In October 2001, John Dahl’s criminally-overlooked horror movieJoy Ridecame and went without much fanfare. Despite rave reviews and a lead performance fromPaul Walker, who just four months earlier appeared inThe Fast and the Furious, Joy Ridefailed to make any significant money at the box office, barely breaking even with a $36 million haul.
UnlikeThe Fast and the Furious, which would eventually grow into a decades-spanning,multi-billion dollar franchise,Joy Ridejust kinda…disappeared from the conversation. Two sequels were eventually released straight-to-video -Dead Aheadin 2008, andRoad Killin 2014 - but neither came close to reaching the quality and sheer intensity of the original film.
Which is a shame becauseJoy Ride, although not high art by any stretch of the imagination, is an incredibly well-executed panic attack from start to finish. Here’s why itdeserves your attention.
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Jaws on Land
Joy Ride- originally titledSquelch- was written by Clay Tarver andnone other than JJ Abrams, the man who would eventually shephard in the new era ofStar Wars. Paul Walker stars as Lewis, a college student traveling from California to Colorado in his run-down Chrysler Newport to pick up his childhood friend and long-time crush Venna. But along the way, he learns that his estranged brother Fuller (Steve Zahn, who brings a welcome sense of levity to the intense proceedings) has been arrested in Salt Lake City. Against his better judgment, Lewis makes a pit stop in Utah and bails his brother out, who tags along on his trip to Colorado.
In a bid to pass time while traveling those long stretches of deserted highway, Fuller has a CB radio installed in the car, so they can listen to the chatter between long-haul truckers. After some brief communications between them and a trucker known only as “Rusty Nails” (menacingly voiced byBuffalo Bill himself, Ted Lavine), Fuller has the bright idea to pull a prank on the guy, and convinces Lewis to play along.
Lewis pretends to be Candy Cane, a hooker looking for a good time. Rusty Nails takes the bait, and the brothers tell him to meet at the motel they happen to be staying at later that night. The brothers tell Rusty to meet in Room 17, which is inhabited by a rude and racist man Fuller had an interaction with while checking in. When Rusty finally arrives, the brothers listen through the adjoining room. But things take a horrifying left turn when their prank backfires and results in the brutal death of the businessman. Rusty, as it turns out, is a psychopathic murderer.
Although the brothers try to put the unfortunate incident behind them, Rusty isn’t so quick to leave the past in the past. When Lewis and Fuller are sniffed out by the maniac truck driver, he’ll stop at nothing to get his vengeance.
Slick, Lean, and Mean
Director John Dahl - who had previouslydabbled in the crime genre, but has never directed a straight-up thriller before - spent four years trying to getJoy Rideoff the ground, clearly seeing the underlying potential in the insidiously simple premise. Dahl successfully elevates the pulpy material into something truly invigorating. And the success of the movie boils down to his talent behind the camera.
The film’s stand-out moments are the numerous chase sequences. Dahl expertly frames Rusty’s threatening eighteen-wheeler as if it were some unnatural monster. It crashes through buildings, obliterates smaller trucks and cars as if they were made of cardboard, and in one stand-out sequence, hunts our leads through a vast cornfield.
Speaking of Rusty Nails, he’s genuinelya fantastic villain. As the audience, we never get a good glimpse at the man himself - we just hear his deep, foreboding voice through the crackling CB radio or over the phone. We know he’s a big hulking figure, but for the most part, we only see his eponymous truck, which towers over Lewis’s dinky-by-comparison Chrysler muscle car. If you don’t get a surge of adrenaline when you see those blaring headlights appear over the horizon, on a bee-line towards our heroes, then you better check your pulse. It’s heart-pounding stuff.
But Dahl is not only an expert at stagingbombastic chase sequences; he’s just as adept at framing quiet moments that radiate nerve-shredding tension. Look no further than the brothers’ first interaction with Rusty Nails at the motel. Having given the trucker the number to the adjacent room, they quietly listen through the paper-thin walls, stifling their laughter as the pay-off of their prank unfolds. But when they hear the sounds of a muted scuffle, their smiles drop. They - and the audience, for that matter - listen for a few tense moments, uncertain as to what’s happening next door but knowing full well it isn’t pretty.
Looking Under the Hood
Dahl does an amazing job putting the audience in Lewis and Fuller’s shoes thanks to the film’s stellar technical aspects.
Visually speaking, the color is a bit drained, but that’s normal for a movie released in the early-2000s; that’s just how it was back then. But the action - which predominantly takes place at night - is expertly shot by cinematographer Jeffery Jur; it’s always clear and concise, never jarring and confusing.
And one mustn’t forgetthe sound design, which really elevates the material. The quiet moments are just as effective as the explosive ones, and Dahl manages to find the perfect balance between the two. And Marco Beltrami’s score is equally impressive, fluctuating between propulsive and quietly atmospheric.
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Closing Thoughts
IsJoy Rideflawless? No, of course not. There are a few…let’s say improbable scenes that strain the limits of believability. And the cliffhanger ending - of which many variations were filmed - doesn’t make a lot of sense, and was most likely included for the sake of leaving the possibility of sequels open.
But these are small gripes regarding a movie that has unfairly disappeared from the film landscape (it doesn’t even have a North American blu-ray release). If you’ve never watchedJoy Ride, then buckle in and give it a watch - you won’t regret it.
