SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

ENGINE TROUBLE is a very low budget Belgian serial killer thriller that plays out like WRONG TURN. The budget is so low that nothing happens for most of the running time, leaving the viewer stuck with a couple of uninteresting female characters whose journey goes awry when their car breaks down. Eventually they're chased by the usual psycho killer. The director might like De Palma but this is your typical indie, with diluted thrills and a real lack of expertise.

Unimaginative and flat characters and concept, terrible acting but not so much as to be good, no plot (but it's a slasher flick right, so oh well), but worst of all, one of the most terribly done killers in the history of horror films. I mean really, the hunchback of Notre Dame who sways side to side like a drunken monkey, and who occasionally does a flip for no other reason apparently that that he can. Plus he has a cheesy sickle that was intended to be cool but looks like some kid threw it together in an afternoon metal shop class. There are also the most ridiculous scenes where the villain taunts the victim... you know, those sorts of scenes where you have to ask "how did no one see him". And the acting... let's get back to the acting... accents that are all over the place, cheesy monologues, utter emotional/moral inconsistency, the list goes on. Still, will I say it is the worst movie ever? No. The first few minutes I thought it might be a decent 80s flick tribute, and in a way it still is. It has a bit of a campy retro feel. It has an okay setting and bad, but not the worst, effects (for the few there are). I would never recommend it, but I would buy it for $1... not more... just $1.

Perhaps I'm a little biased because I live in Belgium myself (and this movie was entirely financed here) but I honestly don't think that "Engine Trouble" is half as awful as all my fellow commentators claim it is. Sure, the story is something you've already seen a thousand times before and, yes, the dialogues are so poorly written they make your ears ache, but then still there are really decent elements to enjoy, like a fair amount of tension and a couple of raw shock effects. Especially the first hour is surprisingly entertaining as the screenplay blends simple suspense with some cheerful horror-clichés. Two beautiful (lesbian?) girls go on a road trip and their rusty car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. One girl mysteriously disappears when she leaves to get help and the other finds herself stalked by a horribly deformed killer. The second half of the film is overlong and mainly boring, also because the plot becomes too déjà-vu and repetitive. It goes without saying that the 'monster' is only an underdeveloped being and it are, in fact, his guardians who are the real maniacs. The low-budget production aspects are fairly well camouflaged by using simple tricks, like deserted filming locations, monotonous camera-work and vaguely shot scenery. The make-up on the killer is very cool, though, and he carries around a gleaming sharp sickle! "Engine Trouble" isn't as gross as it looks, especially not since producer James Desert is mostly known for his downright sick movies like "Rabid Grannies" and "Lucker – the Necrophagous". Gorehounds will mostly likely cheer for the nauseating decapitation sequence, though! The acting performances are overall very bad, but that's hardly an obstacle anymore if you're used to seeing trash-horror flicks like this. "Engine Trouble" is fun to watch and definitely worth a rental whenever you feel like seeing a simplistic slasher.

Very rarely does a film come along that's so bad it's good. Most bad (big budget) films simply are tedious, lame and boring, and no matter how hard you try, they simply can't be enjoyed. I'm not going to name names here, but I'm sure we've all seen our share of big budget crap. The strange thing about (bad) low budget films is, that the film-makers put a lot more enthusiasm into their films and try to make up for the lack of budget. So no matter if the film turns out to be garbage, the audience can still laugh at the enormous amount of bad dialogue, continuity errors and campy performances."Engine Trouble" fits right into that mold. It was produced in Belgium for about 25 dollars, and it really shows. But besides from simply being crap, "Engine Trouble" actually manages to be quite entertaining. Not entertaining in a "Back to the Future" kind of way, but more in a "Plan 9 From Outer Space" kind of way. Obviously, dialogue and acting are extremely over the top, the production values are depressingly cheap and the plot has been done a million times before. But somehow this didn't really matter. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this film. As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard during a movie, even though the humor was entirely unintentional. I guess it was sheer disbelief that cracked me up. I mean, can a film really be this bad?So, if like me you are a fan of trash-cinema, Ed Wood and Troma, you certainly are going to enjoy this puppy. Just make sure you don't watch it alone! Ask your buddies to come over, have a few drinks and enjoy. However, if bad movies are not your bag, you might want to stay away. After all, no matter which way you turn it, "Engine Trouble" still is unadulterated crap!