| The Hitcher (1986) Cast:C.Thomas Howell,Rutger Hauer,Jennifer Jason Leigh Howell plays a young sensitive man who is tormented by a psychotic hitchhiker (Hauer) and as the bodies pile up a bond forms between the two. Symbolic and overall mean spirited The Hitcher was praised and panned by critics alike (Getting a "No star"rating from Roger Ebert) for it's brutalitity and corrupted plot. It's all very intense and has some great moments of sheer terror not seen since Last House On The Left but there are just too many loose ends which bring down the overall effect of the movie. Of all the horror movies that deserved to make lots of money it was The Hitcher, an original, well made and relentless thriller which was so mean spirited and cynical that many found it morally repugnant, surprisingly despite the old paranoia about hitch hikers, this did little business. One finds this surprising due to the fact that Friday The 13th sequels were making millions of dollars. Which very well could show the lack of intellegence the average movie goer regards movies in general. The Hitcher is fascinating movie. Infact the story has so many intriguing plot threads that it's somewhat disappointing that Harmon doesn't quite pull out all the stops and take this to the next level of brutality. Another aspect of the film which also frustrated me was how Harmon kept establishing a relationship between Howell and Hauer but doesn't truly give us a satisfying reason for why this is happening. One could argue he's hinting at the viewers imagination but under that rule there should be no scenes that hint at the fact that Harmon will tell us what's going on. This is especially true when Hauer explains to Howell "You'll figure it out" of course Howell doesn't and neither does the audience. Other then that, The Hitcher is a very good movie, made with energy, cynicism and lots of suspense.. Infact the movie features some of the best actionscenes that are that more exciting because the story has locked in our attention. The Hitcher is one of those balls to the wall, edgy thrillers that just don't get made, infact one knows that if a movie like this was to come out, it would not make much money because of the fact that the average movie goer needs constant stimulation from big bright colors and explosions, which of course says a lot about us American audiences. With a remake in the works (with horrible hack Michael Bay producing) one dreads to think how much stupidity they will pour in to market this for the "Duh-Whatever" crowd who come out of the theaters saying "Van Helsing was awesome and crap." All because the same crowd refuse to watch anything older than two years. D.Robert Harmon*** |