Mystery Highway

Mystery Highway, a 2024 American science fiction horror anthology, was directed by Clarke M. Smith, who co-wrote the script with David S. Dawson. The cast includes Rachel Elizabeth Ames, Christopher Cendana, Randy Davison, and Larry Poole. The film’s framing device involves truckers driving along a highway while tuning into a radio station that broadcasts six short stories.

The plot centers on radio DJ George Bell, who hosts a weekly drama series titled *Mystery Highway*. Truckers listen in, imagining themselves as characters in the separate tales Bell narrates. After the show’s introduction, Bell launches into the first of six dramas.

In “Stover Hill,” a group of friends in their 30s gather at a home for an evening. One friend, Will, starts acting oddly. A power outage plunges the room into darkness, followed by intense lights from outside. Will runs out, leaving the others confused, then returns and uses an unearthly power to take control of the group. The mother tells her 10-year-old daughter to hide, which she does. When the lights fade, the mother finds her daughter, but it remains unclear which of them has been taken over by the alien presence.

“Crazy Joe” follows Joe, a widower caring for his 12-year-old daughter. A local barfly named Rumsfield taunts Joe, who is often seen talking to himself. A nightmare reveals that Joe caused his wife’s death in a car accident, in which he and their daughter survived. Ultimately, it is disclosed that the daughter did not survive; she is a ghost, staying to care for and defend her alcoholic, guilt-ridden father against people like Rumsfield.

In “Dark Chocolate,” a dock worker is invited aboard a boat by an elderly captain for a drink. The captain offers to give him the boat if he wins a game of poisoned chocolate roulette. The worker reluctantly agrees, and they eat chocolates, one laced with poison. The scene fades, and the captain is later seen eyeing another blue-collar worker, asking if he’d like a drink.

“The Loyal Remnant” depicts a group left behind after the rapture, roaming an empty countryside. One evening, a man joins them as they search for redemption. The man is revealed to be Satan, who tries but fails to kill them; they pray him away.

“Discontinuance” follows a man who wakes up in a desert after an apparent alien abduction. He walks to a bar and learns from another customer that his daughter, wh