Looking back at some favorite scary transportation movies

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It’s almost Halloween, and plenty of the FreightWaves staff love to celebrate with a good horror movie. Some of the best horror movies or halloween-adjacent films feature methods of transportation and logistics, which to us makes it that much more intriguing. 

FreightWaves Classics polled staffers to get their favorite picks for horror movies featuring trains, planes, automobiles and any other major mode of transport. Here are the Top 10, in no particular order. Watch at your own risk. 

‘Duel’ 

On Nov. 22, 1963, horror and science fiction author Richard Matheson experienced a scary encounter when a truck driver closely tailgated him and a friend, causing them to spin out, he revealed in several interviews. The writer took inspiration from the moment and wrote a short story about a businessman being terrorized by a truck driver that was then turned into a film. The plot of “Duel” follows salesman David Mann driving through the Mojave Desert to meet a client. But along the way, he runs into an ambiguous driver operating a semi-truck. 

David gets into an altercation on the highway in the desert with the driver, who you can’t really see for most of the movie. In a seemingly unrelenting fit of road rage — or maybe just for the thrill of it — the driver stalks David for the rest of the film as they travel through the desert. 

With a Certified Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes at 89%, this classic from 1971 holds up well.  

‘The Midnight Meat Train’

“The Midnight Meat Train” is more recent than some of the others on this list, hitting theaters in 2008, but it’s based on a 1984 short story by Clive Baker. The movie brings viewers along with photographer Leon, played by Bradley Cooper, who is trying to find a potential serial killer he discovered while trying to find a new photography project. When detectives and others around him don’t believe his story, he becomes increasingly obsessed with the case. Leon’s obsession leads him to a subway ride from hell — and right into the hands of the killer.  

‘Joy Ride’

The late Paul Walker, famous from the “Fast and Furious” franchise, takes the wheel in another fast-paced vehicle-driven action film in “Joy Ride.” The 2001 movie follows brothers Lewis and Fuller, who travel from California to Colorado to pick up Lewis’ childhood crush. 

Along the way, they play a prank on a truck driver through a CB radio, convincing the driver that he is speaking to a woman who is romantically interested in him. When the driver, known as “Rusty Nail,” goes to meet up with the fictitious woman, things go awry when he discovers he’s been tricked. In retaliation, Rusty Nail begins to stalk and terrorize the group. 

‘Maximum Overdrive’

Aliens and machinery combine in “Maximum Overdrive,” written by Stephen King and starring Emilio Estevez. All machines in the world become murderous after the Earth passes through the tail of a comet. As the world plunges into chaos, one family is terrorized by tow trucks, semis, bulldozers and all kinds of other man-made creations. 

While the film’s kills are full of fun campy gore, it also features a score entirely composed by the band AC/DC, which significantly adds to the fun. 

‘Terror Train’

If you’re looking for a more traditional slasher movie, “Terror Train” is a 1980 classic that features a New Year’s Eve costume party on a train that leads guests into a hellish night of murder. Similar to other slashers of the time, the motivation is revenge. But there’s one slight twist in the end to keep it fun. 

A new version of the film was released on Tubi in 2022, but its Rotten Tomato score has a high of 8% from critics, so we suggest sticking with the original. 

‘Train to Busan’

This somewhat newer South Korean film follows a high-speed train traveling between cities as a zombie apocalypse sweeps through the country — and passengers on the train. The story follows a devoted father trying desperately to keep himself and his daughter safe. The ending on this one may leave you shaken, and “campy” is not the right word to describe “Train to Busan.” 

Yes, it has subtitles, but that certainly doesn’t take away from the drama. It also has some of the more realistic and frightening zombies I have ever seen. “Train to Busan” gives “The Walking Dead” a run for its money. 

‘Snowpiercer’

We included “Snowpiercer” on our last movie listicle, but it’s worth adding here too. The 2013 hit-turned-television-series finds what is left of society surviving on a train that constantly circles the globe during an apocalyptic ice age. A classism divide prompts a kind of civil war to break out on the train, as the lower class fights for better living conditions, since they are forced to sequester at the back on the train where they live off of rats and black protein bars. 

Twists and turns keep you guessing throughout the film. And, if the movie leaves you wanting more you can always follow it with a binge of the television series. 

‘Christine’ 

The John Carpenter classic “Christine” is another based off of a book from Stephen King that derives campy fun out of a goofy plot line. A classic car makes for a classic movie when a 1958 Plymouth Fury causes mysterious deaths while its new owner, a nerdy teenager named Arnie, becomes increasingly obsessed with the car. Arnie even grows violent as his obsession becomes more controlling. The film is at its best when Christine the car is in a full murderous rampage and viewers get to watch a car act as a vicious serial killer. 

‘Final Destination 2’

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the film that prevents most millennials from ever driving behind a truck carrying a load of logs — the second in the “Final Destination” series. The film follows a group of friends after they narrowly miss death and destruction when one of them is able to prevent a massive car accident after having a vision. 

However, their fates already seem to be sealed as they each start to die one by one in horrific and bizarre accidents.  

But the most jarring scene of the film is the vision of the accident, caused by a log falling loose from a flatbed truck.

‘Snakes on a Plane’

The name aptly says it all, but this fan favorite shows Samuel L. Jackson fighting his way to stay alive aboard an airplane filled with deadly snakes sent to murder a witness in a trial. It’s exactly what it says it is. 

What is your favorite transportation-related horror movie? Tell us in the comments below.\

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