Line #17 Film/JoyRide


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joy_ride_poster_7811.jpg]]
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3	''Joy Ride'' is a 2001 horror film written and produced by Creator/JJAbrams and starring Creator/SteveZahn, Creator/PaulWalker, and Creator/LeeleeSobieski. It subsequently spawned two direct-to-video sequels: ''Film/JoyRide2DeadAhead'' (2008) and ''Film/JoyRide3Roadkill'' (2014).
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5	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.
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7	Not to be confused with the 2023 [[Film/JoyRide2023 film of the same name]] starring Creator/AshleyPark.
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9	!!This film contains examples of:
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11	* AssholeVictim: A good chunk of the people Rusty targets are usually not-so-innocent and often deliberately provoked him first, especially in the sequels. Hell, even Lewis and Fuller (Fuller especially when Rusty asked for an apology) went out of their way to piss him off.
12	* AxCrazy: Rusty.
13	* BadassDriver: Rusty may be a psychopath with anger management issues but he is a damn good truck driver.
14	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: In all three movies Rusty does a brutal number on his targets and escapes the police alive (albeit injured in the last two films and minus his truck in all three).]]
15	* BatmanGambit: Rusty isn't just brutal, ruthless and sadistic; he is also very cunning and typically more intelligent than his targets and is usually one step ahead of them.
16	* BigBad: Rusty, of course.
17	* 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/TransformersFilmSeries Optimus Prime]]).
18	* BlatantLies: Lewis telling Venna he has a car he can pick her up in. The next scene shows him scrambling to buy one.
19	* BoobyTrap: Rusty rigs one up using a shotgun with its trigger connected via string to the hotel door in the climax of the first movie.
20	* BoundAndGagged: [[spoiler:Venna]] as part of the aforementioned booby trap, and [[spoiler:Charlotte]] is found this way in the cabin of Rusty's Truck.
21	* BullyingADragon: Fuller insulting Rusty Nail rather than apologizing after knowing he's a dangerous killer.
22	* CarFu: A good chunk of the movies is Rusty playing bumper cars with the protagonists' vehicles.
23	* CatchPhrase: "Candy Cane..."
24	* ChekhovsGun: Lewis's broken taillight.
25	* ChronicallyCrashedCar: [[spoiler: In all three movies Rusty's truck is destroyed. Shot by police and crashed into a hotel in the first one; set on fire and driven over a cliff in the second; ripped apart by a junk-yard crane and dropped into a car crusher in the third]].
26	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: "When did you get out of jail, ''yesterday?''"
27	* CreepyGood
28	** Officer Kenny has a bit of a creepy smile as he picks away on his toothpick and asks questions and then takes the boys to see a man Rusty nearly killed, but considering that they are holding information back from them, and he can tell this and just wants to get them talking, this is fairly justified.
29	** The ice truck driver is an imposing man, carrying a heavy object around who speeds after the brothers, but only to return a credit card they left, with the heavy object being a tire checker necessary in his line of work. The guy doesn't even take offense at how they'd been scared of him, admitting that his mustache is a little intimidating and his wife has been asking him to shave it.
30	%%* DamselInDistress: [[spoiler: Both Charlotte and Venna]].
31	* DeadlyPrank: Fuller and Lewis decide to prank a trucker with a typical "fake date" set-up and they have the bad luck of doing it to the only trucker in America who is a murderous maniac. Various people end up dead as collateral damage in said trucker's unrelenting quest to make them pay.
32	* DeadpanSnarker: One of Rusty's defining traits, besides sadism and brutality.
33	* DisproportionateRetribution: Rusty Nail reacts to being set up for a prank by ripping off an innocent trucker's jaw and pursuing the prankers with full intent to kill them after some humiliation.
34	* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Fuller, why oh why did you feel the need to insult Rusty over the CB ''after'' the cops had taken you to the hospital and shown you what happens to people who piss Rusty off?
35	%%* DrivesLikeCrazy
36	* EveryoneLives: Played straight, as all main cast members survive. Averted in other two movies.
37	* EvilIsFunny: Rusty Nail definitely has an, albeit seriously warped, sense of humor.
38	* EvilIsPetty: Giving Rusty the finger results in bodily mutilation of either the bird-flipper or their friends.
39	* EvilSoundsDeep: Rusty's voice is quite deep, courtesy of Creator/TedLevine.
40	* TheFaceless: Rusty's face is always blocked by his cap.
41	* {{Fanservice}}: Creator/LeeleeSobieski spent the majority of her scenes braless. To say nothing of Steve Zahn and Paul Walker [[spoiler: when Rusty blackmails Lewis and Fuller into entering a truck stop diner completely nude]].
42	* FinalGirl: Somehow subverted, since both girls survive.
43	* FingerInTheMail: Well, more like in the glove compartment.
44	%%* FloatingHeadSyndrome
45	* ForcedToWatch: Rusty is very prone to doing this his victims. The hotel and the shotgun booby-trap climax in the first, the craps game in the second, Jewel in the trailer with the electric winch in the third.
46	* HairTriggerTemper: Rusty, of course. In fact, a lot of the time it is unclear if Rusty is a SerialKiller actively searching for victims or simply a lonely trucker that turns really, ''really'' angry when somebody messes with him and is prone to DisproportionateRetribution.
47	* HollywoodCB: Many times throughout the movies, the main characters and their pursuer have inexplicable privacy on the radio. In RealLife, State Highway Patrols have a tendency to monitor CB channels and other truckers would also be listening in so in reality the cops would have been all over Rusty about half-way through the first movie.
48	* HostageMacGuffin: [[spoiler: Charlotte]], for a large part of the movie.
49	* ICanSeeYou:
50	--> '''Rusty''' ''(speaking through the truck radio)'': You know, Black Sheep, you really ought to get that fixed.
51	--> '''Fuller''': Get what fixed?
52	--> '''Rusty''': Your taillight.
53	%%* IHaveYourWife
54	* {{Jerkass}}: Fuller. Hell, it seems like half the protagonists in all three movies are assholes.
55	* KickTheDog: Rusty needlessly [[spoiler: ramming through the ice truck]] and probably killing the driver when he could have just waited for him to go then attacked the boys.
56	* LostInTheMaize: The protagonists are chased by Rusty through a corn field.
57	* MamasBoy: Fuller accuses Lewis of being one (even giving him it as a CB handle) and at the very least he is closer to their mom than Fuller
58	* ManlyFacialHair: The ice truck driver and Sheriff Ritter are both imposing, mustached men.
59	* {{Manchild}}: Fuller is a little too childishly eager to play stupid pranks and aggravate people, while whining away responsibility for his actions and trash-talking their parents.
60	* MoodWhiplash:
61	** Lewis deciding to go out of his way and bail his estranged brother out of jail is a nice, heartfelt moment. Then he gets pulled over for making an illegal u-turn and having a broken tailight.
62	** 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.
63	* MyCarHatesMe: In all three movies the protagonists' car gives them trouble (like having a flat tire after they had put some distance between them and Rusty and therefore allowing Rusty to catch up).
64	* 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 too]].
65	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The ice truck driver has his rig demolished, and is possibly killed, just for having gone to return a credit card Lewis left behind.
66	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Rusty in every film's ending seems to have been killed, but is later revealed to be alive.]]
67	* NothingIsScarier: The confrontation between Rusty Nail and the {{Jerkass}} guest takes place behind a wall, with only a few muffled sounds coming through. [[spoiler:The end result speaks for [[TearOffYourFace itself.]]]]
68	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rusty is only known by his CB handle.
69	* OhCrap: Usually happens whenever someone sees Rusty's truck behind them or he calls them on the CB.
70	* PinkIsFeminine: Venna's roommate Charlotte's outfit and lipstick are pink and girly.
71	* PoliceAreUseless: Largely averted. Officer Keeny quickly figures out that the boys know something about the attack on Ellinghouse and finds the right way to get them to talk, while his boss Sheriff Ritter takes their information and then sends them out of town due to their being nothing better to do. In the climax, the police almost accidentally kill Venna by triggering a BoobyTrap, but then stand down Rusty Nail's approaching truck, firing through the windshield for a while, helping disable it. Played straighter in the alternate ending, where the cops are more obstructive, don't believe the brothers when they figure out what Rusty is about to do, and don't face down and fire at his truck.
72	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Sheriff Ritter, who makes it clear how disgusted his is by the prank and its results, but doesn't press the matter, just giving the brothers tongue lashing and ordering them out of town before focusing his efforts on the dismal chance of tracking down Rusty Nail.
73	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Sheriff Ritter's entire screen time consists of insulting the brothers' poor choices.
74	--> '''Ritter:''' That is the pain in my ass. My own personal file of ongoing shit that I got to deal with. And now, guess what? Now, I got me another one. Mr. Ronald Ellinghouse... layin' two inches from dead in my jurisdiction. Why? Because you sorry-as punks thought you'd have some fun. Fuck! I'd keep you retards in custody if I thought it would help answer... one of the hundreds of new questions I got. But, no. All you know is his damn C.B. handle. And maybe he drives a truck. Do you understand the kinds of shit I got to grapple with now... because of what you assholes did? You! You got out of jail when? Yesterday? I want you outta here. This is like an old-fashioned western. I want you out of Wyoming before the sun goes down.
75	%%* RoadTripPlot
76	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Rusty's motivation is to make make Fuller and Lewis pay for the little incident at the hotel, through psychological torture, cold-blooded murder or a little bit of both.
77	* ScareChord: Often used to introduce Rusty's truck.
78	* ScareEmStraight: While perhaps not the true intent of the film, it does serve as a warning to would-be pranksters that they should be careful who they mess with and when to stop.
79	--> '''Tagline''': It started as a joke. Now the joke is on them.
80	* ShamefulStrip: To teach the boys what it's like to feel humiliated [[spoiler: and to distract them while he kidnaps Venna]], Rusty blackmails them into [[spoiler: entering a diner nude and ordering a dozen cheeseburgers each]].
81	* SherlockScan: Fuller quickly realizes what his brother is up to in volunteering to pick up Venna when he notices the new registration papers on the seat, and listens to Fuller talk about her very briefly.
82	* SpiritualSuccessor: The first film drew a lot of inspiration and themes from '' Film/{{Duel}}''.
83	* StalkerWithoutACrush: Good old Rusty, of course. It takes a lot to get him to quit following and messing with you if you are unlucky enough to have attracted his attention.
84	* SurpriseVehicle: A lot of times the main characters don't seem to notice Rusty's truck until it is right on top of them.
85	%%* TattooedCrook: Rusty.
86	* TemptingFate: When Rusty asks for an apology for the prank, Fuller responds instead with a diatribe. This results in an OhCrap when Rusty implies he's behind them by commenting on their burned-out tail light.
87	* TooDumbToLive: Fuller unleashes an insulting diatribe towards Rusty when he and his brother already know that he is not somebody to mess with.
88	* ToxicFriendInfluence: Fuller pressures his brother (who admittedly does get into it fairly easily) into pretending to be a girl on the radio to prank a stranger.
89	--> '''Fuller''': Get him goin', get him all worked up, and then in the middle of it, say 'Hey guess what! I'm a dude!' Come on, man, it'll be fun!
90	* 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 rather than days-old dried blood. 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 driver’s]].
91	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Venna has some chemistry with both of the brothers.
92	* VaporWear: Venna clearly isn't wearing a bra in several scenes.
93	* WhamLine:
94	--> '''Rusty Nail''' (over the C.B. radio): You really ought to get that fixed.
95	--> '''Fuller''': Get what fixed?
96	--> '''Rusty Nail''': Your taillight.
97	** Also, this scene at the end:
98	--> '''Lewis''': Did you find out who he was?
99	--> '''Cop''': [[spoiler:Yeah, he was some trucker named Jones. He worked for an ice company in Wyoming.]]

Context Film / JoyRide