The explosion in technological advancements throughout the 21st Century has been both a blessing and a curse for a number of reasons, but one of the biggest drawbacks for horror fans is the impact the humble cellphone has had on the genre, something 2001’s cult favorite Joy Ride didn’t need to concern itself with.
When it comes to stories set in the modern-day, characters either run out of battery or get no service when they whip out their handheld devices to try and call for help, but the road trip psychological nightmare is rooted so firmly in a bygone age that it simply wouldn’t be able to realistically exist today.
Paul Walker and Steve Zahn head up the ensemble as brothers playing a practical joke on a trucker, which goes horribly awry when the driver nicknamed Rusty Nail takes things too seriously and begins to relentlessly hunt them down with nothing but vengeance and bloody murder on his mind.
The entire driving force behind the plot is a CB radio, while landline telephones also play an integral part in the narrative. That wouldn’t fly in 2023 when there’s GPS, cellphones, tablets, and all the rest of the modern mod-cons, ensuring Joy Ride lives on as both a certifiable favorite and a relic of days gone by, something that’s been pointed out by appreciative Redditors.
The film also holds a unique place in modern cinema history for being the first feature produced by Bad Robot, with J.J. Abrams co-writing the script and producing. Looking at how the company has been involved with monolithic franchises including Star Wars, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible, it’s fascinating to think the ball got rolling with a $23 million exercise in lo-fi terror that barely even made a splash at the box office.