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Film / Fender Bender

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Fender Bender is a 2016 made-for-TV Slasher Movie directed by Mark Pavia.

Hilary (Makenzie Vega) is having the worst day of her life. First, she found out that her boyfriend, Andy (Harrison Sim), is cheating on her, then she’s rear-ended and is scolded and grounded by her parents just as they’re about to leave town. Later that night, the driver who rear-ended her texts her, and it quickly becomes clear that she’s not alone in the house...


Tropes include:

  • And Starring: And Bill Sage as The Driver.
  • Apologetic Attacker: Sort of. The Driver makes a point to repeatedly apologize for rear-ending his victims, sometimes going so far as to leave them a cake. Needless to say, it's all completely superficial and his only intention is to keep them in suspense.
  • Asshole Victim: Nobody’s gonna miss Andy, considering that he was likely about to beat Hilary.
  • Ax-Crazy: The Driver. No reason is shown to explain why he kills human beings. Maybe because he's in the mood?
  • The Bad Guy Wins: The Driver gets away with murder once again, and goes on to his next target.
  • Bathtub Scene: The movie opens with Jennifer (Cassidy Freeman) taking a bubble bath complete with wine glass when she gets a text from "your fender bender friend" that ends with a "Enjoy your bubble bath." She ends up being the film's first victim shortly after.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Andy shows up at Hilary's doorstep, drunk, and is obviously planning to beat her. Too bad for him that the real Big Bad is waiting just outside the house.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Driver at first looks like an everyday man and also a gentle and cordial one who shows care for the people he rear-ends. Turns out he's actually a sadistic Serial Killer.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: The Driver’s weapon of choice, although it should be noted that instead of being strapped to his wrist, he just carries it.
  • Cold Open: Begins with a woman named Jennifer who had been rear-ended by the Driver, and her being stalked and killed. Then it goes on to Hilary's story.
  • Creepy Souvenir: The Driver collects his victims' driver licences in his car.
  • Dark Is Evil: The Driver is often seen wearing a pair of sunglasses when he's not in his slasher garb, which consists of a pair of black leather pants, a jacket, and a gimp mask.
  • Downer Ending: Hilary and her friends are all dead, and the Driver gets to continue his killing spree. Made worse when Hilary’s mother tells her that since her father won a bunch of money at the casino, she can be taken to her show after all.
  • Ephebophile: It's implied that the Driver is physically attracted by the teenager Hilary given that he strokes the notes she's given to him for insurance policy and later doing the same with her driver licence picture after killing her.
  • Faux Affably Evil: The Driver is unfailingly polite, apologizing profusely when he rear-ends his victims and texting them to make sure that they’re okay. He affectionately calls himself their "fender bender friend" over text messages. But he's really just playing with his food.
  • Final Girl: Subverted with Hilary. She almost kills the Driver, putting his spree to an end. Then he turns out to still be alive, and he finishes her off.
  • For the Evulz: Since The Driver gains absolutely nothing by stalking and killing people in the most cruel and violent way possible this is probably his only motivation.
  • From Bad to Worse: It may as well called "From Bad To Worse: The Movie". Starts out with a girl discovering her boyfriend is cheating on her, then she gets rear-ended shortly after, then grounded, then is threatened by the aforementioned boyfriend, and is finally stalked and killed by the serial killer responsible for her titular fender bender.
  • Genre Blindness: Hilary doesn't seem to acknowledge any red flags with the Driver, and even calls out to him when he's in her house. Not the smartest decision to make when you're in a slasher movie, let alone when you just gave your personal info to a creepy stranger who asked you not to call the police after your accident.
  • Hellbent For Leather: The Driver is decked out entirely in leather.
  • Hope Spot: Hilary appears to have killed the Driver and calls 911. Unfortunately, he’s still alive, and the operator somehow fails to hear her. Then the Driver steps into her room to finish her off.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Apparently, this is a trend with Hilary. First, she is in total denial of Rachel's attempts to persuade her that Andy is cheating on her, and has to see it with her own eyes. Second, she either doesn't notice or ignores just how fake the Driver's politeness is, not being at all shaken by his request for her not to call the cops.
  • I Can See You: In the first scene, the Driver send a text message to the woman he rear-ended while she haves a bubble bath which says "Enjoy your bubble bath."
  • Informed Attribute: Erik is gay, but aside from having a stereotypical "gay voice", it doesn't really show.
  • Jerk Jock: Andy. He cheats on Hilary, and later shows up at her door, drunk, with the clear intention of hurting her if she refuses to reconcile with him.
  • Karma Houdini: The Driver kills Hilary and her two friends and he's never caught. It's also implied he'll continue his killing game with other victims.
  • Kick the Dog: The Driver slashes Hilary’s legs while he’s choking her. Seeing how she was already helpless, this just seemed unnecessarily cruel.
  • Malevolent Masked Man: The Driver wears some sort of leather gimp/gas mask.
  • Monster Misogyny: As is the case with many real-life serial killers, the Driver exclusively targets women, but will kill men if they get in the way.
  • Moral Myopia: Andy tries to intimidate Hilary into reconciling with him, even though any reason they would have had to reconcile in the first place was entirely his fault since he cheated on her.
  • No Kill like Overkill: Rachel is stabbed in the stomach, thrown out the window, and when the Driver sees that she’s still alive, he gets in his car and runs her over.
  • No Name Given: The killer is never named, and is only credited as "the Driver".
  • Obviously Evil: The Driver, not because of his unremarkable appearance, but because his apologetic demeanor is paper-thin.
  • The Peeping Tom: Hilary sees photos of herself in the shower on her phone. She didn't take them. Guess who did?
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Your life is meaningless. But your death will be legendary."note 
  • The Quiet One: The Driver once he gets in his leather outfit never utters a word in pure Slasher fashion until he's about to stabs Hilary to death.
  • Robbing the Dead: After killing Hilary and her friends, the Driver calmly eats the leftover pizza from the pizza party, and taking her money and some trophies from her room.
  • Serial Killer: The Driver targets women by rear-ending them, then getting their personal information and following them home before stalking and killing them, then taking their money to use for gas, license plates, and possessions, then assumes a different name using his victims' last name and the first letter of their first name, gets off at the next exit after refilling his tank. By the events of the movie, he's shown to have claimed dozens of victims.
  • Sinister Shades: The Driver wears a pair of dark glasses.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: The Driver always talk in a cool and collected tone of voice even when he's about to kill Hilary.
  • The Spook: The Driver's character or past is never fully explored exepct the fact he's a prolific Serial Killer. This only makes him more enigmatic.
  • Straw Nihilist: Implied with the Driver. He calls a victim's life "meaningless" just before he kills her.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Hilary. The Driver's disturbing mannerisms and blatantly superficial politeness never appeared to raise any red flags for her, and worse yet, she calls out to him repeatedly, potentially giving away her position, and on numerous occasions, fails to notice that there's something really amiss in her house until she finds the pictures on her phone deleted and replaced with ones of her in the shower. And even after that, she apparently completely forgets about it until the phone call from the insurer.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Even though she remains Too Dumb to Live, Hilary goes from being virtually incapable of standing up for herself against her cheating boyfriend to driving his drunken ass out of her house, threatening to break his legs with a bat, and then taking on and nearly killing the Driver. Sadly it's still not enough to save herself.
  • Toplessness from the Back: Jennifer when she's climbing into the bathtub.
  • Tranquil Fury: After being beaten and set on fire by Hilary the Driver very coldly decides to torture her first by stabbing both her legs before finally killing her as a sort of retribution. However you can deduce that despite his calm demeanor he was quite pissed off.

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