Road Rage

I was driving home from the far-side of town on Saturday night when an act of road rage got a little out of hand. I drive a very small, very light, very easily destructible car, mind you, and the perpetrator of this vehicular harassment was in a large, heavy, OLD Jaguar. I'll spare the details of my attack, but just know that the incident involved high-speeds, wet roads, and sudden breaking. In all seriousness, I was a little shook up by the whole thing.

Driving a car allows for moments of empowerment and freedom that can instantly turn into feelings of fear and helplessness, which some films have managed to recreate flawlessly. Almost getting destroyed by the clearly insane driver of a Jaguar got me to thinking about the best car-related horror movies out there. So queue up these classics on your Netflix with these classics, and please folks, if you see me driving on the freeway, don't try to kill me.


Duel, 1971
Duel was Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film which originally debuted on television in the 70s. But unlike today's Amy Fisher/Hallmark Hall of Fame piece of shit Lifetime Network movies, Duel was very (read VERY,) good. The film is about a greasy little businessman driving through what looks like Arizona and getting terrorized by a big-ass semi truck. There's some really good Hitchcockian paranoia mixed in with the visual flair that helped make Spielberg such a Holly Wood big shot. It's
available on DVD, and VERY worth checking out.


Breakdown, 1997
I love it when really good low-budget movies succeed. Breakdown did just that in '97, coming out of nowhere and knocking people on their asses with its oh-so-intense man on a mission to save his wife from psycho redneck truckers story. Clearly drawing inspiration from Duel in its opening scenes, Breakdown takes a sharp turn into what can be considered action movie territory. But even the explosions and gunplay never distract from the feeling of dread you get when Kurt Russel's wife disappears ten minutes in.


Joyride, 2001
So if Breakdown and Duel made baby (a baby that would likely grow up to dress in all black and hurt little animals,) it'd be Joyride. Joyride is a great movie, but it's certainly entertaining. The truck vs car Duel dynamic plus the relationship aspects Breakdown multiplied by slasher movie violence is the formula for the film's success. So if you can stomach Paul Walker's school of Keanu Reeves acting technique for a couple of hours, it's definitely worth your time.