We all have our favorite parts of watching a movie, and some of us have even more enthusiasm when we see that a great film also includes monster trucks. Monster trucks have been around since 1975 when BigFoot rolled out on some massive 66-inch off-road tires. Since then, Bigfoot has maintained a high profile in Hollywood as the “go-to” monster truck for movies. In the newer movies featuring monster trucks, we don’t see quite as much Bigfoot but meet several other famous trucks with just as many tricks and bad-guy scariness or vengeance, whichever you prefer.
Monster truck movies are almost always goofy, with slapstick humor and tacky storylines from a time long ago. However, some newer movies with monster trucks are hits and either make fun of the type of person who would drive a vehicle of such stature or emphasize how fantastic it is to drive and own a monster truck.
This is an age where even children are obsessed with monster trucks, as seen in shows like Blaze and the Monster Machines, Monster Jam Adventures, Gigglebellies, and so forth. We can all agree that monster trucks will never go out of style for any age group. The shows and live events are action-packed and filled with fun. The appearance of a monster truck in a movie geared towards adults is always a hit, and it’s always a goofy, tough-guy redneck that comes spilling out from behind the wheel. As movie enthusiasts, we all like to take the fun up a notch whenever possible. Seeing Woody Harrelson behind the wheel of a monster truck is the type of awesomeness we all need in our lives.
10 Monster Trucks (2016)
This cute movie, Monster Trucks, is about a monster (actually a young alien), Creech, who has lost his family. After narrowly escaping from an oil drilling accident, Creech hides in a truck that a boy, Tripp, is building primarily from scratch. Creech guzzles oil just like a usual monster truck, except he is a literal alien/monster and requires tons of oil and gas to survive. Together they battle bullies and have a great adventure. This is an excellent family movie, and it is somewhat predictable. Unfortunately, it is the only real monster truck movie for kids outside of cartoons. The truck that the monster takes over is a lovely antique 1950s Dodge, and almost all vehicles in the film are Chrysler made.
9 Monster Man (2003)
Monster Man is a 2000s monster truck movie that missed the mark, but the truck is still pretty neat and makes the movie worthwhile. The truck is owned by Frank Schettini, who loaned the truck for the role in the film. His monster truck, Big Dummy 4, has a Ford body and unique suspension and driver’s console comparable to Motocross. Expect a lot of gore and cheeky horror shock-value scenes in this one. Two kids driving to a wedding cause problems with some rednecks in a small town and pick up a hitchhiker. The next thing they know, they are being terrorized by a monstrous-looking man driving a monster truck and out for vengeance.
8 Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
This is one of the most incredible monster trucks in a late ’90s movie. It screams “safari redneck” and doesn’t disappoint. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is a hilarious and goofy movie about Ace Ventura searching for the Great White Bat in Africa and getting into loads of mischief along the way with the local tribe’s people and their princess. The monster truck Ace jumps in to chase down the kidnapper of the Great White Bat is a real monster truck named Push-N-Stomp and is a 1986 Chevrolet S-10 owned by Greg Schmit.
7 Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller is hilarious, to say the least. This goofy, side-splitting comedy is one big contest between Stiller’s team and Vaughn’s team. Vaughn’s team needs money, so they hold a car wash, and one of the poor kids gets harassed by a gross man playing with his own belly button and driving a monster truck. Clearly, the kid is a lot more afraid of the gross guy than he is of the monster truck but gets stuck washing it repeatedly. The truck is a 1988 GMC Sierra with a vanity plate that reads, “BoyHowdy.”
6 Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
The monster truck in Zombieland: Double Tap belongs to a shady character, Albuquerque, that is supposedly Nevada’s past. Pretty Nevada happens to be at a Graceland museum when Tallahassee and Columbus arrive. They are shocked to find her, but it quickly becomes apparent that Tallahassee and Nevada are meant for each other.
After Albuquerque shows up in his monster truck and realizes he’s been one-upped by Tallahassee, it angers Albuquerque and Flagstaff, who drive over Tallahassee’s truck, “The Beast,” and then are attacked by T-800s, which are a specifically nasty version of zombies. Since they are now zombies, Tallahassee and Columbus put them out of their misery. The truck, Big Fat Death, is a Ford Excursion. Driver Kevin King owns this monster truck, and its actual name is Insane Asylum or Fluffy.
5 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max: Fury Road is filled with some of the most incredible vehicles ever to make it to the big screen, and these aren’t just your everyday vehicles. They are excellent vehicles that have been sprinkled with Mad Max magic and have become desert-racing monsters of doom. There are a lot of shiny chrome, massive tires, and completely insane weapons that go along with these one-of-a-kind vehicles. The very best monster truck in Mad Max: Fury Road is the 1940 Dodge Fargo tray top pick-up on a monster truck chassis. Its movie name is BigFoot, like the first monster truck. It is really something to see and would be amazing to drive, though it’s probably not street-legal.
4 Rolling Vengeance (1987)
Rolling Vengeance is a decent Canadian ’80s exploitation movie with all the typical ’80s violence, shady characters, alcoholism, and strippers that you could ever want. It’s campy and stupid in some parts and others, not very kind to women. However, it is a tear-jerker and might make you angry if you are sensitive to this sort of thing. The ending is decent, but the film could have done without the horrific scene of the main character’s mother and siblings and the later rape scene with his girlfriend. The monster truck in this film is definitely an oddball since it doesn’t have the usual monster truck shell or tires, but needless to say, it’s a BEAST at a staggering eight tons! It’s called Rolling Vengeance for a reason! It’s indestructible!
3 Road House (1989)
This is another example of a bad guy’s monster truck doing typical bad-guy stuff. Want to guess what truck this is? By now, you should know that this truck is a version of Bigfoot; in fact, it is Bigfoot 7. Bigfoot 7 is a Ford monster truck built in 1988 and was the final leaf spring-style truck in the Bigfoot collection. This truck was created specifically for its use in Road House and came out in 1989.
The famous truck appears in a scene in Roadhouse and shows Bigfoot 7 driving through the front building of a dealership and taking out four station wagons simultaneously. Bigfoot had 66-inch tires but was later fitted with ridiculous-looking ten-foot tires and parked in front of a Florida business called Fun Spot. It continues to sit in less-than-perfect condition and is no longer owned by the originator of Bigfoot, Bob Chandler.
2 Police Academy II: Their First Assignment (1985)
Once again, we see the first and most famous monster truck, Bigfoot, being a massive star in yet a different movie. This time it was a slightly earlier version, a 1983 custom-made Bigfoot 3. The original truck was a 1982 Ford F-250. At the end of the hilariously goofy Police Academy II: Their First Assignment, we see Corporal Kathleen Kirkland and Eugene Tackleberry ride off in the monster truck with a “Just Married” sign on the back. The academy attends their wedding, and as usual, everyone has a ridiculous, giggle-worthy time.
1 Twister’s Revenge (1988)
Twister’s Revenge is a wild movie about three dim-witted criminals who try to steal the motherboard from a monster truck named Mr. Twister. Mr. Twister isn’t your typical monster truck because it talks and has a mind of its own and proves it by making these idiotic criminals run all over the place on their failed mission. Dave Staszak is the genius behind this monster truck build, and Twister’s Revenge included his very first Mr. Twister build. He went on to make three Mr. Twister Ford monster trucks. When Twister 3 was sold, it gave birth to the monster truck named Aftershock, which many are familiar with in the world of monster trucks.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
