I'm helping a friend chase down an old memory and he has originally misapplied to the Friday the 13th series:
This memory is set squarely in the '80s. As I recall it -- our "lone survivor" girl is running for her life at night, maybe from a camp. She gets into a car and starts driving away, panicked. She leaves [The Killer] behind, and he just stands there and watches her drive away. The next scene is her in the van (or whatever vehicle) and [The Killer] steps out of the brush ahead. She SCREAMS and dodges him and continues. Then, he steps out into the road again. Same thing happens. This continues 1-2 more times, and she finally tries to hit him but ends up crashing. He has eliminated the Twilight Zone episode The Hitch-Hiker and the looping scene in A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master.
It may not be the Twilight Zone hitchhiker but it does sound like The Hitchhiker from Creepshow 2.
Sounds like the 2005 slasher "Venom"….
I remember a lot of van action in that one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_(2005_film)
According to my friend, this was a childhood memory from the '80s, which would rule out 2005's Venom. I have sent him a YouTube clip of the Creepshow 2 Hitch-Hiker scene and am waiting for his reply.
Update:. I was rooting for Creepshow 2, because that seemed like a good fit, but my friend has eliminated that.
A new wrinkle: he feels like a mask on the killer figure was a prominent part of the character, and this may be why he thought it was a Friday the 13th scene for so long.
It sounds so much like THE FINAL GIRLS (2015) which takes place in the 80s and has those time glitches. Far fetched but I Wonder if possibly he remembered it as an '80s film?
Not sure but it could be one of the following:
12:01 (1991)- guy likes girl at work, he sees her get murdered, he goes back in time in order to save her.
Retroactive (1997)- Woman goes back in time over and over with the help of scientist to stop Jim Belushi from killing his wife while trying to sell some stolen computer chips
Dead End (2003)- Family relives a night time ride in the woods over and over again
Camp Slaughter (2005)- present day teens are sent back to a summer camp in 1981 in which a serial killer is doing his thing.
Salvage (2006)- woman dies at the hands of a serial killer over and over again
Timecrimes (2007)- guy gets chased by bandaged serial killer, meets scientist with time machine and goes back a short period of time to escape
Mine Games (2012)- campers find their own corpses and realize they are in a time loop
Might also be Highway to Hell (1991) there is a time loop sequence in there.
That is a cool film regardless.
I forwarded these suggestions along to him. From my understanding, this is a childhood memory that occurred in the '80s, though I'm willing to bet it could have extended into the beginning of the '90s. This would eliminate some of the suggestions, but many of them draw inspiration from earlier sources, so there might be a lead.
I'll follow up once I hear back from him.
The only 80s slasher I remember having an action scene involving a van is Friday the 13th part 3.
But the scene you're describing does sound familiar…
@samplelord I don't know that the vehicle is a van. My friend said "car".
I feel like it's familiar, too. What kills me, is that in trying to help him, I even buried myself digging through TVtropes, and they don't even have a trope that quite matches what he's describing, even though I feel I've seen it in a number of more modern movies.