25 Craziest Movie Road Trip Moments

Planes, Trains And Automobiles (1987)

The Road Trip Moment: Neal (Steve Martin) and Del (John Candy) are at their wits end, in their joint attempt to get home for Thanksgiving. With all their eggs in one rental car, they hit the highway and strike up a rousing argument.

Why It’s Crazy: Del’s fag end misses the open window, and sizzles away on the backseat setting the car on fire. Luckily the pair escape in time to watch their wallets go up in flame with the singed rental.

Requiem For A Dream (2000)

The Road Trip Moment: On a trek down to Miami to negotiate a drugs deal, Harry’s (Jared Leto) trackmark-infected arm becomes too much to bear and he and Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) visit a hospital so he can receive treatment.

Why It’s Crazy: His treatment arouses police suspicion, and the pair are carted off to prison for possession. Harry’s arm is then amputated with a power saw. Without anaesthetic.

Duel (1971)

The Road Trip Moment: Traveling salesman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) finds himself subject to a vicious case of road rage when a truck driver won’t quit trying to get him splattered across a two-lane blacktop.

With a few miles distance between them, David hits the brakes at a railroad crossing....

Why It's Crazy: ... but that’s just a challenge for old truck driver man, who rear-ends David’s 1971 Plymouth and edges him closer and closer into the path of the oncoming train.

Jeepers Creepers (2001)

The Road Trip Moment: After being nearly run off the road by a mysterious chap in a rustbucket, daredevil teens Trish (Gina Phillips) and Darry (Justin Long) investigate a pipe they previously spotted the weird man feeding bodybags....

Why It's Crazy: ‘Cause these kids have a death wish. An underground funnel chocka with corpses? Either way, Darry somehow manages to lose his grip on the pipe, falling into a pile of hundreds and hundreds of dead bodies all stitched together. Like The Human Centipede but without the sewing accuracy.

Breakdown (1998)

The Road Trip Moment: Tinkering beneath the hood of his broken-down Jeep, Jeff (Kurt Russell) manages to fix the battery and hurtles off to collect his wife (Kathleen Quinlan), who’d caught a ride with a trucker (JT Walsh) to a local diner.

Why It's Crazy: After a few minutes searching for his wife, Jeff tracks down the trucker. He ropes in a local cop and demands answers. The man shrugs him off, claiming he’s never seen him or his wife before...

Sightseers (2012)

The Road Trip Moment: Road-trippers Chris (Steve Oram) and Tina (Alice Lowe) stop at the World Heritage Park with their dog Banjo, and rile up a hiker after the pair refuse to clean up the dog’s poop.

Why It's Crazy: Chris tips over into total insanity and beats the man to death.

Zombieland (2009)

The Road Trip Moment: Arriving in Hollywood, the four survivors hole up at Bill Murray’s mansion - with its occupant still very much alive in a zombie disguise.

Why It's Crazy: First off, it’s Bill Murray pretending to be a zombie - while watching Ghostbusters ! If that meta-bomb ain’t enough cray-zay, he gets blown away by Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who accidentally mistakes him for a genuine flesh eater.

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)

The Road Trip Moment: Scarfing down a hefty amount of “Sunshine Acid”, Duke (Johnny Depp) and Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) promptly arrive at their hotel in Las Vegas ready to check in.

Why It's Crazy: They’re both tripping balls. The receptionist behind the desk appears to Duke as a giant eel, and a group of folks in the bar transform into lizards in the midst of an orgy.

The Hitcher (1986)

The Road Trip Moment: Desperately trying to escape from a hitchhiking serial killer, Jim (C. Thomas Howell) stops at a roadside diner for a moment’s reprieve.

Why It's Crazy: About to dig into a sumptuous cheeseburger and fries, Jim spots a severed finger in amongst the chips.

Easy Rider (1969)

The Road Trip Moment: Stricken with grief over the loss of George, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) hit up New Orleans Mardi Gras and acquire a couple of prostitutes for the evening.

Why It’s Crazy: Instead of scuttling away to a fleapit motel, the quartet retire to a nearby cemetery, drop acid and spend the night tripping away between the tombstones.

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.