Editorials
Horror’s Most Devastating Car Crashes!
In action and drama films, the car crash is often used to bring shock, surprise, and intensity to otherwise light, entertaining fare. Horror, on the other hand, doesn’t need help in creating shock and surprise; when horror films do have a sizable budget, they frequently choose to spend it on makeup, monsters, and gore effects rather than the expensive set-ups required for physical stunts and car explosions.
But on those rare occasions when a horror film decides to portray a car crash, those scenes are infinitely more harrowing and effective than in other films. In honor of this weekend’s release of Cars 3 (which looks decidedly darker than its predecessors, by the way) we’ve put together a list of horror films with spectacular, disturbing car crash sequences…
THE DESCENT
Though it is remembered for many things, including great performances from an all-female lead cast, Neil Marshall’s claustrophobic survival film opened with (SPOILER ALERT) the tragic loss of one character’s husband and child. The scene is brief, horrifying, and the aftermath of it hangs over the entire film. Nearly a decade later, a car crash would be used for similar story purposes in 2014’s The Babadook.INSIDE
The opening of Inside echoes the tragedy of both The Descent and The Babadook, but directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury take it one horrifying step further by having the survivor of the opening car crash be a pregnant woman. The film is filled with a series of disturbingly memorable horror set pieces, and one of them is the uncomfortably quiet opening moments in the aftermath of a wreck – a single living person sitting in the totaled wreck of a vehicle next to her dead spouse.CRASH
There were several films whose car crashes would have put them on the list if not for the fact that they weren’t genuine horror films. John Frankenheimer’s work in Ronin is unmatched in its intensity, and Jonathan Mostow’s Breakdown is a brilliant post-Duel B-movie, but both fall more comfortably into thriller than horror. The only reason Crash received special consideration is because of its director, David Cronenberg, is an all-time horror great, and because the film itself borders on horror with its unflinching violence, haunting performances, and moody score.ROAD GAMES
While Richard Franklin’s Road Games is mostly a highway-bound reinvention of Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window, the few sequences of car action and impact leave a definite impression. There is no doubt that the film spills into horror with its seediness, its garrote wire killer, and its performance from newly dubbed scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. The eighteen-wheeler landing atop the car it is pursuing is a particular highlight.DUEL
There is little left to be said about Steven Spielberg’s first directorial triumph, painstakingly crafted from a taut short story by Richard Matheson. Brilliant themes and skilled filmmaking aside, the whole film builds inexorably to one expectation: the car being pursued by an evil truck will finally turn around and face its pursuer. It does so, and in spectacular fashion, as the truck smashes through the flaming wreck of a car only to find itself teetering on the edge of a cliff… and there is nowhere to go but down.THE CAR
It is appropriate for Elliot Silverstein’s The Car to follow Duel on this list, because it takes every story beat from Spielberg’s mainstream breakthrough, Jaws, and sets it on land with a driverless black car instead of a shark. There are several attack sequences in the film and more than a few car wrecks, but it is the over-the-top end sequence that puts it on this list. The local deputy lures the car into a quarry, sends it over a cliff, and then blows up the quarry and the car in an explosion sequence that seems nearly never-ending.THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS
Before director Peter Weir became known in America for his lyrical horror films Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave, he made this offbeat, darkly comic film about a town whose livelihood is based on the intentional destruction of tourists’ cars. The plot and characters are outlandish, as is the car violence; there are only a handful of genuine car mayhem sequences, but those sequences are a wonder to behold.MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE
No list of films about car wrecks would be complete without the inclusion of Stephen King’s only directorial work. Based on his own short story, the film chronicles the growing war between people and the machines that have suddenly come to violent life. The film has its unique pleasures, from the AC/DC score to a committed performance from character actor Pat Hingle, but its vehicle carnage is what makes it most memorable.
RACE WITH THE DEVIL
This film has an impressive road movie pedigree: directed by Jack Starrett (who made biker film Run, Angel, Run and episodes of Dukes of Hazzard) and starring Easy Rider’s Peter Fonda and Two-Lane Blacktop’s Warren Oates, Race with the Devil combines the road film with the cult film to great and creepy effect. The final act of the film is a prolonged chase scene where two couples are trying to escape a group of backwoods Satanists, and there are a number of fantastic crashes along the way.STUCK
It is a remarkable enough feat to create a devastating car crash whose impact is felt emotionally through the whole film. More impressive than that is the film whose entire story is about the painful physical aftermath of an accident, played nearly in real time. Stuck is real-world horror from Stuart Gordon, known primarily for his decidedly unreal H.P. Lovecraft adaptations. Stephen Rea’s performance conveys deep suffering, and there are moments of body trauma that rival the best and creepiest of Cronenberg.THE HITCHER
Everything in crazed hitchhiker John Ryder’s wake is left in ruins. That includes lives, souls, and more than a few cars and helicopters. Robert Harmon’s direction of the relentless script by Eric Red strips the horror film down to its bare essentials, but still somehow manages to paint on a massive canvas. The wide-open deserts isolate the protagonist and antagonist in an eternal struggle, and the explosions of the vehicles are just more fire in their own personal hell.DEATH PROOF
For the first half hour of Quentin Tarantino’s half of Grindhouse, a viewer would be forgiven for being confused and possibly a little frustrated with the pace of the story about a group of young ladies laughing, talking, and drinking over a fairly uneventful night. But at the end of the night, the drive home spins the film in a new direction with breakneck speed. Stuntman Mike offers one young lady a ride home in his “death proof” car, and it leads to one of the most spectacularly executed sequences of action in a major theatrical release of the last two decades. Watching the crash multiple times from various angles, the brief moment of impact echoes numerous times on the screen, imprinting itself in the viewer’s mind forever.FINAL DESTINATION 2
Based on sheer carnage alone, Final Destination 2 is one of the most devastating car crashes of any film, horror or otherwise. Seeking to top the brilliant action of the original film’s airplane accident, director and stunt coordinator took advantage of his first major feature opportunity to create a Rube Goldberg machine of violence and mayhem. A loose tree log and a cup of hot coffee lead to one of the deadliest event chains in film history. The highway sequence alone was enough to secure Ellis (who we sadly lost in 2013) another directing gig later in the franchise with 2009’s The Final Destination.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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