Director: Ate de Jong
Screenplay: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Patrick Bergin, Adam Storke, Chad Lowe, Kristy Swanson, Pamela Gidley, Jarrett Lennon, C.J. Graham, Richard Farnsworth, Lita Ford, Gilbert Gottfried, Anna Meara
Country: USA
Running Time: 94 min
Year: 1990 (released in 1992)
BBFC Certificate: 15
Radiance’s new Transmission range is off to a brilliant start and has introduced me to a range of films I’d never seen before, some of which I had heard of and were on my ‘to watch’ list and others that I admit had passed me by.
The range kicked off with the brilliant Night of the Juggler (1980) directed by Sidney J. Furie before bringing us the Peter O’Toole-starring masterpiece The Stunt Man (1980) and, most recently, Larry Cohen’s underseen gem Special Effects (1984).
The fourth release in the sub-label is a film I admit I was unaware of until the Radiance announcement of its limited edition Blu-ray, despite the fact that at the time of its release in 1992 (though it was made in 1990) I would have been among its target audience. The film is Highway to Hell, directed by Ate de Jong who, in the same year as this was released, brought us the Rik Mayall-starring Drop Dead Fred.
Highway to Hell follows a young couple, Charlie (Chad Lowe) and Rachel (Kristy Swanson), who are on their way to Las Vegas to elope. They take a desert shortcut along an abandoned backroad in the state of Nevada to avoid a highway patrol cop they think is tailing them, but instead of bringing them closer to their marriage, it sees them being abducted by the Hellcop (C.J. Graham) who abducts Rachel on behalf of Satan, taking her through a portal into hell to wed the Devil.
Charlie gets hold of a supernatural car from local gas station attendant Sam (Richard Farnsworth), who explains the plot a bit – a series of people have vanished on the same road as Rachel disappears, which Sam dubs the ‘highway to hell’. With his new car, Charlie can pass through a portal into hell and attempts to save his fiancé whilst battling demons, a motorcycle gang and others along the way. He also encounters some of those who have been taken by Hellcop – a particularly menacing character – into hell.
What a plot! It’s a typically high concept one that seemingly stood a better chance of getting green lit in the 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s than it perhaps would do now. It’s a script of invention and ideas and, whilst not everything works, I couldn’t help but admire the creativity from the script and with what made it onto the screen thanks to the acting, production design, make-up and visual effects. The script was by future L.A. Confidential (1998) and Mystic River (2003) screenwriter Brian Helgeland.
By the time of Highway to Hell’s release (production company Hemdale held off on its release for a year), Patrick Bergin, who plays Satan himself, Beezle, had gone on to star in the hit psychological thriller Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) with future superstar Julia Roberts, and a British version of Robin Hood (1991) produced by Die Hard (1988) director John McTiernan.
He’s great in what’s billed as the lead role, but is essentially the role of the lead villain – he doesn’t even appear until over a third of the way in. Second billed is Adam Storke as Royce, a human who heads up a motorcycle gang. He’s decent in the role, but I’m not sure why he billed above the actors behind Charlie and Rachel, particularly the former who is the real lead character.
Chad Lowe, the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe, is very good in the role of Charlie, he’s an everyman caught up a nightmare who is just trying to be reunited with his future wife. Kirsty Swanson is very likeable as Rachel, a role that came before her best-known role of the original film incarnation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), which flopped but would be resurrected at as a hit, beloved and acclaimed TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in the role of the Slayer.
Look out too for some wonderful small roles and cameos, including the aforementioned Richard Farnsworth, who would find late acclaim and award nominations in David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999), future comedy superstar Ben Stiller and his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, actress and composer Lita Ford, and Gilbert Gottfried (the voice of Iago in Disney’s animated classic Aladdin [1992] amongst other roles) in a memorable turn as Hitler. Special mention too for C.J. Graham who, behind the Hellcop make-up, creates a memorable, formidable and creepy henchman.
There’s also real enjoyment to be had thanks to the effects in the film, from the make-up of some of the denizens of hell through to the Claymation used to bring the likes of a three-headed hell dog to life. The Claymation and other visual effects were created by a team led by supervisor Steve Johnson and Randall William Cook, the latter of whom would create the Terror Dogs in Ghostbusters (1984) and be part of a team that would win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for three consecutive years (2002, 20023 and 2004) for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The film is a pleasure from start to finish, even though some of the characters and elements are undercooked. The world of hell, its bizarre rules and the characters who inhabit it has a Beetlejuice (1988) feel to it at times, particularly in the anarchy of some of the moments that are played for laughs. The motorcycle gang gives it a Mad Max (1979) feel, too. There are some wonderful moments of world-building, from the design of the diner to TV adverts that play.
Its tone isn’t always even – not all of the jokes worked for me and for a horror comedy that’s a flaw, but I also felt the horror elements weren’t scary enough, including Beezle, who as the devil should be scary and intimidating in this type of film. These reservations aside, I found myself entertained throughout and very pleased to have seen this underseen treasure.
In conclusion, Highway to Hell is an entertaining descent into a very creative version of hell, which is brought to life through some small moments of world-building and inhabited by some memorable characters who are brought to the screen either by actors or a mix of acting and some strong prosthetics work, as well as some Claymation creatures too. It doesn’t all land but it’s never less than a fun road trip.
Film: 
Highway to Hell is released by Radiance on their Transmission label on 20th April 2026. The video is a high-definition transfer and looks generally good throughout. There is decent detail and clarity, and a natural filmic quality and colour scheme, although some of the visual effects admittedly don’t look quite as clean as the film does when its transfer is at its best. It’s solid overall though, and the audio is great, and I had no issues with that.
Limited edition Blu-ray features:
UK Blu-ray premiere
High-definition digital transfer
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
Newly recorded interview with director Ate de Jong (2026, 25 mins)
New audio commentary with critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan (2026)
Archival director’s commentary with Ate de Jong (2016)
Archival interview with actor C.J. Graham (2020, 15 mins)
Archival interview with Steven Johnson (2016, 15 mins)
Production stills and behind-the-scenes gallery (2016)
Theatrical trailer
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition booklet featuring archival correspondence and new writing from Sean McGeady
Limited edition of 3,000 copies, presented in and full-height Scanavo packaging with O-card and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Up first we have a new audio commentary with critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan, who are fast becoming my favourite pair for commentaries; they are so insightful, entertaining and their love of films is infectious. This commentary is no different. They share their memories of seeing the film for the first time, talk about those in front of and behind the camera – including the curious top and second billing for actors Bergin and Storke as well as comments on screenwriter Helgeland – and talk enthusiastically about the film. I also enjoyed their background to Hemdale and the release of the film. This is my favourite of the extras.
The second commentary is an archival one from 2016 with director Ate de Jong who is thrilled that the film has received renewed attention through DVD and Blu-ray. He talks about the making of the film, highlights some of the actors who appear, and shares some wonderful recollections of making the film and some of those who he worked with on it. There are some good scene-specific comments too.
Next, we have a brilliant new interview with director de Jong, which was created exclusively for Transmission in September 2025. Running for 25 minutes, de Jong talks about the making of the film, including its inception and his reflections on the finished product and its release, as well as giving an insight into his working ethos. De Jong also talks about working with the production company Hemdale, who sat on the finished film for a year before releasing it. His comments on Hemdale are a highlight. It’s my favourite interview on the disc.
A 2016 interview created for Kino Lorber with special effects artist Steve Johnson is next. Running for 11 minutes Johnson enthusiastically recalls making the film and how he got involved in it, shares what inspired the Hellcop make-up, and also reveals what it was like to work with a young Ben Stiller, who has a couple of small parts in the movie.
Next is an interview for Wicked Vision from 2020 with actor C.J. Graham who talks about being cast as the Hellcop, the make-up process and much more in a 15-minute piece. Graham, who had earlier played Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) is on great form and shares some decent insight into the making of the film and his memories of it.
The trailer runs for two minutes and is very Nineties in its delivery and would certainly have made me want to watch the film.
The gallery contains just over 20 images including poster and VHS art plus stills and promo shots.
I wasn’t provided with the booklet to comment, but I’ve been impressed with the quality of those included with the first three Transmission releases.
For their fourth Transmission release, Highway to Hell, Radiance have provided a really good selection of extras, headlined by a wonderful new commentary with Kim Newman and Sean Hogan and new 25-minute interview with director Ate de Jong, and bolstered by an archival commentary with the director and two other archival interviews totalling a further 25 minutes. Best of all, the audio and visual presentation is good and very natural, and this release will hopefully give the gem of an early 1990s film a new lease of life and a new audience to further develop its cult reputation.
Disc/Package: