10 Forgotten Road Tripping Horror Movies, Ranked According To IMDb

The open road isn’t always a symbol of freedom and possibility. In many horror movies, it leads straight to death. While the road trip is a common trope in the genre – think Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hitcher – some of the films that explore this theme have fallen into obscurity.

This list pays tribute to road-tripping horror movies lost to the passing of time. The 10 films below are ranked according to their score on IMDb. Buckle your seatbelt, as they say. It’ll be a bumpy ride.

10 Death Valley (1982) – 5.5

Peter Billingsley of A Christmas Story fame plays a curious tyke traveling from California to Arizona with his mom and her new boyfriend in this slasher film set on four wheels. After uncovering a murder scene in Death Valley, Billingsley’s character Billy becomes the target of the culprit – a cowboy killer.

Death Valley features other classic 80s actors like Wilford Brimley. Despite its unoriginal narrative, the desert landscapes and stellar acting will keep any horror fan entertained.

9 Motel Hell (1980) – 6.0

Motel Hell is low-budget comedic horror at its best. An unapologetic rip-off of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this film focuses on a crazed farmer named Vincent who lives on a farm and runs Motel Hello. Instead of livestock, vegetables, or fruits, Vincent harvests humans.

Vincent targets people passing through town, shooting out their tires or putting barriers in the road to make sure they can’t pass through. With his sister Ida, Vincent literally buries his victims up to their necks until they are “ripe” for the picking. It turns out the secret ingredient in Vincent’s renowned smoked meats is people.

8 Highway to Hell (1991) – 6.0

Highway to Tell is a campy retelling of the classic myth of Orpheus, a man who must descend into hell in order to save his love. Chad Lowe – yes, Rob Lowe’s brother – and Kristy Swanson star as a couple who decide to elope in Las Vegas. On their way, Swanson’s character Rachel is kidnapped by a scion of Beezlebub.

Lowe’s character Charlie is forced to travel straight to Hell to save his girl. Unfortunately, Satan himself takes a liking to Rachel and chooses her as his bride.

7 Splinter (2008) – 6.1

Splinter is a multilayered horror experience. After a couple on a romantic getaway are car-jacked by another couple, all four find themselves seeking refuge in an abandoned gas station after running over a mysterious animal.

It turns out the strange splinters erupting from the animal are signs of a contagious viral infection arising from an unknown, deadly organism. These four characters – portrayed by Shea Whigham, Jill Wagner, Paulo Costanzo, and Rachel Kerbs – quickly become affected by the contagious. A lot of insane body horror ensues.

6 Tourist Trap (1979) – 6.2

Tourist Trap is a special film, one that stands apart from other offbeat 80s slashers due to the central performance of well-known television actor Chuck Connors. The film opens in standard format: a group of young, attractive travelers find themselves stranded after getting a flat tire. They eventually stumble upon the title roadside attraction – a house of mannequins – but it turns out to be a house of horror run by Connors’s character Mr. Slausen.

Connors gives a crazed performance as both Mr. Slausen and the masked killer who stalks the group. Tourist Trap also includes mind-bending supernatural elements that take its creepy narrative and setting to the next level.

5 Race With The Devil (1975) – 6.6

Race With the Devil is a hybrid action-horror film designed for big-screen viewing. It stars Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swift, and Lara Parker. These actors play a pair of caravaning Texas couples who stumble upon a cult in the middle of conducting a human sacrifice.

When the couples report what they saw to the police, there isn’t enough evidence to corroborate their story. As they continue along their way, the cult tracks them down, culminating in an insane vehicle battle on the road. Race with the Devil was a hit upon release, but it eventually fell into obscurity.

4 Road Games (1981) – 6.6

Road Games stars horror final girl Jamie Lee Curtis. This Hitchcockian tale – set in Australia – sees Curtis playing a young hitchhiker who teams up with a truck driver played by Stacy Keach. Their goal: capture a serial killer brutally murdering women.

The killer is targeting female hitchhikers like her character Pamela, and she agrees to serve as bait in order to bring the slayer to justice. The result is a suspenseful, edgy take on the slasher film.

3 Kalifornia (1993) – 6.7

Dominic Sena’s road-tripping serial killing romp stars some of the most attractive Hollywood actors wooing audiences in the 90s: Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. Duchovny and Forbes play a journalist-photographer couple traveling around the country studying serial killers.

Pitt and Lewis play a pair of ridesharers who join them on their trip. Pitt’s character Early is a psychopathic lunatic who pushes the rest of the cast into unmentionable acts of horror. Eventually, he turns the tables on his fellow travelers.

2 Breakdown (1997) – 6.9

Breakdown explores every road tripper’s most relatable fear while traveling: breaking down in the middle of nowhere. Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinan play a couple, Taylor and Amy, whose car breaks down in New Mexico after nearly colliding with a crazed driver.

A truck driver named Red pulls over to help them, offering to give Amy a ride to the diner a few miles away. Taylor stays with the car, but Amy and Red never return. Taylor’s nightmarish circumstances just got much worse as he contends with the fact that someone kidnapped his wife.

1 Duel (1971) – 7.4

Duel is a canonical revenge-fueled road trip feature directed by none other than Steven Speilberg. This made-for-TV movie tells the terrifying tale of what happens when a car driver decides to pass an 18-wheeler on a lonely stretch of California highway.

Written by horror icon Richard Matheson, Duel stars Dennis Weaver as the commuter caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a monstrous gas trailer truck. The menacing monster in the film is a Peterbilt 281.

About The Author