JOY RIDE (ROAD KILL)

US, 2001, 95 minutes, Colour.
Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Bowman.
Directed by John Dahl.

Joy Ride is an effective thriller with touches of terror. It was directed by John Dahl who had a reputation for this kind of film, small thrillers with a focus on the road: Kill Me Again, Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Unforgettable. He changed tone somewhat with his gambling film, Rounders. He also made the World War Two film, The Great Raid.

This film is in the vein of Duel, people on the road menaced by an unseen truck driver. However, the characters hear the truck driver over their CB and eventually see him as he terrorises and confronts them. The variation on the theme is that a young man plays a practical joke on the driver, tantalising him, and he and his companion pretend that they have a girl and make a rendezvous. When the truck driver doesn’t find the girl, he turns the table on them, pursuing them, capturing the girlfriend, her roommate, and menacing them.

The film is brief enough to keep the atmosphere quite tense – with some touches of macabre humour.

Steve Zahn is good as the young man just out of jail who decides on the practical joke. Zahn appeared to great effect in such films as Riding In Cars With Boys and Happy Texas. The hero is Paul Walker (The Skulls, Into the Blue, Running Scared, The Fast and the Furious). The girlfriend is played by Leelee Sobieski, a strong screen presence in the Helen Hunt vein.

The film is fairly straightforward in its presentation of character, drama, terror.

1. Entertaining B-style movie? Thriller? Terror? The road?

2. The use of the open highway, the side roads, motels, service stations? Authentic atmosphere? The photography, the score?

3. The basic premise: the two young men, the CB radio, the practical joke with the driver, his not taking it well, turning the tables, his brutality, menace, the final confrontation, the police, being saved? The ambiguous ending?

4. The two young men: Lewis, his roommate, the phone call, going to pick up Venna? Meeting with Fuller, Fuller getting out of jail? Their driving, joking, the radio, the CB, hearing the voice of the truckie? Fuller deciding to play the joke, his pretence? Lewis pretending that he was Candy Cane? The effect on the driver? Their carefree attitude, going to the motel? The noises in the next room, Fuller and his encountering the bullying man at reception? The police, the discovery of his brutalised body, the visit to the hospital? Their anxiety, the car, going down the side road? The menace of the driver? Their going to the university, picking up Venna, meeting Charlotte? Driving, their eventually telling Venna the truth? The dangers, Venna wanting to take a strong stand? The radio in the trunk of the car? The stopping at the service station, going in naked to buy the hamburgers, the hurried escape? Going to the motel, the room, the final confrontation? The capture of Charlotte? Taking of Venna? Fuller and his confronting the driver, his leg being pierced, on the fence? Lewis and his trying to handle the situation?

5. The climax, Venna and her being gagged, the gun facing her at the opening of the door? Charlotte and her being captured? Fuller and Lewis, desperate, Lewis helping Fuller off the fence? The police, the split-second timing to save Venna? Finding Charlotte?

6. The point about practical jokes, learning lessons? The terror? The film using the conventions of the road movie – with thriller variations?