The right car crash can make or break a movie. For this list, I’ve included any type of wreck, whether it is two cars hitting each other or a car hitting a person on foot. As some type of parameter, I tried to exclude any wrecks derived from a lengthy chase scene (The Matrix Reloaded and The Blues Brothers). However, since chase scenes do yield some pretty ridiculous car wrecks, I wasn’t able to keep them off the list completely. I won’t go without stating the obvious: chase scene or not, I just wanted an excuse to watch clips of cars hitting things.)
*Sidebar* I apologize for the wrecks without links to the clips. If you can find a clip posted somewhere on the World Wide Web, let me know! (NickO@atomicpopcorn.net)
10. Knowing (2009)
The world is ending and Diana is tracking down the aliens who have taken her daughter. As she follows the alien’s car, a truck broadsides her out of nowhere. To add to the extreme drama, we only learn Diana is dead when she flat lines on the ambulance’s heart monitor. Is this car crash crucial to the plot? Absolutely not. Is it a good excuse to splatter one of the film’s main characters all over the road? Hell yes.
9. Vanilla Sky (2001)
Cameron Diaz drives off a New York City overpass in an attempt to kill both her and Tom Cruise. For the rest of the movie, Cruise will wear a rubber face and shoot the breeze with Kurt Russell. Boom.
8. Disturbia (2007)
If there’s an absolutely fail proof way to open a movie, its with a hardcore devastating crash. After a day of fishing, Shia LaBeouf and his dad are wrecked out on the highway when an SUV swerves to avoid a stopped car. Just when you think the crash is over and the pair will only sustain some bruises, it only gets worse. (Sorry for the low quality clip).
7. Intersection (1994)
I have no idea what this movie is about. I think Richard Gere, in the midst of one of the most over dramatic car crashes ever filmed, has a life-spanning flashback. Sharon Stone won a Razzie for her performance as Gere’s cold-as-ice ex wife. Add it to your Netflix cue. I promise it won’t disappoint.
6. No Country for Old Men (2007)
If you need any more proof that Anton Chigurh is unstoppable, look no further than this clip. After wasting most of the cast, we’re waiting for the heartless villain to be served a plate of hot justice. A sudden car accident provides some retribution, but not for long. It’s simply the ultimate “you got a bone stickin’ out your arm” moment.
5. Meet Joe Black (1998)
Atomic Popcorn writer RyanBoy insists this doesn’t belong on the list. To tell you the truth, he’s probably right. It’s not a car crash but its pretty damn classic. To defend my choice, I will say that you had fair warning that this list might contain cars hitting people. Enjoy.
4. Death Proof (2007)
Quentin Tarantino may have been behind the weaker half of Grindhouse but this head on collision’s cool factor gives Death Proof legs to stand on. Tires erase faces and limbs go flying in this crash, which, by the way, is shown four times four different ways. The song, the pulling of the headlight knob, it all adds up to a great collision.
3. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
I think people have largely forgotten about this scene from what is one of my favorite horror movies. The werewolf causes a major traffic screw up on the street. Check out the guy that gets launched out of the double decker bus. Enough said.
2. Final Destination 2 (2003)
It was a tough decision to put this at number 2. It is perhaps one of the most carefully orchestrated crashes in cinema history. It plays like a symphony of pain.
1. Adaptation (2002)
This gets the number one spot because it’s chillingly effective without all the bells and whistles. Chris Cooper backs his car out right into an oncoming truck. The sound, the suddenness and the feeling that, although it’s only a movie, it might just be too close to the way it happens in real life, makes this scene my top movie car crash.