13 Great Travel Horror Movies

10.29.08 | 4:43 PM ET

Ever check into a run-down, rural motel and find yourself double- or triple-checking the lock on your door? Maybe sleeping a little more fitfully than usual? You have the travel horror movie to thank for that nagging fear. From haunted hotel rooms to roadside serial killers and even snakes on planes, Hollywood has put several generations of unlucky fictional travelers through a lot of punishment over the years.

We sat through dozens of bloody murders—and weirded-out at least a couple video store clerks—to find our favorites. A brief note about the genre, as we’ve defined it: “Travel” here is defined fairly loosely—even space travel is included, although space travel movies could fill an entire list of their own. As a general rule, the better the film, the more willing we were to include it if it had even a tenuous travel connection.

Without further ado, and in reverse chronological order, 13 great travel horror flicks:

1408 (2007)

Mike Enslin is a cynical hack, a one-time novelist who now makes a living writing paperback travel guides: 10 Haunted Hotel Rooms, 10 Haunted Mansions, 10 Haunted B&B’s, and so on. He’s the furthest thing from a believer—until he checks in to room 1408.

Like “The Shining,” “1408” is based on a story by Stephen King—and also like “The Shining,” the ghosts of “1408” don’t do any of their own dirty work, preferring to drive their victims to madness and suicide instead. John Cusack, as Enslin, is alone for most of the flick, and so is forced to carry the movie. For our money, he pulls it off.

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

For anyone who hasn’t heard the story: Rumor has it that “Snakes on a Plane” began its life as a punch line, the big winner on a list of bad movie titles brainstormed by bored Hollywood executives.

Well, it was still a joke when it hit theaters too—but, in our book, a pretty funny one. An homage to the campy horror flicks of yore, “Snakes” has it all: a wildly unlikely plot, absurdly grotesque death scenes and, of course, a script full of eminently quotable one-liners—mostly delivered in high style by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the FBI agent charged with saving the flight’s passengers from an escaped crate-load of poisonous snakes.

Grab some popcorn and strap in: Samuel L. is “about to open some f***ing windows.”

Wolf Creek (2005)

What makes this controversial Australian film terrifying, beyond the sheer, unblinking extremity of the violence unleashed on its characters, is its realism. That’s not to say that the plot is realistic—far from it. But the people, the dialogue, the set-up: it’s all natural. There are no cornball one-liners here. Instead, the movie’s three hapless backpackers joke and banter their way across Western Australia in an opening half-hour that is eerily reminiscent of your last road trip—and that casual realism makes what follows (a car breakdown, a rescue and a bloodbath) all the more horrific.

The isolation of the Australian outback just might be the ideal travel horror backdrop: simultaneously seductive and menacing, it’s the perfect home for the movie’s friendly rescuer-turned-killer.

The Descent (2005)

“The Descent” caught us off-guard in the first five minutes, and the surprises continued from there. Six women—experienced adventure travelers, all—set off on a caving expedition that’s already gone horribly awry even before the bloodthirsty cave monsters show up.

There is gore galore, but apart from the corn-syrup fiesta there’s nothing especially campy about this British flick. Director Neil Marshall never pauses to wink at the audience, preferring instead to keep his viewers focused entirely on the darkness, the uncertainty and fear of the characters as they “descend” (get it?) further into the cave—and into madness.

In addition to the unpredictable plot, the cast of tough, competent females is a refreshing change from the horror norm.

Identity (2003)

A storm drives 10 strangers to the same run-down motel, where—as tends to happen in those establishments—people promptly start dying.

John Cusack plays Ed, a gun-toting limo driver who takes charge of the situation. He’s backed by a solid cast (among them, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, and John C. McGinley) and together they try to determine what they all have in common—besides being stalked by a killer.

It’s not especially terrifying, but it is unpredictable, and the final twist takes care of all those dangling plot threads without seeming forced.

From Dusk Til Dawn (1996)

At gunpoint, fugitive bank robbers George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino force motor-home vacationing ex-preacher Harvey Keitel and his family to drive them to Mexico. Clooney arranges a rendezvous with a fellow crook at a remote Mexican roadhouse bar. It’s here the movie switches from twisted crime drama to tongue-in-cheek vampire bloodbath. With a character named Sex Machine and Salma Hayek as a snake-dancing vampire stripper, need we say more? 

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Beneath a full moon, two wisecracking American backpackers hike across the moors of Northern England. When one of them is bitten by a werewolf, it’s not long before he’s carrying out “carnivorous lunar activities” on the streets of London. Writer/director John Landis’ sharp 1981 horror/comedy is a modern classic and boasts the best man-to-werewolf transformation scene ever, set to Sam Cooke’s version of “Blue Moon” no less. 

The Shining (1980)

We know, we know. Jack Torrance and his family aren’t technically on vacation—they’re minding the hotel for the winter. But haven’t you ever heard of a working holiday?

Clearly, no list of travel horror flicks would be complete without “The Shining,” the movie that perfected the “haunted hotel” model. As Jack Nicholson’s character dissolves into madness, it’s the hotel’s isolation, and its dark history, that drive the plot. Innumerable horror movies since, including a few on this list, are in Stanley Kubrick’s debt.

Alien (1979)

On a long journey home to Earth, the bickering crew of the spaceship Nostromo gets even crabbier when a mysterious alien life-form hitches a ride and begins picking them off, one by one. John Hurt’s chest bursts, Veronica Cartwright whines and Sigourney Weaver wields a flame-thrower. With believable characters, slow pacing and a creepy claustrophobic atmosphere, Alien is the horror/sci-fi genre’s finest two hours. Don’t watch this one alone.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

“You folks stay on the main road, ya hear?”

When a weird old gas station guy says that, you obey. Of course, the Carter family, traveling to California in an RV, does the exact opposite and ends up stranded. For the clan of mutant cannibals roaming the surrounding desert hills, it’s eatin’ time! Writer/director Wes Craven’s cult classic has everything we love about ‘70s schlock: bad acting, bell-bottoms, cannibals who communicate by walkie-talkie and a great tag line: “The lucky ones died first.” 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Learning her grandfather’s grave has been robbed, Sally, her wheelchair-bound brother and some friends take a road trip through backwoods Texas to check out the cemetery. Low on gas (of course), they wind up at grandpa’s old abandoned house. Soon they meet the chainsaw-swinging Leatherface and his family of psycho hillbilly cannibals, and the slasher genre is born. Though tame by today’s gorno standards, director Tobe Hooper’s gritty shoestring-budget classic still gives us the creeps. And by the time Leatherface does his film-closing chainsaw dance, you’ll never look at Texas barbecue the same way again.

Horror Express (1973)

Long before Samuel L. Jackson battled snakes on a plane, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing fought zombies on a train. During an expedition to China, a British anthropologist (Lee) discovers the frozen body of a monster he’s certain is the evolutionary “missing link.” Transporting it back to England on the Trans-Siberian Express, the beast thaws out and begins preying on the brains of passengers, rendering them white-eyed zombies. The scariest thing about Express is the awful, over-the-top acting by Telly “Kojak” Savalas as a brutish Russian Cossack. But this early ‘70s cult favorite is cheesy low-budget fun and has two Hammer Horror legends (Lee and Cushing) aboard for the ride.

Psycho (1960)

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals a wad of cash and hits the road. On the lam, traveling off the main highway and looking for a place to stay the night, she spots the neon BATES MOTEL sign glowing in the rainy darkness. Nearly five decades later, the movie’s iconic motel shower scene still disturbs. And nothing makes our skin crawl quite like hearing Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) proclaim “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”

This list only scratches the surface. We’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments.

Eva Holland and Eli Ellison lead the World Hum Travel Movie Club.

 

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