Our heroes try not to become human roadkill.
Monster Man is a 2003 horror comedy film written and directed by Michael Davis, the same guy who brought us Shoot 'Em Up.
It centers on two pals: Adam (Eric Jungmann), a meek nice guy, and Harley (Justin Urich), a horny guy who is constantly mouthing off. They are driving to Adam's ex-girlfriend's wedding on the roads of Deep South. Along the way they become a target for a stitched-up monster-for-a-man and his monster truck. As Adam and Harley try to shake him off their tail, they pick up a hitchhiking hottie, Sarah (Aimee Brooks), who quickly regrets getting involved with these two.
Not to be confused with the Syfy reality series of the same name.
These tropes became roadkill:
- Antagonist Title: It's a slasher movie, this comes with the territory.
- An Arm and a Leg: Almost everyone in the area terrorized by the Monster Man is missing a limb.
- And I Must Scream: The fates of the two brothers at the film's end. Fred is left, clinging to life in his Black Magic-sustained body until starvation or the spell's limits do him in for the final time. Bob has been literally Squashed Flat but is still alive enough to be burbling about how they haven't killed him yet despite being nothing but a smear of meat on the road.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The self-built monster truck used in the film couldn't go very fast (30 miles per hour at best), overheated very quickly, ran on expensive rocket fuel and had no steering wheel. But it sure looks cool!
- Brother–Sister Incest: Brother Fred talks about how he's fucked/going to be fucking his own sister after he has his soul transferred into Adam's body.
- Car Fu: Monster Man is shown killing a guy with his truck.
- Cool Car: Monster Man's monster truck. Averted behind the scenes as noted above.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Monster Man leaves a message on our heroes' car that "they're next" by smearing blood all over the hood.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat:
- Harley scares Adam by hiding in his car's backseat and attacking Adam wearing a White Mask of Doom.
- Subverted again later when the guys mistake Sarah, who's crashing in Adam's car, for Monster Man.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: Adam has to visit one which is filled with flies, Bathroom Stall Graffiti and other nastiness.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The whole backstory behind the Monster Man's rampages. After Bob accidentally ran over his brother, Fred, and killed him, their sister swore her soul to Satan to bring Fred back to life, and so she and he have been murdering people to sustain Fred ever since.
- The End... Or Is It?: Brothers Bob and Fred are still alive (but not well) in the end. And the whole thing is lampshaded by Brother Fred being very unhappy with the situation.Fred: "'The End'? This can't be The End! I'm still alive!"
- The Family That Slays Together: Monster Man's family all works together to keep Fred alive by way of murder, mutilation and black magic.
- Flipping the Bird:
- Harley flips off Monster Man when he starts tailgating them with his monster truck.
- Fred also flips off Adam when Adam tried to kill him.
- Groin Attack: Sarah nutkicks the guy in the diner who tries to force her to "dance" with him.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Brother Fred, whose torso has been crushed so badly that he's been cut almost in half. Brother Bob's efforts keep him alive, but they can't heal his damaged torso.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Adam and Harley use Monster Man's own monster truck against him.
- Hollywood Satanism: Monster Man's house is filled with pentagrams and other satanic symbols, and the Devil is real enough to grant a bunch of backroad hicks the Black Magic to preserve the life of one of their own, namely Brother Fred.
- Human Sacrifice: Sacrifices are needed to keep Fred alive; transplanting limbs and organs staves off death, but can't permanently fix him. So Bob and Sarah want to transfer his soul into a whole new body to put an end to it.
- Mix-and-Match Man: The reason why Brother Bob is killing and amputating people is because he needs bodyparts to patch up his resurrected brother Fred.
- My Car Hates Me: Justified; Adam and Harley are out of gas.
- My Girl Is Not a Slut: Adam punched Harley in the past for calling his then-girlfriend, Betty-Ann, a slut.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Monster Man does this when he chases Adam and Harley on foot.
- Once is Not Enough: Thoroughly subverted with the climax. Adam and Harley run over Brother Bob once... and then run back and forth over him all night before driving off. Even though, like all slasher movie protagonists, Brother Bob is still alive at the end, he's nothing but a great smear of shredded meat and pulped bone, and in no shape to be hurting anyone.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Brother Bob shrugs off getting his eyes gouged out with pencils, and even boasts he doesn't need his eyes to see, as he has a "sixth sense for blood".
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: The corpse that Monster Man puts into Adam's car at one point.
- The Pen Is Mightier: Adam uses his trusty pen to poke Monster Man's eyes out.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Monster Man favors a knife for killing, when he murders up close and personal.
- The Reveal: Sarah is Monster Man's sister.
- Scary Scarecrows: The Ghost Town near Monster Man's farm is filled with these.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: One gas station which our heroes visit serves human meat in its chili.
- Shout-Out: To Clue when our protagonists hear screaming outside their motel:Adam: What was that?Harley: It definitely wasn't Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick, I'll tell you that!
- Squashed Flat: Brother Fred died when Brother Bob accidentally did this to him in the backstory. And this is Brother Bob's fate.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Harley talks in his sleep.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: After getting behind the wheel of Bob's monster truck, Adam drives over him throughout the night until he is Squashed Flat. And that doesn't even kill him!
- Too Dumb to Live: Harley just doesn't know when to shut up. Also, who pisses inside potentially dangerous guy's car?
- The Undead: Both Brothers Fred and Bob.
- Unusual Euphemism: Harley and Adam have a conversation on what Citizen Kane's "Rosebud" really meant (it was the nickname for the genitals of William Randolph Hearst's favourite prostitute).
- Villain Opening Scene: The film opens with Monster Man killing some guy with a vise.
- Villainous Incest: Although Fred initially seems disgusted by the fact his taking Adam's body will mean he's slept with his sister, Sarah, the two quickly seem to dismiss the matter and even look forward to doing it for real.
- Wimp Fight: Adam's and Harley's brief fight after their first encounter with Monster Man.
- Zombie Gait: Monster Man walks like this.
