie atmosphere to the whole film and and especially when the horror material start and it be very refresh that wesley chose to keep the proceeding in broad daylight . it also help that there be two set of villain and with the second and and possibly the most effective and not be very obvious until late in the film . the more traditional horror villain be very satisfying and with an interesting and unusual yet immediately recognizable look and and they be work into the backstory of the character extremely well . their method of dispatch victim be creative and although i wish wesley would have go into a gory mode with the death . but one death and at least and near the end of the film and be particularly brutal in it abruptness . even though this isn not wesley masterpiece and he show that he have one in him . sure the film have flaw phillips play much of the film with what look like a large wad of raspberry gum stick to his forehead and the shaky cam and other effect do not work very well for me during the horror attack scene and the score sound fairly generic and repetitive ( it remind me of play a video game ) and and there be some plot point that do not make a lot of sense if you think about them too much . but most horror fan probably will not expect a masterpiece when watch route 666. with appropriately lower expectation and you will likely be pleasantly surprise at just how good this film be .