Cars are an invaluable part of society and everyday life. Cars make getting to work easier, getting groceries quicker and, traffic notwithstanding, make most trips a lot faster than a horse and carriage. As a staple of our daily lives, it can be easy to forget that cars have an inherent danger surrounding them. Of course, horror movies are there to remind us of just how terrifying cars can be.
There have been plenty of cursed cars in movies. Whether possessed, sentient or driven by a maniac there is no shortage of vehicular villains to choose from on the silver screen but which are the 5 most memorable?
Happy Toyz Truck – Maximum Overdrive
1986 film Maximum Overdrive was written and directed by Stephen King in his only outing in the director’s chair. A strange choice of vehicle for star Emilio Estevez, the story sees the Earth passing through a rogue comet’s tail inadvertently causing inanimate machines to spring to life. The machines are not only sentient but malicious spelling danger for a group of people stuck at a remote truck stop surrounded by homicidal semis, trucks, and cars.
The most iconic vehicle of the film is the “Happy Toyz” semi-truck that for some reason has a massive cartoon mask of the Green Goblin attached to its grill. The semi-truck menaces the truck stop patrons, revving its engine and threatening to flatten them at any moment. Is Maximum Overdrive a good horror movie? Not really, but that “Happy Toyz” truck is definitely memorable.
Stuntman Mike’s Car – Death Proof
Quentin Tarantino’s half of the double feature Grindhouse sees Kurt Russell starring as stuntman Mike Lee, a homicidal maniac with a so-called death-proof car. Mike targets groups of women, following them, photographing them, and ultimately chasing them down in his car and brutally murdering them. In a miscalculation by the murderous Mike, he picks the wrong group of women to mess with and finds himself on the other end of his plans.
Stuntman Mike’s reinforced 1970 Chevy Nova, with its sleek black paint job and skull and crossed lightning bolts emblazoned on the hood, is easily recognizable. The dedication to reinforcing it with a roll cage and 5-point seatbelt on the driver’s side in order to create a murder machine is almost secondary to the look of the vehicle. Almost.
The Car – The Car
Slow-burn horror film The Car from 1977 sees an entire town terrorized by a possessed car hellbent on murder and mayhem. The heavily customized, matte black 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III appears one day and wastes no time in racking up the body count. After the local Sheriff is incapacitated by the demonic vehicle, it’s up to Chief Deputy Wade Parent (James Brolin) to solve the mystery of the driverless murder machine.
The car cannot cross onto consecrated grounds and the leader of the Church of Satan Anton LaVey was given a credit as Technical Advisor on the film due to one of his quotes being used in the opening credits. The smoked-out windows and creeping deliberate actions of the car despite its lack of a driver combined with its unique appearance make this not only a stand-out horror movie car but an iconic possession story.
Christine – Christine
Another Stephen King adaptation on the list, and arguably one of the most famous, Christine tells the story of nerdy Arnie who goes through quite a transformation after buying his first car. A red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury, the eponymous car is a real fixer-upper but Arnie begins the restoration process with an obsessive fervor that alienates him from many of his friends and family. As his obsession grows, Arnie begins to change and his friend Dennis begins to look into the bloody history of Christine.
An often-overlooked film directed by John Carpenter, Christine perfectly captures the insidious influence of the mean machine as it warps and twists nerdy Arnie into an obsessive and decidedly less pleasant individual. It’s also the quintessential killer car film, frequently popping up in other media and the bar by which all other killer cars are measured.
The Oldsmobile Delta – Evil Dead Series
Appearing in even more of the Evil Dead series than its owner Ash Williams, the 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 is a constant and stalwart member of the Evil Dead universe. Yes, it even appears in the 2013 reboot/sequel by Fede Alvarez. The rusted and abandoned car can be seen in the woods near the cabin. The Delta has been through a lot in its time belonging to Ash. It’s been catapulted to medieval times, possessed, and turned into a tank-like vehicle ready for future Deadite smashing. That’s just a few of the scrapes the car has been through.
As inextricably linked with the franchise as Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, the Delta, like the franchise itself, never dies, it only becomes what it needs to in order to get out unscathed. Usually with Ash. For many, the Delta isn’t what jumps to the front of their minds when thinking about memorable horror movie cars but once its history and continuing life in the franchise are realized it’s hard not to always think of it first. The Delta has even become a staple of Raimi's other films, appearing as Uncle Ben's car in Spider-Man and even making a quick appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.