Joy Ride Takes the Murderous Maniac Theme on the Road
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Joy Ride adds together a love triangle, a backfiring prank and a bottle of pink champagne to create a good time horror movie DVD.
Review by BHM Editor Don Sumner
2006
Release: 2001
Directed by: John Dahl
Written by: Clay Tarver & J.J. Abrams
Starring:
Steve Zahn as Fuller Thomas
Paul Walker as Lewis Thomas
Leelee Sobieski as Venna
Jessica Bowman as Charlotte
Joy Ride is a stalker-type horror thriller about a maniacal truck driver determined to exact revenge on some troublesome teens who played a joke on him over the CB radio. In the UK and New Zealand the movie is known as Road Kill (ha) and there were several working titles in the U.S. (Squelch, Highway Horror, Candy Cane) before “ Joy Ride” was settled on.
The story begins when Lewis (Walker) finds out that his unrequited love from high school, Venna (Sobieski), has FINALLY broken up with her boyfriend. This is Lewis’s chance! The fact that she is in college in Colorado while he studies in California is no problem… because it’s summer vacation!
Instead of flying home from school Lewis decides to buy a car, pick up Venna in Colorado, and drive
the both of them back home to New Jersey - so that they can have a bit of alone time along the way.
Before the love fest can begin, however, Lewis finds out that his brother (Zahn) is
in jail (again) in Salt Lake City so side-tracks to bail him out. This is where the trouble
begins.
Brother Fuller is a bit of a hoodlum you see. He instigates a prank played on an unsuspecting trucker, convincing Lewis to masquerade as a woman named “Candy Cane” on the CB radio to lure the trucker, handle “Rusty Nail”, to a seedy motel expecting a midnight rendezvous. Well, there is no Candy Cane waiting in room 17 of the hotel as promised, but instead a grumpy old redneck who is not happy at being awakened in the middle of the night by a lonely truck driver. He doesn’t complain much though…because Rusty is actually a psychotic killer and makes short work of old grumpy pants.
Now, the trucker now wants revenge on the teens for his humiliation…
Joy Ride does a good job at creating a believable horror scenario. The acting is also pretty good, and the cinematography and music are high quality. Joy Ride provides suspense, jumps and scares. What it doesn’t provide much of is gore.
Not that a horror movie NEEDS gore to be good mind you, but I kind of like it. There are a couple of shocking images, but nothing compared to the gore-fest horror movie choices that are available. If you like being scared but have a weak stomach, then you will really like Joy Ride.
Overall Joy Ride is a good time, and definitely a scary movie. If you want to ease yourself (or someone else) into horror gently, then this horror flick is ideal. Questions or comments about Joy Ride? Contact us!
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