Joyride Runs on Fumes

Following a decade of poorly executed slasher flick franchises, the recent Scream trilogy managed to restore an interest in the teen thriller genre, only to be followed once again by a slew of pitiful imitators. Desensitized audiences no longer feel the same fear when a suspenseful silence is broken by a cold, metallic telephone ring. The film Joyride attempts to revive this tired cliché by moving its potential victims from an old creaky house to a car in the rural Midwest. Unfortunately, even with this unconventional twist, there is no novelty to Joyride. Director John Dahl (Rounders) is good at creating moods by carefully manipulating color and lighting, and at building suspense with his use of dramatic irony, but these qualities cannot hide the fact that the movie is merely another teen thriller—an average imitation, clichés and all, of so many that have preceded it.

The movie opens with a telephone conversation between University of California Berkeley student Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker of The Fast and the Furious) and his female friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski of The Glass House). When Venna tells Lewis that she has broken up with her boyfriend and that she needs a road trip to “decompress” before arriving home, Lewis immediately agrees to pick her up, selling his plane ticket home in order to buy a very old used car with which to chauffeur her. However, he has not traveled far before he receives news that his wayward older brother Fuller (Saving Silverman’s Steve Zahn) is in jail and must be bailed out. Fuller then joins his brother on the ride to Venna’s college. As a result of Fuller’s playful influence, Lewis participates in a practical joke, pretending to be a woman and engaging in flirtatious conversation with a lonely truck driver via his car’s CB radio. When the trucker becomes aware of the prank, the joke is on Fuller and Lewis; the rest of the film follows Fuller, Lewis and Venna as they are stalked, hunted and tortured by the angry driver.

While the young stars of Joyride’s cast possess talent, their abilities are somewhat misused in the film. In an interview, Dahl explained that he chose Walker for his appeal and charisma. While these particular qualities shine through the character of Lewis, the actor is much less convincing in scenes requiring fear or tension. Dahl also described Zahn as dramatically gifted and incredibly funny. However, while comic relief is a device welcome to thrillers, many scenes dominated by Zahn’s admittedly funny comedy divert the path of the plot’s progression. Sobieski, whose talent and demeanor greatly impressed her director, is rarely allowed to showcase her gifts in the movie; her character enters the story too late and contributes too little.

However, the flaws of the film lie more in plot than in its direction and acting. Peripheral storylines of love triangles, financial problems and familial bonding may bring depth to the characters, but not when they are introduced and immediately abandoned. Furthermore, some scenes are completely unnecessary. Dahl did not view his film so much as a teen thriller than as part of the great tradition of “road movies,” including films likeEasy Rider and Steven Spielberg’s Duel (similarly about a crazy, road raging trucker). However, this movie’s plot does not allow that distinction to be made. It carries all the gimmicks of the recent horror films, which by now bring groans of boredom as opposed to thrills and chills. Just when things could not get worse, the car runs out of gas! Just when the characters thought they were safe, a telephone rings and the slow voice of the trucker, who goes by the name “Rusty Nail,” is heard on the other end! Threatening messages are found spray-painted on interstate signs in an I Know What You Did Last Summer fashion! Unfortunately, all this has been done before, and the audience knows it.

Dahl has a history in the business of directing thrillers, having done films of cultish followings such as Red Rock West, The Last Seduction and Unforgettable. Therefore, his direction does not disappoint. Dahl establishes an ominous atmosphere using a variety of unique color and light. Note that a painting of a stormy sea fills a room with its sickish green hue and the glow of fluorescent bulbs outside a motel illuminate a suspenseful scene in red. Furthermore, Dahl savors situations in which his audience knows more about a tense situation than his heroes and heroine do. Viewers are aware of the villainous trucker’s traps. Suspense is built as they wait and watch, wondering whether or not the film’s main characters will fall into these traps while the film’s musical score rises and falls in intensity in a direct relationship to the mounting tension.

Despite Dahl’s rejection of his film’s status as another teen horror flick, it is certainly being marketed as one. Among other things, the promotional trailer promises its potential audience members a film that will terrify and drive them over the edge. While some scenes of suspense may bring people to the edge of their chairs, the film is unable to terrify with its trite scare tactics. and the film’s open ending leaves the possibility for a new franchise. Joyride 2. Now that’s frightening.