Drive Angry (alternatively titled Drive Angry 3D) is a 2011 American action horror film in the grindhouse cinema tradition, directed by Patrick Lussier, who co-wrote it with Todd Farmer. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, Billy Burke, Charlotte Ross, Katy Mixon, and Tom Atkins. Photographed in 3D, the film was released on February 25.

Plot

John Milton escapes from Hell and steals Satan s gun, the Godkiller, in order to kill Jonah King, a Satanistic cult-leader who murdered Milton s daughter and her husband, and plans to ritually sacrifice Milton s infant granddaughter, believing that it will unleash Hell on Earth.

After interrogating and killing some of King s followers in Colorado, Milton discovers that the ritual will take place in Stillwater, an abandoned prison in Louisiana. On his way there, he stops by a diner, where he meets Piper Lee, a waitress. Milton abandons his damaged car and sabotages Piper s 1969 Dodge Charger, offering to fix it in exchange for a ride.

Piper walks in on her boyfriend, Frank, cheating on her. Piper beats the woman and tosses her out and assaults Frank, who knocks Piper unconscious. Milton hears the commotion and comes to Piper s aid. Milton borrows Frank s car, taking Piper with him to Stillwater. Satan s supernatural operative, The Accountant, arrives on Earth with the mission to retrieve Milton and the gun. The Accountant interrogates Frank and discovers Milton s destination. After killing Frank, he poses as an FBI agent, and tricks a pair of state troopers into helping him.

Stopping at a shady hotel, Milton is having sex with a waitress from a nearby bar when King and his men attack. Milton violently dispatches them with many rounds of gunfire, leaving the naked and terrified waitress completely traumatized. The Accountant appears with the police and chases Milton and Piper, who are now hotly pursuing King in his RV. Milton uses the Godkiller to shoot at the Accountant, causing him to drive off a bridge. They follow King to a former church, find it filled with King s Satan-worshipers, and they are ambushed and captured by the cult. They kidnap Piper and shoot Milton in the eye, leaving him for dead. He awakens, kills King s cult, and pursues the RV in the Charger. Piper breaks free, fights King, and jumps through the RV s shattered window onto Milton s car hood. King disables the Charger by shooting its engine.

Milton and Piper meet Milton s friend, Webster, who gives them a 1971 red Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Piper discovers that Milton is undead and had to abandon his daughter in order to protect her, which allowed King to manipulate her into joining his cult. Webster reveals that Milton died 10 years earlier in a shootout and was a pallbearer at Milton s funeral. Piper also discovers that the Godkiller has the power to completely destroy a soul, preventing it from going to either Heaven or Hell. Meanwhile, one of King s surviving men tells the Accountant why Milton is chasing them.

After arming himself, Milton tells Piper and Webster to leave, but Piper says that she has never before had a worthy cause to fight for and is with him regardless of the consequences. With the help of the now-intrigued Accountant, they evade a sheriff s troopers and arrive at Stillwater. The Accountant captures Piper and forces Milton to surrender the Godkiller before he can battle King. He allows Milton to attempt to save his granddaughter, however, noting that Satan despises the sacrifice of innocents in his name.

While Milton slaughters King s men before they can sacrifice his grandchild, Piper escapes from The Accountant with the Godkiller. King eventually gets the upper hand on Milton and savagely beats him. Piper fires the Godkiller at King, but misses, knocking herself out. King is enraged when another follower refuses to sacrifice the infant. The Accountant attracts King s attention, allowing Milton to grab the Godkiller and obliterate King forever.

The Accountant retrieves the infant and allows Milton to say goodbye to his granddaughter. Milton gives her to Piper, who promises to always care for her. Webster arrives and looks on as Milton dies . After both Piper and Webster have left, Milton is revealed to not be fully dead. Milton makes good on his earlier promise to Webster and drinks a beer from the remains of King s skull. He agrees to return to Hell but threatens to escape again if his punishment remains too severe. The Accountant says that he looks forward to that escape. The Accountant then manifests a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and Milton drives them back into Hell.

Cast

• Nicolas Cage as John Milton. He returns from Hell after ten years to save his granddaughter. He steals Satan s personal gun, the Godkiller, to delay the Accountant. He does not mind the pain that he suffers in Hell, but finds being forced to watch the video feed of his daughter s murder to be intolerable.
• Amber Heard as Piper Lee. She is a waitress at a local bar and has a cheating fiancee whom she abandons to join with Milton to save his granddaughter.
• William Fichtner as The Accountant. He is Satan s somewhat arrogant assistant. He was assigned to return Milton back to Hell and notes that sometimes, he needs to return escaped souls. He possesses a coin, which he can use to kill or transform into an FBI badge to assist his impersonation.
• Billy Burke as Jonah King. He is a ruthless Satanist who believes that sacrificing Milton s granddaughter will bring Hell back to Earth and that he will be immortal. (The Accountant denies this, saying that Satan himself dislikes satanists.)
• David Morse as Webster
• Katy Mixon as Norma Jean
• Charlotte Ross as Candy
• Christa Campbell as Mona Elkins
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Roy
• Todd Farmer as Frank Raimi
• Tom Atkins as Captain
• Jack McGee as Lou Fat Lou

Production

Cage stated that he was originally drawn to the project by a scene in which his character s eyes get shot out. In his previous film, Season of the Witch, he had wanted to have such a scene but producers rejected the idea.

The film was shot in 3D, and special effects were created by Gary Tunnicliffe. The cameras were rented from Paradise FX. One reason Cage chose this film was to be part of the new 3D technology.

The three cars driven by Cage in the film are a 1964 Buick Riviera, a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T (440 Engine) and a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454. Writer/director Patrick Lussier said the Riviera, used at the beginning and the end, was the car we wished we had used the most, because it was a beautiful driving car , but It was a shame to smack it up . Three Chargers and three Chevelles were used, with one made very safe for the stunts, and one intended to be shown close to being destroyed.

Cage narrated the supernatural film at WonderCon 2010. Patrick Lussier wrote the film with Todd Farmer. Lussier filmed the movie in Minden, Plain Dealing and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Release

Box office

The film was released in the US on February 25, 2011. Footage premiered on July 23, 2010 as part of the San Diego Comic-Con International. It opened at ninth place within the box office rankings at $1.6 million on Friday, with a lower than expected $5 million weekend. Drive Angry s box office performance made it the lowest-grossing opening of a 3D film released in more than 2,000 US theaters. The film was slightly more successful in international markets, earning $30.3 million.

Home media

Drive Angry was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and 3D Blu-ray on May 31, 2011.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on reviews from 122 critics, with an average rating of 5.3 out of 10. The website s Critics Consensus says: It may deliver the over-the-top action pieces, but Drive Angry prefers to work safely within the grindhouse formula than do something truly unique . On Metacritic the film has a score of 44 out of 100, based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews . Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of C+ on a scale from A to F.

Mark Jenkins from The Washington Post wrote, Even at its most lurid, though, the movie is a little dull. And it only gets less compelling as the back story fills in . Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 and called it an exercise in deliberate vulgarity, gross excess, and the pornography of violence, not to forget garden variety pornography. You get your money s worth . Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News wrote, Drive Angry is pure grindhouse, so committed to its own junkiness that it is, in its way, a pleasure to behold . Writing for Variety, Rob Nelson called it plenty watchable but probably more of a draw to cult film fans than to mainstream audiences. In The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney called the film a mindless exploitation entry that should have been appallingly awesome .

Year	2011
ReleaseDate	2011-02-25
RuntimeMins	104
RuntimeStr	1h 44min
Plot	A vengeful father escapes from hell and chases after the men who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 6 nominations
Directors	Patrick Lussier
Writers	Todd Farmer, Patrick Lussier
Stars	Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner
Produced by	René Besson,Josh Bratman,Ed Cathell III,Boaz Davidson,Michael De Luca,Danny Dimbort,Adam Fields,Joe Gatta,Avi Lerner,Diego J. Martinez,Zach Schiff-Abrams,Trevor Short
Music by	Michael Wandmacher
Cinematography by	Brian Pearson
Film Editing by	Devin C. Lussier,Patrick Lussier
Casting By	Nancy Nayor
Production Design by	Nathan Amondson
Art Direction by	Zach Bangma,William Budge
Set Decoration by	Kristin Bicksler
Costume Design by	Mary E. McLeod
Makeup Department	Denise Baer,Louisa Gore Hamn,Tim Gore,David Grasso,Jamie Grove,Ilona Herman,Louis Kiss,Nick Marra,M.J. Mashean,Rita Parillo,Pau Pearson,Mike J. Regan,Keith Sayer,Solina Tabrizi,Gary J. Tunnicliffe,Pedro Valdez Jr.,Pedro Valdez,Kristina Vogel,Claire Jane Vranian,Crystal Woodford,Andrea Young
Production Management	Ed Cathell III,Todd Gilbert,Matthew Hirsch,Devin C. Lussier
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Adam C. Boyd,Steve Danton,Jordan Edwards,Johnny Martin,Juan Mas,Janell M. Sammelman,John M. White
Art Department	David Keith Broome,Patrick Calabrese,Matthew L. Crowson,Joe Dunckley,Stephen P. Durante,Wade Easley,Kevin Gaspard,Jerry G. Henery,Mike Herriage,Eric Herzog,John Edwin Howard,Jason Glenn Jimes,Steven Kerlagon,April LaBranche,Andree Lago,Robert Larriviere,Jeff Lavezoli,Ernest J. Levron III,Ernerst J. Levron Jr.,Nicole Lobart,Scott Mobley,David Myers,Marybeth O’Connor,Jed Pendergrass,Jack Reeves,Hannah May Roark,Chad Smith,Floyd B. Sterling,Greg Washington,Andrew Wert,Eric Wolfe,Michael Wynn,Forest Fagan,Jessica Navran
Sound Department	Marco Alicea,James Austin,John Baker,Steve Boeddeker,John Countryman,Caoimhe Doyle,Will Files,Jerry Gilbert,Scott Guitteau,Jack Heeren,Steven Iba,Tom Johnson,Ron King,Mike Lane,Michael Levine,Andy Malcolm,Zach Martin,Marilyn McCoppen,Jay Meagher,Kevin Meier,Jeremy Molod,Steve Morris,Gordon Ng,Randy Pease,Juan Peralta,Eva Porter,Ronald G. Roumas,Renee Russo,Brian Seagrave,Robert Shoup,Clint Smith,James Spencer,Daniel Sperry,John Torrijos,Don White,Marshall Winn,Roy Machado
Special Effects by	William Dawson,Josh Hakian,Walter Kiesling,Stephen Klineburger,Ben Pettaway,William Purcell,Morgan McMath Rogers,Joseph Walker
Visual Effects by	Eric Alba,Josh Allen,Ivaylo Andonov,Simeon Asenov,Bradley M. Baxter,Brian N. Bentley,Martin Bernfeld,David Blemur,John Brizzi,Carey Brown,Philip Brown,Caleb Carter,Thomas Cheng,Manuel Choi,Natalie Coon,Chris M. Cooper,Scott Coulter,Alexandre Daigle,Robert Nicholas Dauphinais,Aurore de Blois,Dinko Dimov,Stanislav Draganov,Doug Drexler,Dusty Emerson,Jonathan Erickson,Joseph Fagan,Brenda Finster,Jill Heather French,Joshua Garza,Georgi Gavanozov,Dobri Georgiev,Georgi Georgiev,Michael Gibson,James Going,Laurie Powers Going,Douglas E. Graves,John B. Gray,Kieth Green,Glen Grefe,Nathan Grubbs,Scott Hale,Errol Hanse,Brandt Harris,Jack Hebert,Chad Herrada,Justin Horton,Travis Howe,Gary Hutzel,Angel Ivanov,Ivan Gochev Ivanov,Sean M. Jackson,Matthew S. Jennings,Brandon Tyler Johnston,David Kashevaroff,Peter Keranov,Delyan Ketipov,Adam Klein,Jay Lalime,Alvado Landaberde,Athena Lawless,Desislava Lazarova,Derek Ledbetter,Alexander Llanos,Jeremy Luena,Jonathon Luke,Devin C. Lussier,Carson Majors,Yael Majors,Ajoy Mani,Ryan Markley,Jordan Markov,Alberto Tito Matos Jr.,Heather McAuliff,Jennifer Melton,Austin Meyers,Wes Meyers,Velislava Mihailova,Christopher Montesano,David R. Morton,Greg Nelson,Glenn Neufeld,Michael Nikitin,Esteban Olide,Nikolay Pachov,Kay Kyoung Park-Kim,Desislava Pavlova,Greg Peck,Emily Perla,Nick Peshunoff,Svetoslav Petkov,Tremell Pittman,Stephen H. Porter,Kathryn Pritchard,Amy Putrynski,Sana Radeva,Matthew Ramsaur,Cory R. Reed,Joshua Rivas,Andrew Sagar,Yordan Savov,Dustin Scholl,Jane Sharvina,Georgi Slavov,Neal Sopata,Georgi Staikov,Plamen Statev,Boyan Stoyanov,Kamen Stoykov,David Takemura,Matt Tassone,William Tatum III,Brandon Taylor,Stefan Tchakarov,Fausto Tejeda,Jason Thomas,Drew Tobin,Peter Tomov,Kyle Toucher,Mani Trump,Chris W. Tucker,Eric A. Tuxen,Desislava Valcheva,Alexander Valev,Juvenal Vique,Melissa Whitcomb,Johnny Wilson,Jeremy Lang,Glenn Neufeld
Stunts	Jason Ament,Matt Bauer,Jake Brake,Jeff Dashnaw,James R. Davis III,Dino Dos Santos,Shauna Duggins,Paul Eliopoulos,Charlie Estepp,Chris J. Fanguy,Dane Farwell,Lex D. Geddings,Lance Gilbert,Jeff Habberstad,Randy Hall,Sam Hargrave,Thirl Haston,Michael Haynes,Brian Hite,Oakley Lehman,Jake Lombard,Johnny Martin,Bryan Massey,James B. McDaniel,Johnny Michaels,Anthony Molinari,Caryn Mower,Kimberly Shannon Murphy,Casey O’Neill,Rowbie Orsatti,Quay Parton,Con Schell,Amy Ann Singh,Tim J. Smith,Kym Stys,Shelby Swatek,Dother Sykes,Matthew Taylor,Tracy E. Thomas,Tim Trella,David Lee Valle,Mike Wilson,Scott Workman,Keith Woulard,Mark Yawn
Camera and Electrical Department	Gregg Atwell,Ron Batzdorff,Alex Carr,Will Cotton,David Crone,Joe Datri,David Easley,Chad Farmer,Guy Fernandez,Richard Foreman Jr.,Hilton Garrett,Brad Garris,Brad ‘Mo’ Gremillion,Steven A. Guerrero,Matthew Brady Harris,Marvin Haven,Richie Hollis,Robert Howie,Sam Jacobs,John Jarhead Gorman,Jeffrey A. Johnson,David J. McGraw,Blake Mitchell,Jamie Moreno,Richard Moriarty,Brent Swampy Mullins,Robert Owen,Myron Parran,Max Patrucco,Max Penner,Deb Peterson,Max Pomerleau,Nick Pomerleau,Kevin C. Potter,Ahmad Powell,Rell Putt,Richard Ramee,Matthew Ramsaur,Andrea V. Rossotto,Ted Sapp,James Selph,Michaele Shapiro,Bartholomew Singer,Steve Smith,David Taylor,Todd Thompson,Greg Travis,Steven Lee Tyler,Jason Vowell,Adam Ward,Wylie Whitesides
Animation Department	Sana Radeva
Casting Department	Ryan Glorioso,Kevin Mockrin,Kate Warren
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Frank Avanzo,Andree Fortier,Frances Jacques-LeCompte,R. Todd Jones,Sarah P. Koeppe,Dena Matranga,Jane Ryder,Susan Thomas,Rachel A. Walker,Rodney Williamson
Editorial Department	Martin Bernfeld,Jada Budrick,Gilbert Carreras,Mike Dillard,Jason Fabbro,Frank Figueroa,Brian Hayashi,David Kashevaroff,Bruce Lomet,Jeremy Luena,Ryan Noto,Kathryn Pritchard,Mark Sahagun,Matt Tassone,Joe VanDalsem,Tessa VanDalsem,Everette Webber,Dan Williams
Location Management	Phillip Jordan Brooks,Christina DeCharles,Jeremy N. Hernandez,Matthew Keim,Ed Lipscomb,Gregory McNamara,Sherrill Smith,James Stevens
Music Department	Selena Arizanovic,Andrew Barnes,Nick Baxter,Susie Bench,Gustavo Borner,George Doering,Paul Katz,Justin Moshkevich,Chris Steele,Michael Wandmacher,Joshua Winget
Script and Continuity Department	Debbie Estay,Christine Lalande,K. Lynn Martin
Transportation Department	Mark Bascle,James Brown,Annette Chambers,Dennis W. Cook Jr.,Christopher Dickerson,Gerald Hardy,Billy Ray Hass,Connie Herring,Beau Holden,Robert Jepson,Randy Kinyon,Ken Smith,Alex Strand,Erik Von Hof,Steven Willhoite
Additional Crew	Aaron Askew,Lauren Askew,Zach Bangma,Will Barron,Jennifer Benton,Devon Boyd,Eliot Brasseaux,Aaron T. Brown,Mark E. Brown,Brandon e Buck,Dottie Buck,Leslie Clampitt,Alexandre Coscas,Ashton Couch,Vanessa Curtis,Jenn Derrenger,Kristen Detwiler,Annie Domingo,Claude Forest,Jeffrey Giles,Matt Gossman,Eric Green,Jeffrey Greenstein,Vealer Harris,Rob Hill,Beau Holden,Samantha Hollingsworth,Patrick Hollon,Craig Hosking,R. Todd Jones,Christian Juneau,Albert Kidd,Ashley Kravitz,Eric Ladd,Alan J. Lam,Liz Landers,Rolly Lee,Brooke Lehman,Jaclyn Lopez,Joan Mao,Gail Marks,Wade Marshall,Donnie McCaa,Tony McCullough,James Nimmers,Rouslan Ovtcharoff,Stacy Parker,Roberto Perez Antolin,Lonnie Ramati,Sonia Randazzo,Mike J. Regan,Brieann Rich,Nicholas Rich,Tina Rosen,Lemar Sain,Edgar Sandoval,Vicki L. Sawyer,Anna Gand Sislyan,Druscilla Smith,Joshua Smith,Sarah Soape,Cid Swank,Tanya Thanadpojanamart,Michelle Tonjes,Gary J. Tunnicliffe,Greg Washington,Julie Weisel,Jennifer Williamson,Anthony Yuse,Regan B. Pederson
Thanks	Arlena Acree,Phil Benson,Kathy Chasen-Hay,David Crone,Tom Elkins,Frank E. Eulner,Jason Fabbro,Melanie Farmer,Gregg Featherman,Andre Fenley,Jeff Frankel,Cedric B. Glover,Tami Goldman,Elliot Greenberg,Scott Henderson,Scott Henderson,Bruce Lomet,Dean Lorey,Dean Lorry,Laura Lussier,Marianne Maddalena,Bill Murray,Glenn Neufeld,Kathryn Pritchard,Gary A. Rizzo,Marc Varisco,Bob Weinstein
Genres	Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Companies	Summit Entertainment, Millennium Films, Michael De Luca Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5.4
ImDbRatingVotes	99672
MetacriticRating	44
Keywords	sex scene,female frontal nudity,woman on top,waitress,hearing sex through a wall