History Film / JoyRide

* BigBadassRig: In all three movies Rusty drives a jet-black Peterbilt 379, one of the most visually impressive and intimidating trucks on the road (there is a reason that it is the same make and model of truck used for [[Film/{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]]).

All three films follow roughly the same narrative: A group of young adult pranksters make the ''big'' mistake of pissing off a [[AxCrazy deranged]] truck driver, "Rusty Nail" (voiced by Creator/TedLevine). Being the old-school road-rager that he is Rusty retaliates by stalking and terrorizing said pranksters in his [[BigBadassRig large and ominous Peterbilt]] and often taking out a few innocent bystanders in the process.

%%* DeadlyPrank

Not to be confused with the [[Film/JoyRide2023 2023 comedy film]].

* DisproportionateRetribution: Steal Rusty's car? He'll kill you horribly. Insult truckers? Kill you horribly. Give him the finger? [[LiteralGenie He'll take that finger.]] Then again, he kills some people horribly for no particular reason at all.

** The [[spoiler: ice truck Driver turning out not to be Rusty Nail, leaving the characters relieved]] is followed by the real Rusty Nail turning up rather brutally. In one of the commentaries, J.J. Abrams lampshades this, noting that when people are laughing with relief in the middle of a horror movie something bad is seconds away from happening.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: The ice truck driver from the gas station, who is heavily implied to have been the body left inside Rusty's truck, although that body was dressed differently then he had been, and seemed to have fresh blood on it, while Rusty had also seemed to only smash through the trailer, while not touching the cab as much when he plowed through the ice truck, adding some ambiguity as to whether it was his body, or another ice truck drivers]].

* AxCrazy: Take a wild guess as to who.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Sheriff Ritter's entire screen time consists of one.

* PinkIsFeminine: Venna's roommate Charlotte's outfit and lipstick.

* BadassMustache: The ice truck driver and Sheriff Ritter are both imposing, mustached men.

* NeverMyFault: Fuller is very reluctant to admit that what Rusty Nail did to Ronald Ellinghouse was his fault, comparing it to a prank phone call where a pizza deliveryman gets shot by the guy who didn't order pizzas. [[NotHelpingYourCase Lewis tells him that would be their fault to]].

* BatmanGambit: Rusty just isn't brutal, ruthless and sadistic; he is also very cunning and typically more intelligent than his targets and is usually one step ahead of them.