LouHomey
From my favorite movies..
Griff Lees
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Jerrie
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
cinemajesty
Movie Review: "The Hitcher" (1986)The directorial debut of Robert Harmon realized under highly effective cinematography by John Seale, who eventually will do his best work on "The English Patient" (1996) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015), comes along with high-voltage suspense driving of the young adult Jim Halsey, giving face in James-Dean-mimicking coolness by actor C. Thomas Howell, who meets an imaginative ultra-violent father figure, performed in menacing-scary manners by Rutger Hauer as John Ryder, on isolated roads of the Mid-west areas of the U.S. leading to California. The screenplay by Eric Red has a deep understanding for tension build-ups and rhythmic pay-offs that I had no time the feeling of being lost or dulled-out within the 90 minutes hypnotic editorial by Frank J. Urioste, who also edited "Die Hard" (1988) and "Basic Instinct" (1992). "The Hitcher" is a lucky punch of a movie thriller, where simply every shot follows the next with curiosities of being further sucked into an imaginative world of young man between dreams and realities, where constant surprises await in upcoming scenes, as the character of Nash, portrayed by 23-year-old actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who delivers the matching pendant to Jim Halsey, when they come together to fight authorities in form of up-on-their-heels highway patrols for pleading innocent in games of cat-and-mouse with John Ryder, where nothing is what is seems, before this extraordinary 1980s thriller concludes to my satisfaction.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)
sol-
Driving across Texas, a young man is stalked by a serial killer who briefly hitched a ride with him in this thriller written by Eric Red of 'Near Dark' fame. Rutger Hauer is perfectly cast as the unsettling, unpredictable hitcher and the opening scenes are loaded with atmosphere as lead actor C. Thomas Howell keeps falling asleep at the wheel before picking up Hauer. As the menacing Hauer subsequently plays cat and mouse with Howell, framing him for murders along the way, 'The Hitcher' is initially frustrating to view since his motives for pursuing Howell are vague. As the film progresses though and Hauer keeps telling Howell that he is smart enough to figure it out, the film begins to feel much more allegorical, with Howell suffering the consequences of doing what he (as he says) his mother told him never to do: give a lift to a stranger. Interesting as this may be, 'The Hitcher' is hardly flawless and significant stretch in which Howell is aided and assisted by a young woman who believes him lacks the tension and Kafkaesque paranoia of the rest of the film - though of course what happens to her is most unexpected. Whatever the case, the movie is filmed in a classy manner. There are some great 360 degree shots in the police station, there is a superb shot in which the camera creeps up to Hauer at low camera angle in the middle of the road, and Mark Isham's score is perfectly moody.
Red-Barracuda
This film tells a story about the dangerous bond between a mysterious serial killer and a young driver called Jim who makes the mistake of picking him up when driving cross country through a desolate part of Texas. Immediately after their chance encounter, a series of violent murders occurs, with Jim getting the blame after being continually set up by the killer. The result is a major manhunt and further escalating violence.The Hitcher is a film which you think will be a horror movie but which is really an odd combination between a psychological thriller and action film. Despite the premise, it holds back on the horror potential if anything. This isn't, in itself, a bad thing although the 80's action that makes up the latter part of the story does sometimes seem an odd bedfellow to the more psychological approach of the earlier scenes. I felt that the movie did lose steam as it went on to be perfectly honest, the further it removed itself from the dark realism of the original premise the less interesting it became. The killer is really almost a supernatural being, with a persona that always feels he is otherworldly in some way. Rutger Hauer brings some charisma to the role but it is ultimately a fairly cardboard psychotic character he is playing. C. Thomas Howell is slightly whiny in the lead role, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is possibly a bit underused as the waitress who assists him. Despite my reservations, this is still an entertaining enough thriller with some good individual scenes and ideas.
Adam Foidart
"The Hitcher" is more than just a slasher or your typical horror flick, in fact it lends itself a lot more to the thriller genre and it's a tense, entertaining ride that's not perfect but entertaining. I bet you can guess what the plot is just from the title, but I'll spell it out for you anyway. Jim (C. Thomas Howell) is a nice guy just minding his own business when he picks up a hitchhiker, a strange man called Ryder (Rutger Hauer). Turns out the guy is a maniac! Along the way, our hero meets up with a nice young lady named Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a whole lot of people end up dead.Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh are all good in their parts; we sympathize with our heroes and we're both puzzled and frightened by our villain. I felt tense throughout and admire the fact that it never chickens out with the violence and body count. Admittedly that does mean that at a certain point it gets pretty ridiculous and exaggerated. I know when it came to my experience watching the film I thought it was ludicrous that a couple with two young children would decide to pick up a hitchhiker. As you can expect, that goes about as well as it usually does in a horror movie, so even this brighter-than-usual picture can't escape some of the trappings of the genre. In a strange twist from what you see in your usual horror movies, sometimes the film feels like the characters are making intelligent decisions but every character isn't intelligently written. Maybe they just get lucky (well, not really considering the plot of the film, but you know what I mean).I have mixed feelings about the picture overall because there are a lot of good things about it. It's supposed to be horrific and it did shock me. I felt disturbed after it ended and I have to give the movie props to "The Hitcher" because I believe that was the intended result. Nevertheless I have to dock it some points because of some missed opportunities I saw, like more of an exploration of the relationship between the reluctant hero and the killer. I thought maybe just a few lines, or one more scene was what this picture needed to really sell me on the ending. It's still worth your time, though some of it maybe too dark, too bleak or nihilistic for certain audiences. (On DVD, October 28, 2012)
