The Hitcher (1986)
On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.
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This is a dark and suspenseful, edge of your seat, thrill ride. This movie was so much better than I had thought it was going to be. I really can't believe I hadn't seen this sooner.
I discovered this fantastic film more than thirty years ago. The first week of its release and I still feel astonished by this first viewing. It is one of the best film ever, all genres confounded. I did not consider the Rutger Hauer's character as the devil side of the hero, but only as a mad man who desired to be stopped in his bloody odyssey. he used the young man to kill him. That seems so obvious to me. And this is also the second film starring Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh after the tremendous FLESH AND BLOOD, a couple of years earlier.
First,let me say this. C.Thomas Howell's acting was horrible. In a movie there is supposed to be a character you care about. Real quick I discovered that I didn't care if he lived or died. I didn't care about Nash either. Secondly,it seems like everyone in this movie,with the exception of John Ryder is stupid. The kid can't manage to find the right words to tell the cops what's going on? He mumbles a sentence here and there to try to explain the situation but that's about it. The police just stand there while the girl is tied to the truck. No one even tries to sneak over and untie her before she is torn in half. Oh and NOBODY has any ability shoot and hit their target,except of course,the bad guy.Over all,I think it was a terrible movie. I watched it alone. I wish I would have watched it with someone else,though. Not because I was scared,but because it would have been fun to laugh at it and make fun of it.
Despite "John's" omnipotence, The Hitcher was a tight, thrilling horror/suspense that contained one helluva bad guy from Rutger Hauer. Even in 1986, it showed some absolute originality and liberties with the death toll namely one towards the end. I guess if I can forgive Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees knowing more than they possibly could, I can skip over many of the plot holes, such as the hitcher magically getting dozens of miles ahead of our hero as if he teleported and multiple problems, such as the conveniently placed heroine and the opening takes place at night, then day, then dusk, then day, then night – all in 3 minutes and in a storm.Since Rutger was just so awesome and hero C. Thomas was believable as he was losing it, the good outweighed the bad. Not to mention the motives, or lack thereof, of John made it all the creepier and kept the story going. A little more than a decade later, the same theme would be that of Halloween: H20 and another two plus decades we would be introduced to the similar villain, (Heath Ledger's) Joker. This is my first time seeing the original The Hitcher and I might have cried foul on my 2nd favorite Halloween flick and 2nd favorite Batman movie had I seen this first. That said, I still enjoy all three movies and am sorry I hadn't seen this sooner.Completely recommended, as it holds up today and this coming from someone who saw it for the first time today: June 15, 2015.