Zyzzyx Road accidentally got itself into the record books when it was released back in 2006. It racked up $30 at the box office. Now while this might seem like a huge failure, it was part of the release strategy. In order to qualify for a reduction in Screen Actors Guild costs, the film had to have a theatrical release. The producers did it by renting a theater in Dallas for a week so it showed at noon. This also allowed them to sell the film to overseas distributors as a theatrical release and not straight to video. They sold six tickets in seven days. Now you may wonder why they didn’t do a larger limited release of the film since Katherine Heigl was becoming a star on Grey’s Anatomy. The one theater rental only cost the producers $1,000. Putting the film in 100 theaters could cost them $500,000 or more in promotion costs. Seeing how it was 2006, there’s a chance they’d have to strike 35mm prints for the other theaters. That’s rather expensive. The single screen was a bargain. Zyzzyx Road played that week and sold exactly 6 tickets. Nearly 20 years later, the film is back on 4K UHD. Now you can fully appreciate this twisted tale in the Nevada desert right off Zyzzyx Road.
Grant (Banacek‘s Leo Grillo) is driving through the desert at night with his young mistress Marissa (27 Dresses‘ Katherine Heigl) who is working her way through a ring pop. She notices the photo of Grant’s daughter on his keychain. He remembers that her dead husband Joey’s body is in the trunk. Turns out that during their tryst at her place in Las Vegas, Joey (Natural Born Killer‘s Tom Sizemore) busted in the door. During the fight, Grant beat him to death with Marissa’s “body massager.” Now they’re driving out Zyzzyx Road to bury the body in a grave near an abandoned mining operation. What should be a simple dig, dump and run gets complicated because Grant took a blow to the head that’s causing him to hallucinate. It also doesn’t help that Joey might not be dead. Are Grant and Marrisa ever going to get off Zyzzyx Road and back to Vegas?
Zyzzyx Road is fine blend between a Neo Noir and an Erotic Thriller. It immediately follows the “don’t call the cops” motto of Noir when Joey gets beaten to death by the massager. Grant’s hallucination allows the movie to be appreciated as feature length episode of Tales From The Crypt. Thanks to the star level of the cast, you could believe it was from the series if they had an intro and outro from the Crypt Keeper. Tom Sizemore is the perfect guy to cast as the jealous and vicious husband who won’t stay dead. Katherine Heigl does well as the woman who realizes that both her husband and boyfriend are nuts. Leo Grillo seems like the kind of schlub who get tangled up in this mess in the desert. Zyzzyx Road might have only sold 6 movie tickets, but its more memorable than films that sold a million. The 4K UHD makes it worth a trip down that road all these years later. If you invite five friends over to watch Zyzzyx Road, you can recreate that theater in Dallas.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD transfer brings out the wasteland quality of this area near the mine. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 so you can hear the winds. There’s also Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. The movie is subtitled in English.
Blu-ray contains the film and the bonus features.
Audio Commentary tracks are solo talks from Leo Grillo and John Penney. They explain what went down during this shoot that barely last three weeks in the desert location mainly.
Introduction (1:07) has John Penney and Leo Grillo welcome you to the special edition. Penney says it is a dark comedy so you can laugh if you feel it.
Archival Behind-the-Scenes has 10 different moments elaborated including the Shotgun Rehearsal and the Stunt Work in the Motel. There was a rather decent size crew working on the film.
Archival Interview with John Penney (26:27) has him talk about being an English major in college and getting to go to have lunch with Ray Bradbury. Ray told him how John Huston destroyed his script for Moby Dick. He learned editing. He later met Ray again while making a film.
Shooting Location Comparison (5:35) takes out the desert to see how things have changed. They’ve been strip mining the property. The mine is gone. Grillo talks about his time with Tom Sizemore.
The Legacy of Zyzzyx Road: A Discussion (93:18) has them talk about the film being named the lowest grossing movie of all time. John Penney, Valeria McCaffery (co-producer) and Leo Grillo address this weird honor. They get into how the project came together. Grillo met Penney when they were making Magic The Talking Dog. Penney was finishing up his script for Zyzzyx Road and told Grillo the plot. He decided to make his film instead. Magic would be made a few years later.
Story-board Slideshow (12:07) shows you how storyboards really help shape a film before you start shooting the film. We get the opening scene’s pages.
Story-Board to Scenes includes matching up The Corpse in the Trunk (3:59), Fight in the Motel (0:57) and He’s not Dead! (1:45).
Trailer (1:34) starts with pronouncing Zyzzyx Road.
The Mystery of Zyzzyx Road (4:47) has a band getting jazzy as singer Chandler Dean explains why the movie only made $30. He does mention the box office of Tomorrowland. Does anyone rewatch that Disney film? This is hilarious.
MVD Visual presents Zyzzyx Road: Special Edition. Directed by John Penney. Screenplay by John Penney. Starring Katherine Heigl, Leo Grillo & Tom Sizemore. Running Time: 82 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 26, 2024.
