Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (Kino Cult #50) (Blu-ray)

Directed by : Bret Wood
2003
92
U.S.
Choose a Format
Add to Wishlist
Only ships to US & Canada.
Available: Jun 23rd 2026. Pre-orders are generally sent several days in advance of street date. Order may not be split.

Critically-acclaimed upon it’s 2003 theatrical release, Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films is a morbidly curious exploration of the shocking driver education films of yesteryear. Produced between 1959 and 1979 in Mansfield, Ohio, films such as Signal 30 encouraged safety by force-feeding high school kids color footage of careless driving’s dark consequences: blood-stained wreckage, injured bodies, fresh corpses. In the 1970s and ‘80s, these traumatic films disappeared from the American classroom and assumed an almost mythical status. Hell’s Highway unearths these artifacts of grim Americana and interviews the filmmakers responsible for this radical educational movement. This remastered edition includes three complete “blood-on-the-highway” films, newly restored from the original 16mm camera elements preserved in the Richard Prelinger Collection at the Library of Congress..

Product Extras :
  • Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Bret Wood
  • New Restorations of Three Driver's Ed Films: Mechanized Death, Wheels of Tragedy, and Highways of Agony
  • The Complete 2003 Pre-Restoration Version
  • Trailers
  • Deleted Scenes
Publish Date : 2026-04-02
  • Bret Wood - Director
  • Sonny Bono - Actor
  • Richard Prelinger - Actor
  • Mike Vraney - Actor
  • Earle J. Deems - Actor
  • John F. Butler - Actor
  • Hans Conried - Actor

Reviews

"Unnerving and much fun!" -- A. O. Scott, The New York Times

"Weirdly nostalgic...viscerally unsettling!" -- J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

Free Standard Shipping in contiguous USA for order subtotals over $60. Shipping fees will be provided during checkout.

Film Also Available

Amazon