Most road trip movies are funny and heartfelt. Characters bond over their mishaps, overcome their differences, and end the adventure with closer friendships and great memories. However, some movie road trips are horrifying
Some scary road trip movies terrify audiences with a journey into the unknown. Taken far from anything familiar, the heroes are forced to fight killers who know more about the area than they do and have plenty of resources at their disposal. Some of these movies are so frightening that viewers will never want to travel again.
This article contains horror movie trailers, which have violent imagery
10 A Hitchhiker Is Stalked And Tormented
The Hitcher
There are many movies about murderous hitchhikers or hitchhiking victims. The Hitcher, however, is up there with the best. Spawning a sequel and a 2007 remake, The Hitcher is a road trip thriller about a young man being stalked by a serial killer.
For the most part, The Hitcher relies on psychological torment, with the hero being made to question if the hitchhiker is even real at one point. Nonetheless, its infrequent bloody and gory scenes pack a huge punch. The waitress’s gruesome death scene has even gone down as one of the most brutal deaths in horror movie history.
9 Leatherface Has Become An Iconic Horror Movie Villain
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
While The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is considered an iconic slasher movie franchise, much like A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween, the original film stands out. The other films in the franchise take place in the suburbs, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a road trip gone wrong.
Stumbling upon a strange house in the middle of nowhere, a group of young friends finds themselves hunted by a cannibalistic family, which is led by the infamous Leatherface. After the others have all been picked off, the movie’s final girl, Sally Hardesty, jumps into the back of a truck and escapes. It is a tense and gory movie that turns the viewer’s stomach with every scene.
8 Wes Craven's Movie Follows The Carter Family On Vacation
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes is a highly influential horror movie that incorporates several horror tropes, such as road trips and a home invasion. Unlike most ensemble horror movies of the time, it focuses on a family rather than a group of teens and there’s no final girl.
The Hills Have Eyes plays on some horrifying fears, like losing children, death, abusive caregivers, villainous children, and the inability to protect one's family. The Carter family's vacation becomes a deeply disturbing tale of survival when the family encounter cannibals.
7 A Terrifying Tale Of A Religious Cult
Children Of The Corn
Stephen King’s short story, Children of the Corn, became the source material for an entire franchise after the first movie adaptation was released in 1984. After a long string of sequels, a television remake was released in 2009.
Despite the significant differences, both adaptations follow the same basic story. A married couple going on a road trip stumbles into a town run by children. The children worship a demonic god and brutally murder any adult they come across. The original movie gives the kids more humanity, but they're still a terrifying presence.
6 Alfred Hitchcock's Iconic Movie Still Gives Fans Chills 60 Years Later
Psycho
Before Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, one of the earliest slasher movies in cinema. Featuring an iconic score by Bernard Herrmann and one of the most famous death scenes in horror, Psycho is every lone traveler's nightmare.
On her way to meet her fiance, Marion Crane stops at a motel for the night, only to be murdered in the shower by the motel’s owner. An investigation of her death leads to the most disturbing twist of the decade. Spawning sequels, rip-offs, and remakes, Psycho remains a mainstay of the horror genre.
5 Southbound Proved That Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unanswered
Southbound
Southbound is an anthology film that features five loosely-connected stories, which all take place in a small town. Each story involves travelers who try to escape the demonic forces present in the town and though some are successful, others meet a cruel fate.
Southbound is a disturbing take on humanity, but it leaves audiences wanting more. Several questions are left unanswered, like what happened to the man’s daughter or what the floating creatures are. Southbound is a piece of a larger story, and not having access to that larger story is the scariest part of the movie.
4 Baby's Family Are The Creepiest Villains In Horror
House Of 1000 Corpses
House of 1000 Corpses was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. In this movie, a group of young people is heading on a trip, but they are captured and butchered by a family of murderers.
Where its predecessors' are gritty, House of 1000 Corpses is wacky and colorful. Instead of having one person as the family’s mascot, like Leatherface or Pluto, the entire family is instrumental in the protagonist's torment. Each member has energy and personality, and their world is just as evil and vibrant as they are. Furthermore, House of 1000 Corpses' ending is a creative inversion of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Instead of escaping, the presumed final girl is recaptured by the family.
3 A Demonic Hunter Plays Mind Games With The Siblings
Jeepers Creepers
Jeepers Creepers seems like a supernatural rip-off of The Hitcher, but it’s infinitely more heartbreaking. While returning home from college, a brother and a sister are stalked by a demonic hunter who plays evil mind games before threatening to take one of them.
Trish and Darry have a natural camaraderie as siblings. Their bickering is casual and relatable and they show how much they love each other. At the climax, when it’s time to pick one or the other, both Trish and Darry want to save their sibling. Jeepers Creepers might not be one of the greatest road trip movies of all time, but it’s one of the saddest.
2 A Hitchhiker Meets A Cruel End
Road Games
Although Road Games shares a title with the thriller from 1981, it tells a different story. Road Games is a terrifying road trip movie that takes the hitchhiker trope and the villainous family trope and turns them on their heads. In Road Games, two hitchhikers are taken in by a creepy couple who are not nearly as hospitable as they pretend to be.
One of the more creative things Road Games did was use a language barrier to limit the characters' knowledge. While audiences are let in on the truth, the main character doesn’t understand what anyone is saying, which makes the twist that much more horrific.
1 The Zombie Apocalypse Is At Its Finest In The 1968 Film
Night Of The Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is mainly known for popularizing a modern take on the zombie apocalypse. However, the entire adventure starts with a road trip. Two siblings visiting their father’s grave join other survivors in fighting the zombie plague. What starts as a peaceful family trip becomes a battle of survival.
Unlike many horror movies, there are no survivors in Night of the Living Dead. While justice is typically in short supply in horror movies, there’s usually at least one survivor or a final girl who can put an end to the villain's terror. In Night of the Living Dead, there is no hope; there’s just fear, death, and violence.