Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It's a road-trip thriller with a stalker on the CB radio and jump scares.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It wears off by the time the credits finish, although you may look at trucks differently.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It's a tense road-trip thriller with jump scares, fine for most teenagers and a good warning about pranks.
Joy Ride runs 98 minutes. Lewis bails his brother Fuller out of a Salt Lake City jail, then lets Fuller talk him into using the CB radio to prank a trucker, which is a bad decision even by Fuller's standards.
The premise, briefly
Two brothers on a road trip use their CB radio to prank a trucker called Rusty Nail, who does not take it as a joke and starts following them.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Rusty Nail kidnaps Venna and Charlotte and sets a shotgun trap in room 17. Lewis, Fuller and Venna get out in time, Charlotte is found alive, and the truck crashes into the motel. The dead man in the truck is the ice truck driver, and on the ambulance radio the group hears Rusty Nail is alive and free.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, Venna is bound and gagged in motel room 17 with a shotgun rigged to fire if anyone opens the door. Fuller tries the back window and gets hurt, and then Rusty Nail's truck rolls downhill toward the motel while the brothers work to free her. Everyone gets out in time.
The dog
No dog dies in Joy Ride.
Most of the fear is a voice on a radio and a truck in the mirror, and knowing the plot removes most of the surprise.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A prank with a very specific room number
Lewis Thomas is driving from California to Colorado to pick up Venna, his childhood friend and crush, when he reluctantly stops in Salt Lake City because his estranged brother, Fuller, is in custody. Lewis posts bail and Fuller joins him. Fuller gets a CB radio installed in the car, and the two start listening to truckers. He talks Lewis into pranking a driver who calls himself Rusty Nail, with Lewis posing as a woman called Candy Cane. They arrange to meet at the motel where they are staying, and they say Candy Cane is waiting in room 17, which belongs to a rude businessman who annoyed Fuller at the front desk. Once Rusty Nail shows up, the brothers listen from the next room and hear an argument and a scuffle.
The next morning the brothers find out that the businessman was left on the highway in a coma, and his lower jaw has been ripped off. Lewis admits their part in it, and Sheriff Ritter yells at them but lets them go. Near Laramie, Wyoming, Rusty Nail comes back on the radio asking for Candy Cane. Lewis owns up to the prank and Rusty Nail wants an apology, but Fuller insults him instead, and then Rusty Nail tells them to fix their taillight, which means he is following them. At a gas station they try and fail to reach Sheriff Ritter, see an ice truck pull in, and flee into a dead end with the driver chasing them. He is a friendly stranger who only wants to return Lewis's credit card. The real Rusty Nail then plows through the ice truck and slowly crushes Lewis's car against a tree while Fuller apologizes hysterically. Rusty Nail drives off, saying it was just a joke to pay them back.
Taillight advice and cornfield logistics
Thinking they are safe, the brothers reach Colorado and pick up Venna. At a motel, Rusty Nail calls their room while Lewis sleeps and shows that he has noticed Venna is with them. They flee, but find messages from him spray-painted on road signs telling them to look in the trunk, where they find the CB radio that Fuller threw out of the car earlier. Rusty Nail then talks to them over it and says he has kidnapped Venna's friend Charlotte. He sends them to a cornfield, where the three of them get split up, and he kidnaps Venna.
Room 17, now with a shotgun
Rusty Nail books another meeting in motel room 17, copying the fake date he was pranked with. He ties and gags Venna and rigs a shotgun so it fires if anyone opens the door. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes near the end. Fuller tries the back window, gets hurt by Rusty Nail and ends up stuck outside, and Lewis tries to pull him free while the police arrive. Meanwhile Rusty Nail's truck appears uphill and starts rolling toward the motel. The brothers get Venna free just in time, and all of them get clear as the truck smashes into the building.
The ending, explained
Police investigating the truck find a dead man in the driver's seat and Charlotte alive in the back. While Lewis, Fuller, Charlotte and Venna get medical treatment at the scene, they learn that the dead man is the ice truck driver who tried to return Lewis's credit card. Then the CB radio in the ambulance crackles, and they hear Rusty Nail's voice, so he is alive and free. All four of them survive.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Joy Ride scary?
Somewhat, Joy Ride is a 4 out of 10. It has jump scares and low dread, and the fear comes from a stalker you can only hear on the CB radio.
How does Joy Ride end?
Lewis, Fuller and Venna escape the shotgun trap in motel room 17, and Charlotte is found alive in the truck. The dead man in the truck is the ice truck driver, and Rusty Nail is still free.
Does the dog die in Joy Ride?
No dog dies in Joy Ride.
Is there a post-credits scene in Joy Ride?
Nobody has confirmed whether Joy Ride has a scene after the credits.
Who is Rusty Nail in Joy Ride?
Rusty Nail is the trucker Lewis and Fuller prank over the CB radio. He follows them across the trip, and he is still alive and free when the movie ends.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Joy Ride is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to sit through 98 minutes of Joy Ride to know what happens. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the rest of the internet's horror for you.
