Freeway (1996), directed by Matthew Bright, is a blistering, foul-mouthed subversion of Little Red Riding Hood that rips through America’s moral decay with reckless abandon. 

Starring a teenage Reese Witherspoon in a career-defining performance, the film follows Vanessa Lutz, a tough-as-nails runaway whose cross-country escape from the foster care system takes a nightmarish turn when she hitches a ride from a seemingly charming but deeply sinister man (Kiefer Sutherland).

A vicious satire wrapped in a lurid exploitation thriller, Freeway drags classic fairy tale tropes into the grime of 1990s America, replacing wolves and woodsmen with serial killers and corrupt institutions. Bright’s film is a chaotic, violent, and darkly hilarious odyssey through the underbelly of society, where the justice system is rigged, the media is bloodthirsty, and survival demands brute force and wit.

Anchored by Witherspoon’s ferocious performance, Freeway also boasts a supporting cast stacked with ‘90s and early 2000s heavy-hitters, including Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer, and Brittany Murphy. Unapologetically sleazy and relentlessly unpredictable, this cult classic gleefully demolishes expectations, leaving audiences shocked, laughing, and slightly queasy.

The film later spawned a 1999 sequel, Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby, which swaps Little Red Riding Hood for Hansel and Gretel and stars Natasha Lyonne as an equally unhinged teenage outlaw on the run. Though far less known, it cements Bright’s vision as a singularly twisted take on childhood fables, drenched in B-movie grit and gleeful depravity.