Is 'Midnight In the Switchgrass' Based on a True Story? The Chilling Answer

In 2021, Megan Fox, Bruce Willis, Machine Gun Kelly, Emile Hirsch and more starred in a thriller by Lionsgate called Midnight In the Switchgrass. The film landed to critical acclaim, with the movie's heart-pounding pace and actors' portrayals getting a thumbs up from critics.

But the film itself seemed to eerily mirror stories told about real-life serial killers. So is Midnight In the Switchgrass based on a true story? Here's what we know about whether or not a real serial killer inspired the spine-tingling thriller and how it stacks up to real life.

Serial killers are apparently a fact of life for the human species. Where there are humans, there too will be people who are twisted and who delight in causing pain. There are ample movies made about these serial killers, telling the stories of their crimes in often exaggerated or fantastical ways. However, sometimes the stories hit a little more close to home.

Is that the case for Midnight In the Switchgrass? Kinda.

Midnight, directed by Randall Emmett, tells the story of two FBI agents who are close to bringing down a sex trafficking ring. They eventually join forces with a Florida detective, but it all goes awry when one of the agents is kidnapped. It turns out that the agents stumbled into the web of a serial killer, known in the film as the Truck Stop Killer.

And yes, there is a disturbing real-life parallel.

The movie is partially based on the gruesome crimes of one Robert Benjamin Rhoades, also known as the Truck Stop Killer. Rhoades was only convicted of three murders, but it is believed that he preyed on and murdered at least dozens more people whom he picked up along highways before being arrested in 1990.

However, many characters in the film don't have real-life parallels and some of the details are off, so it's not a perfect match for the story and is likely a composite of different serial killers to some degree.

Here's what we know about what from the film is based on real life and what was likely made of a composite or completely made up.

The overall picture of what Rhoades did is fairly accurate in the movie. And, just like in the movie, Rhoades was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Rhoades's arrest in real life spurred the FBI to create the Highway Serial Killings Initiative in 2009, according to TheDirect.

Since the initiative was launched, the FBI has arrested 25 serial criminals, all long-haul truckers.

So when it comes to writers crafting victim stories and details, they, unfortunately, have plenty of serial killers to choose from who all specifically preyed on people they picked up with their trucks.

Sometimes when we watch a crime thriller, we wish that it's too horrible to be true. But as serial killers prove, there seems to be no depths to which the depraved mind won't sink.

As endlessly creative as human beings can be, they can turn that creativity to the darkest purposes as Midnight In the Switchgrass reminds us.