Brock Landers
01-30-2001, 02:27 PM
"The Hitcher" is one scary-ass little film. If you're into psycho-killer-on-the-rampage flicks (like me), and this one doesn't "move" you, than I don't know what will. I like to think of it, as a sleeper hit that gained much of its deserved success from cable television. The story is clever and the casting is perfect. I mean, there really is nothing in the world that can compare to a good scary movie…well almost nothing…
C. Thomas Howell plays Jim Halsey, a young "bad-boy" wannabe, almost from the wrong side of the tracks. You know the type…he's probably from the suburbs, but he smokes, he wears a leather jacket, he acts tough. Yet he does what his mommy said not to do…he picks up a hitchhiker. I'll give him some credit, I mean, He's driving a car from Chicago to California for someone, and late one night, in the middle of the desert, he's falling asleep at the wheel. Then it starts to rain and Jimmy sees a poor bastard standing on the side of the road with his hitching unit out, getting drenched. So he figures he'll help the guy out, and have someone to talk with to keep him awake. Harmless, right? Wrong. The hitchhiker turns out to be John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), about as sick and twisted a bastard as you've ever seen on film. John holds a knife to Jim's throat, calmly reveals that he cut his last victim's lower appendages off, and dares Jim to stop him. Jimbo manages to escape, shoving John from his moving car. But John was serious when he asked Jim to stop him, and when he finally rolls to a stop out on the highway, John decides to raise the stakes significantly. Not only does the maniac keep on killing, but he makes good old Jimmy's life a living hell in the process…cue ensuing life-or-death cat-and-mouse story. The plot of this flick holds a number of suprising little twists and turns, and it's deftly directed by filmmaker Robert Harmon ("Nowhere To Run", "Gotti"), to make the most of every little thrill and chill…
There are some moments of really delicious suspense in "The Hitcher", and the film has an almost noir-ish quality about it, that I personally found enticing. If you dig the psycho-thriller genre, you are gonna be one content hepcat. Rutger Hauer is terrific, giving one of the best performances of his career. This is the culmination of the dark characters Hauer created in his earlier appearances in "Blade Runner" and "Nighthawks". Great shit. Howell gives a believable performance and Jennifer Jason Leigh is his match as the truck stop waitress who is the only person to believe him. "The Hitcher" is a great way to spend a couple of hours…
...anybody think it sucks?
C. Thomas Howell plays Jim Halsey, a young "bad-boy" wannabe, almost from the wrong side of the tracks. You know the type…he's probably from the suburbs, but he smokes, he wears a leather jacket, he acts tough. Yet he does what his mommy said not to do…he picks up a hitchhiker. I'll give him some credit, I mean, He's driving a car from Chicago to California for someone, and late one night, in the middle of the desert, he's falling asleep at the wheel. Then it starts to rain and Jimmy sees a poor bastard standing on the side of the road with his hitching unit out, getting drenched. So he figures he'll help the guy out, and have someone to talk with to keep him awake. Harmless, right? Wrong. The hitchhiker turns out to be John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), about as sick and twisted a bastard as you've ever seen on film. John holds a knife to Jim's throat, calmly reveals that he cut his last victim's lower appendages off, and dares Jim to stop him. Jimbo manages to escape, shoving John from his moving car. But John was serious when he asked Jim to stop him, and when he finally rolls to a stop out on the highway, John decides to raise the stakes significantly. Not only does the maniac keep on killing, but he makes good old Jimmy's life a living hell in the process…cue ensuing life-or-death cat-and-mouse story. The plot of this flick holds a number of suprising little twists and turns, and it's deftly directed by filmmaker Robert Harmon ("Nowhere To Run", "Gotti"), to make the most of every little thrill and chill…
There are some moments of really delicious suspense in "The Hitcher", and the film has an almost noir-ish quality about it, that I personally found enticing. If you dig the psycho-thriller genre, you are gonna be one content hepcat. Rutger Hauer is terrific, giving one of the best performances of his career. This is the culmination of the dark characters Hauer created in his earlier appearances in "Blade Runner" and "Nighthawks". Great shit. Howell gives a believable performance and Jennifer Jason Leigh is his match as the truck stop waitress who is the only person to believe him. "The Hitcher" is a great way to spend a couple of hours…
...anybody think it sucks?