Summer is winding to a close, though the blistering sun has not yet received the memo. That means the final days of vacationing or summer road trips are in order. Of course, horror has taught us the myriad of ways that the open road can induce abject terror and stress; flat tires are the least of your summer worries in horror.
Films like The Hitcher, Near Dark, and Splinter highlight how car troubles, creepy rest stops, and seedy motels don’t compare to humanity’s worst- human or otherwise- prowling the highways.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to road trip horror movies. These five titles exploit our travel anxieties by pitting their protagonists against vampires, cannibals, psychopaths, and the devil himself over vast stretches of highway.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Blood Relatives – AMC+, Shudder
Writer/Director Noah Segan’s feature debut sees a nomad’s life upended by the arrival of a daughter he never knew he had, causing a seismic shift in his isolated bachelor lifestyle. The twist here is that the central character is a bloodsucking vampire whose inner mensch gets brought to the surface by his new teen daughter. As an utterly sweet love letter from a new dad to his kids, Blood Relatives goes for the jugular of an infectious and charming horror comedy. It’s a vampiric road trip movie about family bonding and parental anxieties, featuring one ultra-cool car.
Bones and All – MGM+, Prime Video
Leave it to Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino and writer David Kajganich to spin an achingly tender and thoughtful coming-of-age romance between a pair of cannibals with an insatiable need to devour flesh. Bones and All, an adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’s novel, uses the road trip format set in Reagan-era America as a provocative and macabre means of exploring the monstrous need for survival and human connection. It’s a tender story about growing pains with two breathtaking performances by Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamet, but Guadagnino ensures the cannibalism aspect is appropriately visceral and gruesome.
Coming Home in the Dark – Netflix
A husband (Erik Thomson) and wife (Miriama McDowell) and their two sons are on a road trip together in scenic New Zealand. However, a family hike changes everything when they encounter a pair of bloodthirsty psychopaths. At first, it seems they’ve run into the vicious drifters, Mandrake (Daniel Gillies) and Tubs (Matthias Luafutu), by pure happenstance. As a night of terror unfolds, it becomes clear that the horror might be tied to the past. James Ashcroft’s feature directorial debut wastes no time at all, cutting right to the dark heart of his grim, jaw-dropping morality thriller. It’s bleak, nihilistic, and with a contemplative moral center.
Highway to Hell – freevee, Pluto TV, Prime Video, the Roku Channel, Tubi
Doting couple Charlie (Chad Lowe) and Rachel (Kristy Swanson) throw caution to the wind and decide to elope in Las Vegas. They opt for a shortcut despite advice against it, and it results in Rachel catching the notice of Old Scratch, who sends his Hellcop to drag her to Hell to be his bride. From the writer behind A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and 976-EVIL, Highway to Hell transforms the Greek myth of Persephone into a full-blown ’90s B-movie romp. If you like wacky horror comedies, this provides plenty of entertainment. Look for cameos by Lita Ford, Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, and Gilbert Gottfried as Hitler. A sign to expect a feature more interested in zany fun than scares.
Joy Ride – Paramount+, Pluto TV
“Candy Cane? Hey, anybody know a Candy Cane?” A long summer road trip leads to boredom for college kids Lewis (Paul Walker) and Venna (Leelee Sobieski) and Lewis’s estranged brother Fuller (Steve Zahn). For entertainment, they play a prank via CB radio on a truck driver nicknamed Rusty Nail, luring him to a motel room while posing as seductive woman Candy Cane. They quickly realize they chose the wrong person to humiliate. A laid-back summer road trip turns into an intense and dangerous cat-and-mouse game with Rusty Nail in relentless pursuit. This early Aughts thriller brings the suspense.
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