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The Gratuitous B-Movie Column: Jacker 3: Road to Hell
Image Credit: Herman Productions
The Gratuitous B-Movie Column Issue #621: Jacker 3: Road to Hell
Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the internets movie review column that has never been chased through the woods by a bear that’s wearing a hat (or, really, any sort of bear), The Gratuitous B-Movie Column, and I am your host Bryan Kristopowitz. In this issue, issue number six hundred and twenty-one, I take a look at the mega low-budget horror flick Jacker 3: Road to Hell, which was first unleashed upon the world in August of 2025.
Jacker 3: Road to Hell
Jacker 3: Road to Hell, directed by James Panetta and currently available to watch for free on the Tubi streaming platform, is apparently the third movie in a mega low-budget horror movie series that started in 1993 with Jacker (there was also a sequel in 1996, Jacker 2: Descent to Hell). As far as I can tell, you don’t really need to see the first two Jacker movies to understand what is going on in Road to Hell. I mean, I didn’t seek the first two movies out, and I’m fairly certain I get what’s going on. Sort of. Part serial killer movie and part “some sort of supernatural evil committing violence on random people” movie, Jacker 3: Road to Hell is a mega low-budget horror movie with high ambitions and some decent enough performances that is just way too goddamn long. And even when you take into account that the closing credits take up about ten minutes, so the movie’s actual runtime is closer to ninety-minutes as opposed to 107 minutes, there really isn’t any reason that Jacker 3: Road to Hell needs to be as long as it is. In general, it would be a much more successful movie if it found a way to get to where it wants to go faster. Much, much faster.
Jacker 3: Road to Hell stars Debbie D as Gloria, a survivor of the notorious serial killer known as Jacker. Suffering from what amounts to a kind of survivor’s guilt as well as vivid and graphic nightmares where she’s attacked by Jacker, Gloria has written a book about her Jacker experience and is in the midst of a media tour when news comes out that Jacker, who apparently disappeared years ago, may be back. Unsure about what to do, Gloria interacts with Chris (Chris Kahler), a local reporter that has been on the Jacker story for years (Gloria and Chris also have a romantic relationship of sorts). We also see Gloria interviewed by a renowned podcast hosted by a guy named Mark (Marcus N. Jackson, who resembles Chris and odds are you’re going to get confused by who is who. It’s what happened to me). Is Jacker actually back?
Yes, Jacker is, in fact, back. Jacker (producer and screenwriter Phil Herman) has been hanging out in the middle of nowhere since he disappeared. We see Jacker murder a vlogger for no apparent reason, a Spanish hitchhiker, and then two cops that want revenge on Jacker for something that happened in a previous movie, and it’s after those murders that Jacker decides to cut his long gray hair and go back into the regular world and start regularly killing people again. And so that’s what he does.
At the start of the movie, which takes place 54 years in the past, we see a teenage male playing with jacks at his kitchen table as his parents argue in the other room. This teenager is Mike (Austin Scheiblein), the future Jacker. And so Mike’s father (Joe DeBartolo), completely out of his fucking mind, murders his wife/Mike’s mother with a machete and then screams at Mike because he is playing with jacks. Terrified and confused, young Mike has no idea what to do, and it sure looks like his father might kill him next with the machete. That doesn’t happen, though, as a cop shows up and shoots Mike’s father in the head. As all of this is happening, we see what can only be described as a “supernatural force” leave Mike’s father’s body and enter Mike, essentially making Mike just as crazy and murderous as his father.
Now, it’s at this point you might assume that the Jacker name came from a young Mike playing with jacks. You’d be partly wrong on that assumption. I think the Jacker name is inspired a bit by the fact that Mike played with jacks as a kid/young man. That isn’t the whole story, though. Jacker, as a serial killer, is known for carjacking people and murdering them after getting a ride somewhere. Jacker is also known for just killing people that are out driving or walking near the highway. Even though he hasn’t been active in years, the Jacker name still strikes fear into people.
So Jacker decides to become an active killer again, and we see him killing random people. Over and over and over again. As that happens, Gloria becomes more and more terrified of her nightmares. Why do these nightmares keep happening? Why does Jacker keep showing up in these nightmares? Just what the heck is going on here?
Chris tries to help Gloria as much as he can, but he’s just a reporter. He doesn’t know what to do. A man named Dennis (Kevin Duffy) shows up and tries to help Gloria, too. They don’t make much progress.
The first forty or so minutes of Jacker 3: Road to Hell are fairly compelling and, at times, unsettling. You’re never quite sure what the heck is going on with Gloria’s nightmares and what they could mean, and Jacker’s ongoing rampage is kind of interesting, mostly because it’s obvious that Herman is having a blast playing a totally unhinged and supremely evil character that’s also somehow totally in control at all times. The scene where we see Jacker menace horror/pop culture icon Butch Patrick in Patrick’s car is weirdly hilarious. Who the heck would want to kill Butch Patrick? Jacker is a real bastard, isn’t he? If only the second half and more of the movie was as compelling as that first half.
The various plot threads involving Gloria, her nightmares, the presence of Chris and Dennis and how they relate to those nightmares and, eventually, Gloria’s behavior, and Jacker’s rampage, never come together in a satisfying way. Instead, what happens is, at best, confusing. And because of that confusion, the movie’s ending just falls flat.
And then there’s Jacker’s rampage. One of the frequent issues that I see in mega low-budget horror movies that want to have a high body count is that the movie’s kill scenes are not interesting at all. There’s very little thought put into who is getting killed and the way they are killed. The audience just sees the killer murdering people one after the other with very little in the way of suspense or special effects or, really, anything. The killer appears, stabs or shoots some random person that just appeared, and the killer then moves on. While Jacker does occasionally stab someone, he mostly uses a gun to murder people, and this scheme just gets monotonous after a while. On top of that, you’re never sure if Jacker is actually still supernatural when we see him on his murder spree. He doesn’t have any special powers. He’s just a guy walking around shooting people. Did he lose his supernatural what have you while he was hanging out in the middle of nowhere?
There’s a bit where Jacker sets up a meeting with two young criminals to, I assume, obtain more guns or bullets or something. The way the scene plays out is funny, but why does Jacker need to obtain anything from the criminal underworld if he is supernatural? Shouldn’t his gun be supernatural, too? I thought the movie might be doing something like that, as I thought Jacker’s handgun looked different in a few scenes (essentially, Jacker uses some sort of Berretta for most of the movie, but there are moments where it looks like he’s using maybe a Sig Sauer type handgun), but I think that might just be a continuity issue. But, again, why does Jacker need to do any of this? Shouldn’t his gun have “unlimited” ammunition?
I’d also like to know why there’s no real police presence in the movie outside of the scene towards the beginning where we see Jacker kill two cops. If there are multiple TV news reports on the return of Jacker and the great public fear Jacker creates, why wouldn’t there be SWAT teams patrolling the streets? If Jacker is such a notorious serial killer still on the loose, where are the local cops? Where are the state cops? Where is the FBI? Wouldn’t there be a sort of “all-hands-on-deck” response to the return of a dormant mass murderer?
The movie’s general lack of blood and gore is disappointing, especially when the movie starts with a guy licking the dripping blood off a machete he just used to murder his wife. It’s nasty and disgusting and absolutely nothing else in the movie comes close to even trying to “out nasty” that. There are multiple headshots and a neck stabbing and they’re not thrilling to experience at all. They are just things that happen. What the hell, man? I know that practical special effects are complicated and expensive, but it’s just disheartening to not see at least one more truly gross sequence in a movie that starts with a guy licking a bloody machete. It really is.
And then, as I said at the beginning, there is the movie’s length. Jacker 3: Road to Hell is entirely too long. There is absolutely no reason why this movie needs to be 107 minutes. There really isn’t any reason to see every single random person Jacker kills. Jacker 3: Road to Hell should be lean and mean and make an effort to fly by. A movie like Jacker 3: Road to Hell shouldn’t linger for a second.
Debbie D does a nice job as Gloria, at least at the beginning. Gloria is clearly distraught about both her ongoing nightmares and the news that Jacker might be back. Watching her try to figure out what to do with herself and her relationship with Chris is interesting. Debbie D’s performance becomes less compelling as the movie progresses, though, and I think that’s due to the movie’s need to go off the rails at the end. What we see Gloria go through after around the midway point and the way her story concludes is unsatisfying and hard to believe. Debbie D does try her best, though, and that’s a good thing.
Phil Herman seems to be having the time of his life playing the supremely evil Jacker. He’s just a guy steeped in malevolence and armed to the teeth, and anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross paths with him pays the price. It would have been nice if the movie made a bigger deal out of Jacker’s supernatural tendencies, as it would have likely made him a little more interesting (it also would have allowed the movie to make Jacker more overtly ridiculous. Allowing a character like Jacker to be over the top to the extreme is usually the better strategy, even if what you’re going for is street level menace. Watching a monster just mow people down isn’t in and of itself interesting). It is fun watching Herman have fun, so there is that.
Christopher Kahler does an okay job as Chris the reporter. Chris’ relationship with Gloria isn’t completely clear, and I think part of that is due to Chris looking too much like podcast host Mark (someone should have shaved his beard). Kahler does have chemistry with Debbie D, so it isn’t hard to believe that they would be an item of sorts. Kevin Duffy doesn’t get to do enough as Dennis, and that’s mostly due to Dennis showing up more towards the end of the movie. I would have liked to see more of Dennis interacting with Gloria.
Butch Patrick does a great job playing himself (or, really, I guess, a version of himself). All poor Butch wanted to do is sit in his car in the midst of doing a horror/pop culture convention of some sort, and instead of just getting to do that he has to deal with a rampaging killer. It really is a hoot and a half to hear the Eddie Munster drop an F bomb. I’ve seen Patrick interact with fans at a convention before. He seems to be a pretty cool guy.
And be on the lookout for Thomas J. Obrien, who tries to not be one of Jacker’s victims. I would have liked to see more from his Drew character.
Jacker 3: Road to Hell is a bit of a mess. It needs to be faster and more focused. There are some interesting performances, and the movie does have a somewhat compelling villain. Even with its myriad issues, I’d say that it’s still worth checking out at least once. Maybe, one day, there will be a Jacker 4. If there is, though, please, man, make it shorter and faster. Shorter and faster is always better with this type of movie. It just is.
See Jacker 3: Road to Hell. See it, see it, see it. Jacker 3: Road to Hell is currently available to watch for free on the Tubi streaming platform.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: Around 24.
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: Yes.
Doobage: Young man playing jacks. An argument. Machete attack. Bloody machete licking. A seriously dead woman. Bullet to the head. Supernatural spirit body transfer hooey. Talk about “The Jacker craze.” A camping murder. A seriously bloody mouth. Hitchhiking. Spanish speaking. Attempted escape into the woods. Knife to the chest. Multiple TV news reports. Multiple flashbacks. Two cops. Gun shooting. A tripwire. Another bullet to the head. Hair cutting. Multiple nightmares. Off screen forehead smashing. A podcast appearance. A drunk hunter. Laptop stuff. Attempted car sex. Neck breaking. A woman runs naked through the woods. Throat slitting (or maybe throat stabbing. It isn’t entirely clear). An off screen horror/pop culture convention. Off screen sex. Off screen fellatio. A homeless guy. Testicle kicking. Attempted jogging. Good Samaritan hooey. A zebra print bathrobe. A man stuck in a car window. Wine drinking. An attempted clandestine meeting about guns or something. Multiple boudoir photos. Meditation. Public masturbation. Off screen penis amputation. Barfing. A TV news report about a Jacker prank. A TV news reenactment. Wine drugging. Yet another bullet to the head. Eye ghosts. Bloody heart removal. A shower. Supernatural bullet wounds. Neck stabbing. An ominous voiceover.
Kim Richards?: Almost attempted. Sort of. It all happens in the movie’s opening scene.
Gratuitous: “Phil Herman Presents.” Eight production company logos. A young man playing jacks. A guy rolling his own cigarette. A guy wearing a “Panama” hat. A guy not wearing his seatbelt while riding in a car. A fanny pack. Multiple TV news reports. Breaking news. A news reporter named Bruce. A woman watching a TV news report on a TV that’s in a Walmart electronics department. A Walmart employee using a pallet jack and moving a skid in the background. Phil Herman. A montage of a woman trying to escape danger. Podcast hooey. Boobs. A story about how large The Jacker’s penis is. Butch Patrick playing a version of himself. Butch Patrick saying the F word. A TV news report about Butch Patrick surviving an encounter with The Jacker. Talk of mercy. A Coney Island T-shirt. A nightmare within a nightmare about finding a severed penis in the bathroom next to the sink. 1-800-522-5377 (1-800-JACKERR). A TV news reenactment where people swear for some reason. The Jacker watching a TV news report about himself. Multiple shootings. A convoluted ending.
Best lines: “You don’t understand! I have to do this!” “I hope you die in hell!” “Mike! Are you still playing that fucking game?” “I can feel the rage inside me.” “In the shadows of my time I have fulfilled my oath to The Dark Lord. Now my legacy unfolds as my son ascends to rule. The Jacker is risen.” “You all right, Mark? You seem a little off.” “Fuck you, Jacker! I hope you rot in hell!” “Miss me, baby?” “This is crazy! Am I dreaming?” “It’s time.” “Goodbye, home.” “Oh shit! It’s him! Who? The fucking Jacker, dude!” “Come on out, you bastard! I can smell your stench!” “Now it’s your time to die, you sonofabitch!” “Ooh. What a busy day.” “I just killed your boyfriend and you’re offering me sex?” “Feels like old times.” “Are you a crazy person? That’s not a game.” “The Jacker’s killing spree continues.” “I just can’t control my anger anymore.” “It’s not exactly what it looks like. It’s exactly what it looks like!” “After having The Jacker, you couldn’t even come close to pleasing me.” “Listen, bitch, I’m just gonna drive myself there. Be calm.” “Now it’s time… for you to go!” “I just saw The Jacker kill someone!” “What the fuck was that about?” “Very sexy, Sophia.” “Someone is offering five thousand dollar blow jobs?” “What did you do with the dick?” “What, I raped you?” “Oh, great. Why is it always in the middle of nowhere when I break down?” “The fun’s only beginning.” “I don’t understand. This is so confusing.” “Yo, you need some drugs?” “You fools! You think you can stop The Jacker? He’s already here!” “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck are you doing?” “What about penis and rape?” “Nice to have met you, Dennis.” “Dreams can be deceiving. Sometimes they reveal the truth.” “Can’t you understand? I don’t need you anymore.”
Rating: 6.5/10.0
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Jacker 3: Road to Hell
Phil Herman– Jacker
Debbie D– Gloria
Christopher Kahler– Chris
Kevin Duffy– Dennis
Marcus N. Jackson– Mark
Butch Patrick– Butch Patrick
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by James Panetta
Screenplay by Phil Herman
Produced by Ikuzo! Studios, Herman Productions, Cheevies Film Productions, Devokees Productions, Lonewolf Studios Uruguay, and Michael Moutsatos Productions.
Not Rated
Runtime– 107 minutes
Watch Jacker 3: Road to Hell here
