Hitch Hike to Hell (1977)

Surprisingly , this film was pretty good. The acting was fine and the facial expressions of the lead character- Howard , was outstanding. The story of a social misfit at around 30 yrs. old, still tugging to Moms apron strings. A sister that ran away from home , causes torment to Howard , trying to protect his mother in perhaps the most sinister ways, involving Crescent City Ca. runaways. There were some fine, creative twists in this film , that entertained from start to finish. There was one particular scene with a not so ordinary runaway, that had me laughing hysterically. I do not want to give away the scene; I will keep quiet. The film , though not gory was still very watchable. There are some loose ends about Howards family that took away from the film, but it took away not much. The movie did allow for the expansion of some of the other character bios , but did not overdo it.The scenes where folks were supposed to have violence inflicted, were not done well;Reminding me somewhat of the 'Batman' show of the mid 60's. I think the film wanted those scenes to be a little spoofy on purpose. Russell Johnson of Gilligan fame was the only actor of note. The rest of the cast was more than acceptable . This film passes with high marks, in my opinion.

A warped and demented mother's boy, Howard (Robert Gribbin) makes a habit of raping & killing various women hitchhikers. When the bodies mount up it's up to Captian Shaw of the Crescent P.D. (played by Russell Johnson, better known as the Proffesor from Gilligan's Island) to try to catch this deviant. The film is a tad on the tedious side (Howard picks up hitchhiker, rapes, kills, back to momma's for dinner, has flask backs to the murders, rinse & repeat) Of course interspersed with the Professor hamming it up.Their IS however one scene that deviates from the standard path that the movie sets up, it has a stereotypical flamboyant gay guy (aptly listed in the credits as 'gay boy') whom Howard picks up and is obviously used for misplaced comedic effect. Oh and a pregnancy sub-plot that comes out of nowhere and feels like it should be in a different movie completely, in this one it just felt like painful melodramatic filler. Given the subject matter and the fact that this is a low-budget exploitation movie, it's pretty tame going. For all it's faults (and there are a great many of them) the film isn't as bad as it is made out to be and i've seen worse. Russell Johnson himself makes the film watchable. If you lack a pretty high tolerance for these kind of low-budget films though I'd recommend that you steer clear.My Grade: C- Something Weird DVD Extras: 3 shorts: "the Hitch-Hiker", "Dangerous Strangers" & "the Cautious Twins"; A 27 minute tour of Box office International with Harry Novak circa 1992; Gallery of exploitation art with accompanying soundtrack (5 minutes, 19 seconds); Theatrical trailer; and 2 trailers for the other film on the DVD "Kidnapped Coeds" (one under it's alternative title of "Kidnapped Lover") Eye Candy: Jacqueline Poseley gets topless; Jane Ratliff shows brief nipple

LOL I'm watching this movie right now; I think it's a perfect time waster.Being a true B movie fan, this movie meets all the requirements of B movie fans. It requires no concentration becuz it has no story line, and watching that Gribbin guy have seizures over memories of the rapes and murders he commits is hilarious. Also hilarious is his mother. No wonder he kills women.It's great when he has murder flashbacks and freaks out.Russell Johnson is prime in the role of Chief Investigating officer.You should definitely watch it if you wanna kill some worthless time.

Johnson (Professor from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) plays a cop in this low-budget film. Gribbins stars as a mama's boy laundry driver who picks up Hitchhikers and kill them. The victims are runaways and it triggers him to see them because his sister ran away from home many years ago. Some nudity and violence will be cut for TV, and the film I hear wasn't release till 1970. Gribbin played a opposite role in another drive-in classic TRIP WITH A TEACHER. Johnson actually does a fantastic performance and I am suprised he didn't do more "B" film back then. Not recommended.