One of my favorite genres is the car movie. It doesn’t get any better than watching Americans behind the wheel, especially in movies produced between the late 1960s and 1980. During those 15 or so years — before America became Generica (chains, box stores, etc.) — road movies were shot in color, on-location, and this country looked amazing, lived in, and real. Part of it, certainly, is the capturing of an era that represents my childhood.
In this genre, it’s the vehicle that matters. It’s not just about being on the road; it’s about the joy of driving, the freedom that comes with being behind the wheel, living life on your own terms, and refusing to conform… Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), The Last American Hero (1973), The Driver (1978), Vanishing Point (1971), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), The Gumball Rally (1976)…
My other favorite genre is, of course, horror. And I am no snob when it comes to horror. Thrill me, scare me, soak me in dread, make me laugh, show me some bewbs… We’re good.
With this in mind, imagine how much I love horror movies that take place on the road.
Now, I want to be precise about this. Movies like Psycho (1960), The Vanishing (1988), Vacancy (2007), Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) involve our protagonists hitting the road. Yet, these classics don’t count, at least not with me. Why? Because the horror takes place at their destination.
To me, road horror takes place on the road, with our protagonists always on the move.
Here are nine of my favorites that meet that criterion.
9. Kalifornia (1993)
After you buy into the ridiculous premise that Brian Kessler (David Duchovney) is researching serial killers and just happens to attract serial killer Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) with a ride-share ad, you can relax and settle in for a bloody good time.
Along for the cross-country ride are Brian’s girlfriend Carrie (Michelle Forbes) and Early’s gal-pal Adele (Juliette Lewis).
By 1993, thanks to Thelma & Louise (1991) and A River Runs Through It (1992), Pitt was already a pretty-boy movie star. Kalifornia was about Pitt proving he was something more, which he does. He’s lost entirely in the disturbing role of a cold-blooded murderer always on the knife edge of committing some horrible act of violence.
Equally great — and when isn’t she great? — is Juliette Lewis as Grayce’s damaged and childish girlfriend.
Kalifornia is a slow crank of suspense, violence, and dread as Early tries to hide the fact he’s broke and overcome his resentments towards his somewhat snobby road companions. In this respect, the movie has something to say about social class as the urbane and sophisticated Brian and Carrie attempt to befriend two people they see as white trash.
Just when you think you know where this one’s headed…
8. The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
A bit of a cheat. Hey, it’s my list. Director Ida Lupino (also a beautiful and famous movie star) enjoyed a respectable directing career, which was rare for a woman in those days. On-screen, she was a glamorous A-star. Behind the camera, in a series of independent films such as Outrage (1950), Never Fear (1949), and The Bigamist (1953), she told individual stories about everyday people dealing with the kind of issues big studios didn’t touch.
The Hitch-Hiker is truly special, the movie that proves Lupino was a very good director. Creating suspense and dread is not a skill many directors have. The Hitch-Hiker is 71 minutes of pure suspense and dread and therefore close enough to horror to make this list.
Two friends (the great Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy) are headed to Mexico for a fishing trip. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (William Talman), who proceeds to terrorize them.
Based in part on the true and horrible story of executed spree-murderer Billy Cook, Ida Lupino’s gem is a sleek, memorable trip into your worst nightmare.
7. Joy Ride (2001)
What makes Joy Ride special is not only its premise and several excellent and truly suspenseful set pieces but the care the story takes in allowing us to get to know the characters. Directed by John Dahl, the genius behind the brilliant Red Rock West (1993) — which desperately needs an American Blu-ray release — and co-written by J.J. Abrams, this is a movie about payback.
Steve Zahn steals the show as Fuller, the self-described “black sheep” and “somewhat troubled older brother” to Paul Walker’s Lewis, a guy who can’t work up the nerve to tell his best friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski) how he feels about her.
Nerve is not an issue with Fuller, who talks Lewis into pulling a CB prank on Rusty Nail, a lonely truck driver. When the prank goes sideways, the brothers find themselves morally culpable for something horrible. That, however, is the least of their problems.
One of my favorite things about Joy Ride is how it catches you completely off guard after the whole ordeal appears to be over.
An uncredited Ted Levine is perfect as the disembodied voice on the CB radio calling out, “Candy cane. Candy cane.”
6. Roadgames (1981)
Directed by Hitchcock’s friend and student Richard Franklin (Psycho II), Roadgames pays tribute to the Master of Suspense with a concept described as “Rear Window on the road.”
Stacy Keach is outstanding as Quid, an American employed as an independent truck driver in the wilds of Australia. Keach delivers a Movie Star Performance, a thing filled with that kind of charisma that earns your goodwill forever.
Parked across the road with his pet “dingo,” Quid believes he’s witnessed the murder of a hitchhiker. First, he’s not sure. Then he talks himself out of what he saw. But only one road crosses Australia, so Quid and the murderer are basically traveling together. And things start to happen that Quid can’t explain away.
Along the way, Quid picks up a hitchhiker (Jamie Lee Curtis), comes under suspicion for murder, and then loses Jamie Lee.
Fun, funny, suspenseful, and a wonderful tour of rural Australia.
5. Duel (1971)
Steven Spielberg’s feature debut is still a TV movie for the ages.
Scripted by Richard Matheson (from his own short story), Spielberg expertly previews Jaws. In this case, the giant shark is a menacing Peterbilt tanker (we never see the driver), the ocean is the Mojave Desert, and Sheriff Brody is David Mann (Dennis Weaver).
Mann has a road rage moment he’ll regret forever. This Peterbilt is out to kill, and nothing will stop it.
Working with a TV-movie budget, Duel is memorably and brilliantly directed by a 25-year-old genius, a slow burn of paranoia and terror effective enough to earn an overseas theatrical release.
4. Breakdown (1997)
Although Breakdown was a modest success in its day, it still felt underappreciated. It blew me right out of my chair.
Director Jonathan Mostow (who also earns story credit) brought together a terrific cast (Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan, and especially J.T. Walsh) to deliver a credible story about an everyman put into an impossible situation.
Walsh is dynamite as the charismatic kidnapper. Russell is equally good as the everyman driven to extraordinary lengths to rescue his doomed wife. Breakdown is 93 minutes of suspense so well-crafted that it holds up just fine with subsequent viewings.
Most impressive is how believable it is. Russell’s character is not a former Navy SEAL or police officer. He has no superpowers. This is not one of those movies where a guy with a very particular set of skills finally has enough. Throughout, Russell is a terrified husband in way over his head. What this adds to the suspense is incalculable.
J.T. Walsh’s untimely death hit the following year. I still miss him.
3. Race with the Devil (1975)
Roger (The Mighty Peter Fonda) and his wife Kelly (Lara Parker) head out of San Antonio in a brand-new RV with their best friends Frank (The Mighty Warren Oates) and Alice (Loretta Swit). The destination is a long overdue skiing vacation in Colorado, and the trip there is meant to be full of leisure, motorcycle racing, and booze.
On their first night, Roger and Frank decide to boondock somewhere in central Texas. Long after dark, they witness a Satanic ritual across a shallow river. A woman is sacrificed. Roger and Frank are spotted. The relentless chase is on.
Other than the glorious sight of Peter Fonda standing atop a speeding RV firing off a shotgun at devil worshippers, what makes this under-appreciated classic work is its growing sense of paranoia. Over 88 perfectly paced minutes, everyone and everything looks sinister until we arrive at a stunner of an ending that freaked out my 11-year-old self for weeks.
B-movie Heaven!
2. The Hitcher (1986)
There’s no question that Rutger Hauer as John Ryder personifies hulking and charismatic menace in an iconic way unseen since Robert Mitchum’s turn as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962). But let’s not forget how great C. Thomas Howell is as Jim Halsey, aka Ryder’s prey. The movie rests on his young shoulders, and the then-21-year-old carries it beautifully.
Director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red don’t screw around. Within just a few minutes, Halsey picks up spree-killer Ryder. That’s only one of the many genius moments in Red’s debut screenplay. Here, what would normally be the second-act turning point opens the movie. Act two begins in a wild moment where Ryder could easily kill Halsey and instead wordlessly communicates that he’ll kill him only after he’s made his life hell.
The Hitcher is a rarity, a perfect movie. Beautifully directed and shot, the script is a miracle, believable throughout, and filled with moments that both make sense and shock you. Jennifer Jason Leigh is perfect as Nash, the local waitress who we expect to become the love interest, but is so much more.
I saw this in the theater, never forgot it, and was stunned to watch it fail at the box office and get murdered by critics. Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave it zero (!) stars.
Believe me… on this one, I’m right, and everyone else is wrong.
- Near Dark (1987)
Co-written by Hitcher scribe Eric Red and director Kathryn Bigelow, Near Dark is still the best vampire movie ever made. This stunner is also Bigelow’s directorial debut, and until Zero Dark Thirty (2012), it remained the finest entry in her catalog of terrific films.
A family of nomadic vampires is on the hunt in rural Oklahoma. But Mae (a perfectly cast and ethereal Jenny Wright) is taken with Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), so rather than feast on him, she turns him. Thrust into a dark world of real-life monsters, Caleb can’t bring himself to kill, which puts him at odds with a rough bunch of wild and dangerous bloodsuckers.
Everything works in this classic neo-Western. Coming straight from the Aliens (1986) set, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, and Jenette Goldstein have such easy chemistry you never doubt they’ve been hunting together for decades. Twelve-year-old Joshua John Miller is terrifying as Homer, a grown man stuck forever in a child’s body.
The eerie and deeply unsettling score by Tangerine Dream, the astonishing cinematography, and Bigelow’s second-to-none genius behind the camera adds up to not just one of the best horror movies ever made, but one of the best movie-movies ever made.
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