The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Roadgames
Mystery · Thriller · Horror · 1981
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer in a van who lures young female hitchhiker victims on a desolate Australian highway.
Movie details
Roadgames
“The truck driver plays games. The hitchhiker plays games. And the killer is playing the deadliest game of all!”
1981 Mystery · Thriller · Horror 1h 41m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer in a van who lures young female hitchhiker victims on a desolate Australian highway.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Roadgames?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Dust Devil
Horror · 1992
A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.
Killing Ground
Mystery · 2017
A couple's camping trip turns into a frightening ordeal when they stumble across the scene of a horrific crime.
Wolf Creek 2
Horror · 2013
Lured by the promise of an Australian holiday, backpackers Rutger, Katarina and Paul visit the notorious Wolf Creek Crater. Their dream Outback adventure soon becomes a horrific reality when they encounter the site's most infamous local, the last man any traveller to the region ever wants to meet—Mick Taylor. As the backpackers flee, Mick pursues them on an epic white knuckled rampage across hostile wasteland.
The Mean Season
Mystery · 1985
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Mystery · 2024
When five women take part in a corporate hiking retreat and only four come out on the other side, Federal Agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate in the hopes of finding their whistle-blowing informant, Alice Russell, alive.
Jeepers Creepers
Horror · 2001
On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck, and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe.
Wolf Creek
Horror · 2005
Three backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
Final Destination 2
Horror · 2003
When Kimberly has a violent premonition of a highway pileup she blocks the freeway, keeping a few others meant to die, safe...Or are they? The survivors mysteriously start dying and it's up to Kimberly to stop it before she's next.
No One Lives
Horror · 2013
A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem.
The Hitcher
Crime · 2007
While driving through the New Mexico Desert during a rainy night, college students Jim Halsey and his girlfriend Grace Andrews give a ride to a hitchhiker. While in their car, the stranger proves to be a psychopath threatening the young couple with a knife, but Jim successfully throws him out of the car. This sets off a chain of events that will change all of their lives forever.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Richard Franklin
Written by
Everett De Roche
Stacy Keach
Patrick 'Pat' Quid
Jamie Lee Curtis
Pamela 'Hitch' Rushworth
M
Marion Edward
Madeleine 'Frita' Day
Grant Page
Smith or Jones
T
Thaddeus Smith
Policeman 'Abbott'
S
Steve Millichamp
Policeman 'Costello'
Alan Hopgood
Lester
Court is in session
Put Roadgames on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.