Road Games 2016

Jack, a young British hitchhiker, makes his way along the quiet lanes of the French countryside, hoping for a ride that never seems to come. After hours of walking and a string of near-misses, he encounters an arguing couple and acts quickly to restrain the man before he can strike the woman. The man retreats, driving away and leaving Jack with the calm, wary woman who introduces herself as Véronique, a fellow hitchhiker. Véronique shares a troubling rumor—there’s a serial killer active on this stretch of road—which helps explain why Jack hasn’t had any luck with passing cars. The two strike an uneasy alliance for safety, and Véronique offers a practical aid, helping Jack practice his French as they travel. She reveals a troubled past: she’s a drifter whose parents blame her for her brother’s accidental death. Jack, in turn, opens up about a rough day that included losing all his luggage and discovering his girlfriend’s infidelity.

The next day, a stranger named Grizard pulls over and offers them a ride. Véronique, wary at first, eventually agrees to join Jack, and Grizard eagerly insists that Jack meet his English wife when he learns Jack is British. Véronique protests at the detour, but Jack again convinces her to accept Grizard’s hospitality. The ride takes a dark turn when Grizard stops to collect roadkill and laughs at Jack’s suggestion that they bury it instead of eating it. The group arrives at Grizard’s house, a place that quickly reveals itself to be unsettling rather than welcoming.

Inside, the dinner table becomes a battleground of nerves. Jack, who is a vegetarian, politely declines the meat on offer, a choice Grizard mocks in French, an act that unsettles Mary and Véronique. The conversation grows heavier as the mood shifts from cordiality to unease, and Mary quietly leaves the table in distress. Grizard tries to reassure his guests, insisting they are safe under his roof and urging them to stay the night.

The house reveals its oddities as Jack and Véronique are shown to separate bedrooms. In Jack’s room, he notices photographs of a boy and a girl, which Grizard dismisses as a misunderstanding, saying there are no children around. Before bed, Mary advises Jack to lock his door for protection. That night, Véronique somehow slips into his room and they share a tense, intimate moment. Jack invites her to come to England with him, and Véronique accepts with evident excitement. When he wakes, she is gone. Grizard insists she has left, but a note that Véronique supposedly wrote raises Jack’s suspicions; the handwriting does not match Véronique’s, and he starts to worry.

The moment is interrupted by danger when Delacroix, Grizard’s handyman, drugs Jack, ties him up, and forces him to drink a homemade soup. Jack is strapped to the tailgate of a truck, and Delacroix taunts him in French as he prepares to drive off. Jack manages a bold escape, returning to Grizard’s house and discovering Véronique bound and the danger far from over. He frees Véronique, and the two escape in a stolen car, with Grizard and Mary in pursuit. Their vehicle careens and flips, forcing them to flee on foot.

In a tense reunion, Delacroix reappears and a violent struggle ensues, ending with Delacroix impaled by accident. Jack, badly injured, slips into unconsciousness, and Véronique delivers a decisive stab that ends Delacroix’s threat. Grizard and Mary confront Véronique, and a startling truth surfaces: Véronique is Grizard’s daughter, a revelation that hits him like a vision. The revelation complicates the family’s moral calculus and fuels the emotional storm between them.

With Delacroix out of the picture, Mary and Grizard plead with Véronique to return home and to abandon her deadly path, insisting they cannot continue to cover for her. Véronique refuses, her resolve hardening in the wake of the revelation and the violence they’ve already endured. Moments later, Jack reappears, holding a shotgun and demanding that Mary and Grizard step out of the car. They comply, and Véronique quickly subdues them, tying them up once more. Mary and Grizard try to explain that they were trying to protect Jack, but Véronique’s grip remains steady and unyielding as she gags Grizard and renders Mary unconscious.

As the pair drive away together, Véronique checks that she still has Delacroix’s knife, a quiet reminder of the blood-streaked night behind them. Back in the field, Mary wakes up, her sobs echoing as she mourns the loss of her daughter and the broken family she once hoped to protect.

The journey unfolds as a twisting, uneasy road story where loyalty fractures, hidden pasts erupt, and a dangerous alliance between strangers collapses under the weight of fear, care, and the unspoken bond that forms between Jack and Véronique. The haunting dynamic of trust, betrayal, and survival lingers long after the final act, leaving a lingering sense of unease about what drove Véronique to her path and what it means for those who crossed her line.