HIGHWAY TO HELL: 10 ROAD TRIP HORROR FILMS TO REV YOUR ENGINE
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life,” said infamous Beat author Jack Kerouac in his classic road trip novel, On The Road. After a dark and freezing winter, there’s no better feeling than kicking over the traces and hitting the open road - the warm breeze through your hair, the gorgeous scenery, the murderous backwoods inbreds and serial killers. Okay, maybe not so much that part, but there’s nothing to put you in the mood for a good road trip than watching some truly horrific ones. From the American West to the Australian outback, and even the French countryside, the simple premise of a road trip has inspired some of the most iconic horror moments in history from such directors as Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and Luca Guadagnino. With that in mind, I’ve pulled together ten of the best road trip horror films to watch when you are feeling the itch to put the rubber to the road. Remember, in the horror world, the road is life…AND death.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
THE GIST : Horror master Wes Craven’s seminal 1977 effort, THE HILLS HAVE EYES remains a masterpiece of early 70’s horror. Taking an ill-advised detour en route to California, the Carter family soon run into trouble when their RV breaks down in the middle of the desert. Stranded, the family find themselves at the mercy of a group of monstrous cannibals lurking in the surrounding hills. With their lives under threat, the Carters have no choice but to fight back by any means necessary.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: You don’t get much more vulnerable than having a family with a baby break down in the middle of the American desert only to become prey for a family of inbred, cannibalistic hill people. The Carters are a typical 70’s American family, looking to take in the sights of the U.S. of A, and when you put that and a band of murderous hill dwellers into master horror director Wes Craven’s hands, you have a film that is visceral and downright terrifying. The dread permeates nearly every scene, due in no small part to the acrid and barren surroundings, courtesy of production designer, Robert Burns, who also worked on the original THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. This is Craven’s take on the famed legend of Sawney Bean, as well as an exploration of American socio-political class war. The opposing sides are two distinctly American families and manifestations of ideology. On one side a wholesome family (except for the dad, who is waaaay too comfortable dropping racial slurs), who enjoy modern clothing, family trips, comfortable surroundings, and plenty of food, and on the other, you have a family that gives new meaning to the term “dirt poor”, subsisting on any animals and people who happen to cross their Clan of the Cave Bear, deformed, jangle-toothed path. You’ll never want to take your family on a road trip after this one.
WOLF CREEK (2005)
THE GIST: A chilling, factually based story of three road-trippers in remote Australia who are plunged into danger when they accept help from a friendly local. Kristy, Ben and Liz are three friends in their twenties who set out to hike through the scenic Wolf Creek National Park in the Australian Outback. The trouble begins when they find that their car won't start and they run into a local bushman named Mick Taylor (John Jarrett).
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: You don’t get a much nastier modern villain than Mick Taylor. Sadistic, methodical, and terrifying, Mick is exactly the kind of person everyone fears they’ll meet out on the open road. He appears as a wolf in sheep's clothing, offering to help three friends who become stranded in the Outback, allowing them to camp out at his place for the night. Two of them poke fun at his rough, slightly redneck nature, but Mick is no fool and immediately clocks their arrogance and privilege. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game that does not hold back on the savagery, and out of it, one of the most chilling - and in my book - realistic, serial killer characters was born. Mick is one mean sonofabitch and somehow, manages to be even scarier than the most deadly creatures hanging out in the Outback.
ROAD GAMES (2015)
THE GIST: When hitchhiker Jack rescues Véronique from a road rage altercation, the twosome decide to travel together for safety’s sake after learning a serial killer is cutting a murderous swathe through the region. Tired and hungry, they decide against their better judgment to take up an offer to stay the night at a mysterious elderly couple’s mansion
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: Traveling through an unfamiliar state is one thing, but traveling through an unfamiliar country with a different language already sets up barriers to communication and cultural practices that can have dire consequences. We meet Jack, who seems like a very nice, if maybe a little naive, British hitchhiker traveling through the French countryside. When he saves an attractive young French woman from an altercation, they decide to band together for safety. From the opening scene, it’s very clear that something is going on that we’re not supposed to fully know or understand just yet, and from there, the Hitchcockian elements start to unfold. The film builds an intense feeling of unease throughout its runtime - we know there is a serial killer lurking around, but who could it be? Though the film does wear out its welcome a bit stretching out that lack of resolve, once the audience starts connecting the dots, it immediately changes the tone of the whole film. Some will enjoy that sharp left turn, others definitely won’t, but writer/director Abner Pastoll does a solid job of keeping us on our toes and giving us some gorgeous French countryside visuals to soak up in the meantime.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1979)
THE GIST: When Sally (Marilyn Burns) hears that her grandfather's grave may have been vandalized, she and her paraplegic brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), set out with their friends to investigate. After a detour to their family's old farmhouse, they discover a group of crazed, murderous outcasts living next door. As the group is attacked one by one by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), who wears a mask of human skin, the survivors must do everything they can to escape.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: Was there any doubt this Tobe Hooper classic wouldn’t be on this list? This is the benchmark against which all road trip horror films are measured against, and set up a solid formula for all to come: a group of young friends/couples, an unfamiliar area, vehicle breakdown, a harbinger character, and some super creepy locals. TTCM is unforgiving and relentless in the terror and tension it seeks to drive into the viewer, while surprisingly, being pretty light on gore. The staying power of this film is a tribute to the simplicity of the story, the tight focus, the direction, and the performances. It both defines and utterly supersedes the very notion of the exploitation picture and is among the most effective horror films ever made. Hooper set the bar impossibly high with this one and it has yet to be surpassed in terms of sheer, visceral, raw, terror.
THE HITCHER (1986)
THE GIST: While transporting a car from Chicago to San Diego, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), who claims to be a serial killer. After a daring escape, Jim hopes to never see Ryder again. But when he witnesses the hitchhiker murdering an entire family, Jim pursues Ryder with the help of truck-stop waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), pitting the rivals against each other in a deadly series of car chases and brutal murders.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: There will never be another villain actor like Rutger Hauer, who commands every frame of this tight, 97-minute, white-knuckled film. Put together equal parts of Steven Spielberg’s DUEL and James Cameron’s THE TERMINATOR and add in an unforgettable, tour de force performance from Hauer, and you’ve got THE HITCHER. This cautionary tale about a young, cross country driver picking up the wrong passenger at the wrong time builds from a simmer to a rolling boil during the course of its runtime. Our driver thinks he’s in the clear, but before long he realizes getting away from a killer like Hauer’s Ryder is no easy feat. What follows is a series of ever-escalating encounters, each crazier, and more terrifying than the last. You’ll never pick up a hitchhiker or look at a plate of french fries the same way again.
ALONE (2020)
THE GIST: A recently widowed traveler Jessica (Jules Wilcox) is kidnapped by a cold blooded killer, Sam (Marc Menchaca), only to escape into the wilderness where she is forced to battle against the elements as her pursuer closes in on her.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: There is always an underlying sense of fear and anxiety when you are a woman traveling alone. Our senses are heightened, we are more on alert, and more prone to keep our distance. When I watch films like ALONE, I am reminded exactly why I do those things when I travel solo. We meet Willcox’s Jessica in Portland, Oregon (gooooo Timbers!), as she packs her belongings into a U-Haul trailer and hits the road for points north. Not long after, an incident with a passive-aggressive fellow motorist (Menchaca) leaves Jessica rattled. The pair continue to cross paths in increasingly tense encounters, with Sam being just creepy enough (sounding and looking a little like if Jason Sudekis played Jeffrey Dahmer) to trigger Jessica’s fears before the real terror kicks in. Though emotionally at rock-bottom in her life, Jessica adapts and responds with an unforeseen grit her would-be killer didn’t anticipate, all leading to a culminating face-off, that is more predator vs. predator than predator vs. prey.
HIGHWAY TO HELL (1991)
THE GIST: On their way to elope in Las Vegas, teenager Charlie Sykes (Chad Lowe) and his bride-to-be, Rachel Clark (Kristy Swanson), make a wrong turn that brings them face to face with Sgt. Bedlam (C.J. Graham), an undead demon who abducts Rachel and disappears. Then Charlie meets Beezle (obligatory 90’s bad guy, Patrick Bergin), a demonic technician who informs him that to free his fiancée he must defeat a hellish highway patrolman in a no-rules road race in which losing means death -- followed by eternal damnation.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: If you are looking for something more camp and banoonies crazy, HIGHWAY TO HELL is right up your alley, having become an instant midnight movie cult classic when it was released in 1991. No surprise there, considering it was directed by Ate de Jong, who also directed the utterly bizarre kids(?) movie DROP DEAD FRED, and written by Brian Helgeland, who wrote two films that couldn’t be further apart on the genre spectrum, 976-EVIL and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. Rather than experiencing a hell on earth, Charlie (Lowe) is literally transported to the underworld itself, finding himself in the bowels of time and space, where hell is a blistering pit of bad taste and poor service at the only diner in purgatory, complete with Hitler, Attila the Hun, and Cleopatra sitting around telling bad jokes. Combine BEETLEJUICE and MANIAC COP and you have fun mishmash of action, horror, and comedy, featuring appearances by Lita Ford, Gilbert Gottfried, Ben Stiller and the whole Stiller clan (including his sister Amy, dad Jerry, and mother, Anne Meara). It’s a ridiculous ride that will make you nostalgic, because they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
BONES AND ALL (2022)
THE GIST: Love blossoms between a young woman named Maren (Taylor Russell) on the margins of society and a disenfranchised drifter named Lee (Timothée Chalamet) as they embark on a 3,000-mile odyssey through the backroads of America. However, despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their differences.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: This movie could have been an absolute mess (and it is in other ways, but more on that in a sec), combining aspects of BONNIE & CLYDE, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, and ROMEO & JULIET filtered through the lens of addiction by way of cannibalism, but director Luca Guadagnino again proves his status as one of the most interesting and self-assured directors working today by making a heartfelt love story that is also pretty freaking disgusting. At the heart of this meandering trip across 80’s America, is a story of first love, first times (in more ways than one), and what it means to be on the fringes of society. Maren is alone in the world, cast aside by her father after a disturbing incident at a friend’s sleepover. Deciding to try and find the mother she’s never met, she heads across the country, meeting like-minded others along the way, so many in fact, it will make you question whether this is an alternate, cannibal-centered universe, or if there are just really that many cannibals out there. Neither prospect is reassuring. Featuring an absolutely chilling and creepy supporting performance by Mark Rylance, the film is a journey of emotions: one minute you are basking in the sweet and sun-dappled young love between Maren and Lee, the next you find your stomach rolling after Lee’s encounter with a carnival worker. There are films like TERRIFIER where you go in knowing the kind of gore and carnage you will be facing, but BONES AND ALL has sudden and quiet bursts of it that somehow make it even more nauseating, and somehow, beautifully grotesque as well. May not want to eat before this one.
SIGHTSEERS (2012)
THE GIST: Chris (Steve Oram) wants to show girlfriend Tina (Alice Lowe) his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday through the British countryside takes a very wrong turn.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: Establishing himself as the British counterpart to Mike White, Ben Wheatley directs this disturbing, but somehow, light-hearted dark horror-comedy set in the English countryside. When quirky couple, Chris and Tina set out on a camper van trip, it quickly escalates into humorous, but brutal bloodshed. Chris and Tina are a pair of doomed weirdos from the get-go, both deeply unwell characters who have found a complicated love with each other. However, they soon realize love (and murder) alone can not mend their deeply troubled natures. As we roll on in the camper van with them, we become a kind of guilty accomplice to their crimes, murdering and then moving on again, like a distinctly unglamorous and nerdy pair of Bonnie & Clyde’s. As they drive deeper along, they retreat more into their own little world, leaving civilization, and our sympathies to fade away fast in the rearview mirror. SIGHTSEERS is what would happen if someone filtered NATURAL BORN KILLERS through a Kinks song - grim and dark, but peppy as hell somehow, and definitely worth a watch (it’s free on YouTube right now).
BLACK CADILLAC (2003)
THE GIST: What starts as a night of celebration for three friends quickly becomes the ultimate test of survival when their car breaks down on a frozen and deserted mountain. The mystery grows further when they are joined by a local deputy sheriff and are stalked down the mountain by the ominous, probing headlights of a black Cadillac. It's a terrifying race - man against machine....and Mother Nature's most fearsome elements. Based on writer/director John Murlowski's own terrifying experience on a late-night road trip in January of 1983.
WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THIS A REST STOP: I have two words for you. Randy Quaid. I know, I know…hear me out. Before he went certifiable, Quaid starred in this tense road trip gone wrong, in the vein of DUEL, JOY RIDE, and THE HITCHER. Buoyed by a frantic pace and decent performances, the film seldom lets up on the tension, with the snowy landscape and nighttime setting only adding to the disorientation and ominous nature of the eponymous Black Caddy. Though there are some plot holes and dubious elements related to said vehicle, the film works best when you decide to just go along with the action. You’ll think you’ve got BLACK CADILLAC figured out, but when that twist comes, it is a surprise, and somehow, pays off solidly. You’ve seen cat-and-mouse car chase films before, but nothing like this one.
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