Jamie Lee Curtismade a name for herself in horror films, but an underrated gem from the ’80s was her best afterHalloween. The daughter of legendary screen icons Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis burst onto the scene with her star-making performance as teenage babysitter Laurie Strode in 1978’sHalloween. Not only would John Carpenter’s masterpiece revolutionize the burgeoning slasher genre, but it would make a household name out of its young star. She would spend the first few years of her career in horror, before eventually branching out into other genres.
Curtis is now an Oscar winner, but she was nearly typecast into oblivion as a scream queen in the early 1980s. She followedHalloweenwith a string of slasher films, and even returned to reprise her role as Laurie Strode inHalloween II. She would show another side of herself in the comedyTrading Places, and Curtis was able to break away from horror for many years. Though some of her early work is best forgotten, she made one of her greatest films in 1981, but it has been relegated to obscurity.
Roadgames Is Her Best Horror Movie After Halloween
The Aussie Thriller Deserves More Attention
It’s undeniable thatHalloweenis Jamie Lee Curtis' best horror film, but the underrated 1981 movieRoadgamesis a close second. The Australian thriller was directed by Richard Franklin and stars Stacy Keach as an American long-haul trucker working in the Outback. He begins to suspect that he’s on the trail of a mysterious serial killer, and he stalks the suspected murderer across the countryside with the help of a young hitchhiker played by Curtis. Unlike other horror movies which use confined spaces to trap the hero in an inescapable situation,Roadgamesinstead uses the wide-open Outback as its setting.
Richard Franklin also directed the slasher sequel,Psycho II.
What makes the film so brilliant is its streamlined narrative and well-written characters that help the story move forward without meandering.Roadgameshas a general sense of unease that creeps over the vieweras Keach’s Quid slowly begins to lose touch with reality. It takes the mystery slasher tropes and completely dissects them, andoffers convincing twists that don’t cheapen the overall experience or detract from the narrative. Keach and Curtis' performances are stellar, and they are actually fleshed-out characters instead of mere fodder for the slasher villain to hack his way through.
Roadgamesuses its setting as an alien landscape where Quid is trapped with his mysterious foe and only one will survive
Paranoia and isolation are the themes, anddirector Richard Franklin (who was Australian) understood the grand symbolic nature of Australia’s inhospitable landscape. It’s hard to make a place like the Outback feel claustrophobic, butRoadgamesuses its setting as an alien landscape where Quid is trapped with his mysterious foe and only one will survive. Even when the action takes place in a city, the film has an unfriendly atmosphere, as if the whole world is somehow falling apart around Quid. The ending is also intentionally vexing, and takes an ambitious swing that many other horror films wouldn’t have attempted.
How Roadgames Compares To Curtis’ Other Horror Movies
Roadgames Isn’t As Accessible As Curtis' Other Horror Films
What madeHalloweensuch an iconic film was that it was easy to understand, and told the best story possible with the simplest premise possible. Many ofJamie Lee Curtis' other horror filmsfollow that same basic idea, even if they aren’t as good asHalloween.Roadgamesis anchored by a simple premise, but its execution sets it apart from the usual horror fare, and that’s the primary reason it is still so obscure. Whileit may be a better film than something likeProm NightorTerror Train,Roadgamesmight not be as appealingto the general audience.
However,Roadgamesstill blows the aforementioned slasher films out of the water, and not just because it’s a better movie in general.Jamie Lee Curtis' Pamela “Hitch” Rushworth is a more dynamic character than her usual scream queen roles, and she plays an important part in Quid’s descent into paranoia without being one-dimensional. Much like Laurie Strode inHalloween, Hitch has personality and motivation, something that’s usually lacking in most horror film characters. She was able to show off more of her range, which was always limited after the success ofHalloween.
Perhaps another reason whyRoadgamesisn’t generally mentioned as part of Curtis' long career is that she herself is a mere supporting character in the film. While Richard Franklin revealed in an interview withMondo Stumpothat he expanded Curtis' role,she is still somewhat minor compared to her other leading parts from that era. Unlike other actors who played small parts before graduating to leads, Curtis was immediately thrust into the spotlight and stayed there for several years. Fortunately,Roadgamesand other films that would follow, showed Jamie Lee Curtis' strengths as a dynamic performer with incredible versatility.
