Joy Ride
Tags: dark, suspenseful, cruelty, murder, romantic, revenge, prank

Plot synopsis:
Rob and Candy are holed up in a motel room, using methamphetine and having sex. When they run out of drugs, Rob convinces Candy to use the CB to lure a trucker to their room, so they can rob him. Rusty Nail responds to Candy's summons. When Rob answers the door, Rusty realizes he's been tricked and takes the pair captive. Rob and Candy are chained to each other and the axle of Rusty Nail's truck. He takes them to a deserted stretch of Highway 17 and tells them he will let them go if they can hang onto the hood of the truck for a mile. If one of them falls, the other will be pulled off the truck by the chain, and both will die under the truck. He tapes a bag of meth to the windshield of his truck, telling them they can have the drugs after they make it. After riding awhile, Rob calls out that they have ridden for at least a mile, and Rusty Nail agrees. Thinking they have made it, Candy reaches for the bag of drugs; her chain is pulled into the axle, and she and Rob are both pulled underneath the still-moving truck and killed. Later, the authorities are called to the scene; Officer Williams, a newly appointed deputy, wants to investigate further, but is encouraged by Officer Jenkins to make it an open-and-shut case.
Racecar drivers Jordon and Austin, along with their team -- Jewel (manager and Jordon's girlfriend), Mickey (mechanic and pit crew chief), Alisa (PR), and Bobby (groupie) -- are caravanning from Kansas to Canada so that they can compete in the Road Rally 1000; they have an SUV with a flatbed trailer for the racecar, and walkie-talkies to communicate from car to car. When they stop at Headingley Grill for lunch, Austin finds Highway 17 on a map; he discovers that it would shorten their journey by a day and give them more time to get the lay of the land. When they ask a creepy truck driver, Barry, for directions, he warns them against taking 17; he tells them it's called "Slaughter Alley" (which the cops at the scene of Rob and Candy's deaths also claimed), and tells them the story of Rusty Nail, who has become something of an urban legend. Jenkins stops in for a cup of coffee and denies Barry's claims, encouraging them to take 17. Barry tells them that stretch of highway is unpatrolled, which appeals to Austin, who wants to be able to test the limits of their car on open road, so they agree to go that way.
Austin drives the racecar and Jordon, Jewel, and Alisa ride along. They tease Austin about a wreck he had previously gotten in. This is clearly a sore subject for Austin, who vents his frustration by messing with a truck driver (who just happens to be Rusty Nail) and then speeding off. Jordon makes Austin pull over and takes the driver's seat; just as they catch up to Mickey and Bobby in the SUV, Rusty Nail catches up to the group and starts laying on his horn. When Jordon tries to let him pass, he boxes them in, switching lanes so neither car can get around him. Jordon gets around, but as Mickey tries to pass, Rusty rams the flatbed trailer, causing it to detach from the SUV and run off the road. He then tailgates Jordon, who dodges to get out of the way of an oncoming station wagon; when Rusty tries to do the same, he jackknifes. Jewel and Alisa try to convince Jordon to stop, but he refuses, worried a mark on his record will cost them the race. Rusty checks a camera he has mounted to the front of the truck, identifying Jordon's license number, and then uses the CB to hail them; he has found their website and now knows exactly who they all are, threatening to make them pay for what they did. Jordon disregards his threats, and the team continues on.
Night falls, and the group stops at a gas station. Everyone is at odds over how to proceed. After Jewel fights with Jordon, she and Austin leave in the SUV to go to the police, as the others continue on in the racecar. Rusty Nail catches up to Jewel and Austin and tries to run them off the road; they desperately try to call Jordon for help on the walkie-talkie, which doesn't work on Jordon's end (as Barry warned them might happen). Rusty runs them off the road and puts their unconscious bodies in the back of his truck. Just then, the gang in the racecar gets their signals back and worry when they can't reach Jewel and Austin.
Rusty takes Jewel and Austin to a deserted field, and then kills Austin by putting his hands and then face through the engine fan of his truck. He then calls Jordon on the walkie-talkie, telling him he'll trade Jewel and Austin for the racecar. Rusty instructs Jordon to come to an old warehouse in an hour; Jordon and the others devise a plan to ensure that Rusty Nail will not double cross them, as Rusty torments Jewel. Meanwhile, Officer Williams finds the wrecked and abandoned SUV.
Jordon, Mickey, Alisa and Bobby arrive at the warehouse and split up; Alisa stays with the car, Bobby and Mickey go around the perimeter, and Jordon heads inside. After a tense search of the warehouse, during which Rusty kidnaps Bobby, Rusty flees in the truck. Jordon, Mickey, and Alisa follow in the racecar. When they come across a police cruiser, they pull over to find Jenkins; after convincing him of their story with a photo Rusty sent of Jules, he agrees to help them catch up to Rusty Nail. However, Rusty comes out of nowhere and obliterates Jenkins and his cruiser; Jordon, Mickey, and Alisa give chase. Meanwhile, Officer Williams encounters a truck weaving recklessly, and flags it down; however, it's a driver for a meat packing plant on a rush to deliver his cargo. When Williams searches the cargo, he finds parts of Austin's body; the driver claims he picked up a "rogue load" from a fellow trucker who needed help, but Williams subdues him and tries to hail Jenkins on the CB. He then tells dispatch he's bringing the meat truck driver in. Later he finds the burning wreckage of Jenkins' cruiser.
Rusty contacts Jordon, and kills Bobby as the group listens helplessly over the walkie-talkie. Rusty then tells Jordon to meet him at a junkyard and give himself up; only then will he set Jewel and Austin free. Mickey wants to go get help instead, and forces Jordon off the road; he tries to convince Alisa to come with him, but she refuses and leaves with Jordon to go save their friends. Mickey goes for help on foot; he finds the truck parked on a side road, and is overpowered by Rusty Nail. Rusty crushes Mickey's head in a wench, then lights the semi-trailer of his truck on fire, driving off in just the tractor unit.
Jordon sends Alisa to go get help and enters the junkyard alone. Jewel's screams draw him into the final showdown with Rusty Nail. The two fight, as Rusty indicates Jewel is trapped in a dangling car about to be crushed. Just as it seems Rusty has the upper hand, Alisa runs him over with the racecar, and she and Jordon go to rescue Jewel from the crusher. However, Jordon finds the video camera in the trunk of the crushed car; it is playing previously shot footage of Jewel. It's revealed that Rusty Nail tied her to the roof of the truck and ran her into the girders of a steel bridge, killing her.
Enraged, Jordon and Alisa get in the car to go find Rusty Nail, but he rams into them, trying to crush them. Alisa's leg is stuck, keeping her from getting out. Jordon runs to a nearby wrecking claw and uses it to put Rusty's truck in the crusher, with Rusty inside. Later, however, when Williams and his men investigate, Rusty Nail is nowhere to be found. The film ends with Rusty Nail hitching a ride with another truck driver.

Review: "Joy Ride" is an extremely entertaining road-set horror/thriller that was surprisingly quite good.
The film is about Lewis (Paul Walker), a college coed who decides to buy himself a car and take off across the desert to pick up a would-be-girlfriend, Venna (Leelee Sobieski) in Colorado for a road trip together.
After having a CB radio installed into the car, the two take off to pick up Venna, but end up pulling a prank on an anonymous trucker who goes by the name of "Rusty Nail" (excellently voiced by Ted Levine) on the CB radio.
But soon after they pick up Venna, the menacing truck driver begins harassing them again, seeking revenge for the joke they decided to play on him - he'll stop at nothing to get it, and he's looking for more than an apology.Reminiscent of "The Hitcher" in quite a few ways, but also a much different film, "Joy Ride" was a surprise for me.
Whereas in DUEL one just had the man (Dennis Weaver is his best movie) and a truck (without the driver ever to be seen), Dahl added more characters and a more visible (actually audible) driver + police, etc, but the basic plot, people running away from mad truck/driver, is left intact.
The "unknown" rig driver is properly menacing, and I can completely suspend disbelief and place myself in either of these actors' roles (more likely Walker's role as he originally goes with the prank and then thinks otherwise when the prank starts to get into the "iffy" category but his buddy eggs him on).Like I said, pop yourself some popcorn, don't expect a deep and mind-bending thriller, turn the lights off and cozy up with your guy or girl and enjoy a satisfyingly entertaining movie with a solid storyline that will not give you nightmares.Cheers :).
I say above average, but as far as teen thrillers go, with "I know what you did last summer", "Urban Legends", and their ilk cluttering up the sub-genre, a movie like this is frigging' Macbeth.Not to say this film is without flaws, Leelee Sobieski is pretty wooden in her role as Venna and there are plot holes that you can even drive Rusty Nail's truck through.
However it does create some good tension, so I'm willing to overlook that.My Grade: B- Fox DVD Extras: Commentary by Director John Dahl; 2nd commentary by Writes Clay Tarver and J.J. Abrams; 3rd Commentary by Steve Zahn and Leelee Sobrieski; Making-of; Deleted scenes; 4 alternate endings; Voice auditions for Rusty Nail; White Rabbit type Branching option; Theatrical trailer.
Dahl is actually quite good at handling the action scenes, but his film is a bit cruder, a bit more over-the-top, and a considerably less plausible than Spielberg's masterpiece (the truck, for example, seems to have a tighter turning circle than a running human!) 'Roadkill' is still possessed of a certain gut power; but less, in the case of this comparison, is definitely more..
Gripping, white-knuckler of a film was one of the best thrillers of its year!Brothers driving across the American west play a prank on a truck driver, who then seeks some harsh vengeance.Joy Ride may recall a lot of road thrillers, such as Duel (1971), Road Games (1981), or The Hitcher (1986), but it's a film that firmly stands out among the genre.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsLewis Thomas (Paul Walker) is a young man who must head cross-country to bail his deadbeat brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) from the county jail.On the way to meet his girlfriend Venna (Leelee Sibieski),Fuller leads Lewis up the alley and encourages him to use a CV radio he has aquired in order to play a practical joke on a trucker.It is from here that a nightmare ride of mayhem,destruction and death will ensue.This is quite a pleasant surprise indeed.In what must be his least nauseating,most watchable performance to date,the hardly-master thespian Walker commandeers the lead role with nerve and a quirky humour.The supporting cast are excellent too,and are well served by a tense,tightly written script that throws in the appropriate lashings of suspense as well as side portions of pathos and black humour that keeps the boat flowing nicely.It's a suspense thriller in the vein of the similarly themed Duel and,like that movie,has moments that are genuinely terrifying and which accomplish the movie's task perfectly.****.
The plot wasn't extremely original, the movie was unrealistic (seriously, do you think such a thing would happen in reality?), and the protagonists were pretty stupid (in a lot of horror movies, the protagonists are, but it would be nice to see one where they are at least not complete idiots).
Fans of Paul Walker, of Fast and Furious fame, might also endure the movie for his sake.Steve Zahn tries to steal the movie, and almost succeeds, but ends up overacting to overcome the bad script.I gave this a 6 for LeeLee, but recommend you watch The Glass House instead..
It's truly mind boggling when you consider that with all the people involved in a movie no one could come up with a better conclusion to the story they meticulously set up during the first hour.Anyway, at least the first half is good, even if it's predictable and implausible (the killer knows a lot about the two pranksters...).
How did the killer know which way these little pricks were going to be driving?The killer retrieving the CB radio after they throw it out the window onto the highway and putting it in there car without them noticing- that's not too unbelievable either.The killer driving his 18 wheeler following them to a college and kidnapping their girlfriend's roommate- almost makes the last two statements believable.Then after all that running around the killer turns out to be NOBODY.
After seeing those movies, this movie really feels like a breath of fresh air.What makes "Joy Ride" so incredibly good and effective is the build-up of the tension.
It provides the movie with some typical 'edge-of-your-seat' kind of moments and also for most part makes this an unpredictable movie to watch, with plenty of good genre surprises in it.Even though this movie doesn't really have a monster or gore in it, it still can really be seen as an horror movie, not in the least thanks to it's wonderful build-up and overall atmosphere.
The movie wants you to feel safe while watching and makes you feel at ease, until it then suddenly lets its action and tension kick in again, which makes it all the more effective of course.Seemed to me that Steve Zahn was thinking he was making a comedy at times.
Well, you'll see what I mean when you see the film, but the story is a cool tense one.Lewis is coming home from college, and when he learns that his crush would like to drive home from her college, he turns in his airline ticket and buys a car and is headed to pick her up.
He does so and then installs a CB radio to know the way home, but Fuller wants to have fun and plays a prank on another truck driver, he makes Lewis pretend to be a girl called Candy Cane and to meet them at the hotel in a different room where another guest is staying.
for fun.Joy Ride is a constant tense thriller that reminded me somewhat of the Hitcher, it was awesome, it reminded me of some John Carpenter films.
Dahl's stylish direction, good performances by the three leads and the chilling voice-work by Levine (Which he's best known playing Buffalo Bill in "The Silence of the Lambs") makes this film a genuine thrill-ride.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an fine-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
So I proceeded to ask myself:  What is it about cinema that allows us to enjoy the process--the journey, if you will--yet you are having problems with what is taking place?For example, things were happening in JR that were rather unbelievable, yet watching the film was enjoyable because of the storyline, the possibilities, the characters and the filmmaking.
meld of Duel and The Hitcher.Okay, so the plot is nothing special, and we've seen it all before, but that is a very easy flaw to forgive once this movie gets rolling, because it is just so damned good!I didn't think Hollywood was making films like this any more.
Don't watch the trailer, though, as it spoils some great moments.See it in a double feature with Jeepers Creepers, the other surprisingly good teen horror road movie of recent years..
Without a notable road horror movie since The Hitcher, Joy Ride came out and became a hit with younger audiences and established itself as one of the better horror films at the start of the twenty first century in 2001.
The idea of two brothers playing pranks on a trucking radio systems is a good initial concept of a thrilling road movie.
DUEL, RACE WITH THE DEVIL, THE HITCHER, BREAKDOWN, that stuff's great.JOY RIDE excels in all the same areas those movies did for exactly half of its running time.
Had this movie stuck with the brothers while relegating Rusty Nail to just some deranged, detached voice on a CB radio, we'd have a near classic on our hands.JOY RIDE comes recommended, with a caveat that it could have been better..
Good Fun. Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker (Ted Levine) on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer.This film is sort of like "Duel", though some or most of the action takes place outside of the car.
I liked this film from start to finish fully entertaining and a solid twist really made for a good watch.The chemistry between Steve Zahn and Paul walker worked really well through the whole movie.Good action scenes along with good pacing and score gave this a must watch flick.This was as good as Duel in many places if not better.
After a prank that is not really all that mean-spirited, a trucker begins mercilessly stalking them, and the guy's idea of "getting even" is much too close to "murder" for everyone else's tastes.What I liked about the movie above all is that Steve Zahn and Paul Walker make a convincing set of brothers.
It keeps the violence to a tasteful level and if you're looking for a horror/thriller film that has a bit of bite but never goes into very gruesome levels (save maybe for a brief scene in the beginning) it's fun and has some good laughs too.
this is not a excellent movie,it has a pretty good plot about a college student that decides to take a cross country road trip to pick up his girlfriend,along the way he decides to bail his trouble making brother out of jail,his trouble making brother decides to put a CB radio in the car to have a little fun they play a prank on this lonesome trucker named rusty nail,but the prank backfires with some shocking results,now the trucker (rusy nail) is out for vengeance he wants one of them to pay with their life.this movie is entertaining from the beginning to the end,it has you guessing which one of the characters is gonna die,but there's this one thing I find interesting how is it possible to stalk someone in a tractor trailer?
The ending could've been better, but it was still pretty good.Up until now, the only Paul Walker movie I had ever seen was The Fast and the Furious.
Although, personally, this is one movie that doesn't need a sequel, even though the ending leaves it open for one.Overall: Joy Ride is a good, suspenseful flick.
Two twenty-something brothers, Lewis and Fuller (Paul Walker and Steve Zahn), take a cross-country drive to pick up Lewis' would-be girlfriend Venna (Leelee Sobieski).
Two less-than-intelligent young guys (Paul Walker, Steve Zahn) play a trick on a deranged truck driver named Rusty Nails over a CB radio that leads to a hellish chain of events in JOY RIDE, a 2001 horror/suspense teen flick that comes off as a Generation X version of Steven Spielberg's 1971 suspense classic DUEL.But despite the great potential of the premise, JOY RIDE is a let down.
Much of this is due to the fact that Walker and Zahn, by virtue of their silly little prank, behave just like far too many young folks we've seen in horror films ever since HALLOWEEN; they basically ask for what they eventually get.
Furthermore, Dahl, although he does create a certain tension in the film and has a great feel for the truck attacks and the stunts, is not of Steven Spielberg's caliber when it comes to building real suspense to a fever-pitch level.All in all, JOY RIDE falls into the same cracks as did THE RAGE: CARRIE 2.
A taught, white-knuckle thriller directed with panache by genre master John Dahl.Featuring fine performances form Leelee Sobeski, Steve Zahn, and gorgeous Paul Walker.Despite a fairly empty plot & some thin characterization, it manages to contain enough moments of suspense, humour and twists to carry it through with aplomb.The DVD edition is a joy, with one 30-minute alternative ending (picking up from the moment when the guys walk naked into the diner), that changes the whole outcome of the movie - along with one deleted scene, three other alternative shorter endings of the original ending (including a storyboard one), and some good commentaries.Recommended.Note: In my personal opinion the UK/IRELAND/AUSTRALIAN title "Road Kill" is by far superior to "Joy Ride", which I consider to be a real nothing title..
--0r during the first 20 minutes of the film, anyway, as the hero's brother urges him to take advantage of his anonymity and use the CB radio in his new car to taunt a hitting-on-five-cylinders trucker by the handle Rusty Nail.
Unless this particular psychopath has God-like qualities, it couldn't possibly pull off it's elaborate (and ridiculously phony) revenge plot.The film starts out plausibly, with Paul Walker and Steve Zahn, both very good in the set up, but by the time they drag poor Leeleeh Sobieski into the mess, it has worn out it's welcome.
I recently rented Joy Ride on DVD and i must say, that was one the best suspense thriller films that i have seen in a while.
Sure it seems like a little innocent fun until they mess with the wrong guy.While watching Joy Ride, I had various mixed emotions because thats what kind of movie it is.
Joy Ride reminded me of Spielberg's classic film "Duel" with Dennis Weaver, except that in addition to the malevolence of the unknown trucker, we understand the reason for the senseless brutal attacks, and there is a viable subplot with a cast of interesting characters, fleshed out by a talented cast.Paul Walker was hired for one reason - he has a pretty face.
Joy Ride is an adrenaline-pumping Duel meets I Know What You Did Last Summer thrill-packer which wears its B Movie status on its bloody sleeve and is goofily proud of it.Placing believable characters who do ALL the right things in terrifying situations put this a cut above the usual teen slashers.Walker is less bland than usual while Sobieski and Zahn are excellent.Sobieski once again proves that she is one of the most versatile teen actors around and Zahn is frequently hilarious.
Realizing this forces you to watch this flick differently than how you might watch "What Lies Beneath" or "The Others."The acting is fairly good, I think Leelee Sobieski stole the show with her ever present charm and gave life to Paul Walker's and Steve Zahn's roles as well.My only objection, and a suggestion that would have made this film totally better would have been to slash out at least half of the profanity and the meaningless conversations between the brothers in the beginning.
This was a pretty good movie as far as a teen thriller/horror flick.
LeeLee Sobieski was unexpectedly absent for at least the entire first half of the movie, so at the beginning it appears to be the humorous story of Lewis and Fuller (played by Paul Walker and Steve Zahn) as they travel across country.
"Joy Ride" is typical of movies these days that present a few good set-piece scenes but don't make them come together into a satisfying whole.The problem here is almost exclusively in the script.
A couple of questions can come to your mind as you watch: the truck driver must be psychic, and the soon-to-be-infamous nude scene with Paul Walker and Steve Zahn seems a little off from the rest of the movie.
A college girl, her best friend & his rebellious brother are hunted across the highways by a mad trucker after a practical joke with a CB goes wrong.Inspired by such classic road movie thrillers as Duel & The Hitcher John Dahl gives us another warning about long distance driving in the states with Roadkill (UK title).
im not much of a horror-thriller fan (at least not the run-of-the-mill hollywood types), so i didnt expect much from joy ride, but it turned out to be a rather enjoyable movie.
Granted, it looked like another silly horror/stalker flick from the previews way back when, but I kept an open mind as I sat down to watch this latest suspense/thriller.While it wasn't spectacular, I did have some fun with it.I think that came from the fact that the leads were enjoyable, and there were some entertaining and funny moments throughout all of "Rusty Nail's" stalking.
The film required a bit more thought, some scenes were very frustrating to watch.The acting is actually pretty good, there's a lot of chemistry between the characters.Overall, a fun picture, which deserves a rental..
Starring: Paul Walker, Steve Zahn and Leelee SobieskiGenre: Horror/ThrillerRated R for Terror/Violence and LanguageStar Rating: ** out of 5Joy Ride was an okay movie.