Instead of doing my usual Sunday discussion post, I’m going to dedicate today to one of my favorite horror/thrillers. I hope you enjoy!
I’ve made it abundantly clear over my years as a Bloody-Disgusting writer just how much I love Robert Harmon’s 1986 road thriller/horror The Hitcher. I put it on my “trapped on an island” list, put it as one of the films that I have to finish if it comes on, and labelled it a comfort horror film. And I’m not alone! Wrecker director Michale Bafaro included it as one of his 5 “Killer” Road Trip films.
It’s a movie that I stumbled upon when I was on a Rutger Hauer binge. I’d just seen Blade Runner for the 15th or so time and decided that Hauer was probably one of the greatest actors that I didn’t really give enough attention to. After loading up IMDb and heading to my local video rental store, I came home with The Hitcher not really knowing what to expect except for Rutger Hauer and a hitchhiker that causes trouble. But what I could never have fathomed was that the movie I was about to watch was one that would become a favorite, one that I would come back to with possibly alarming frequency.
So, join me as I talk a bit about The Hitcher but beware as there are going to be a few spoilers!
Released exactly 30 years ago today, The Hitcher, as I mentioned above, was directed by Robert Harmon, who also directed They and Highwaymen, and stars the aforementioned Hauer as hitcher “John Ryder” as well as C. Thomas Howell, who plays the main character “Jim Halsey”, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as the charming and ill-fated “Nash”.
The premise is rather simple: Halsey is driving a car from Chicago to San Diego and decides to pick up Hauer, a hitchhiker, as a means of staying awake. From there, he realizes the grave mistake he’s made as he’s suddenly thrust into a game of cat-and-mouse with Ryder that costs the lives of police and innocent bystanders and threatens Halsey’s own sanity.
What makes this movie so wonderful is the surreal, almost dream-like approach in which it’s done. Composer Mark Isham’s absolutely phenomenal score – hey niche record labels, where’s this release, eh? – creates a backdrop that plays with the uncertainty of what Halsey is experiencing. Is Ryder actually real or is he just a figment of his imagination as he snaps and commits horrific murders? Only as the movie plays out do we learn the real answer.
Hauer’s performance as Ryder is nothing short of fantastic. He’s terrifying yet charming in his own way. He’s a boogeyman that you are excited to see yet desperate to escape from. The way he manipulates the chain of events is fascinating, albeit somewhat unbelievable (he shoots down a helicopter with a revolver?). As for Howell and Leigh, they play very well off of one another with her disbelief and his desperation both being palpable. And when Nash suffers her gruesome (yet offscreen) fate, it has actual impact. I felt for Halsey, who already suffered so much only to suffer even more.
The Hitcher wasn’t exactly a commercial success, to put it mildly. Wiki states the budget was under $6 million and only drew in a grand total of just under $8 million. Obviously, that doesn’t account for rentals and home video sales, as well as any other means of monetization. But that’s still pretty bad.
A sequel was made in 2003 that saw Howell reprise his role as Jim Halsey and a remake done by Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes that starred Sean Bean was released in 2007. To be completely honest with you, I haven’t seen either.
If you haven’t seen The Hitcher, I really hope that you’ll give it a chance and pick up a copy. I’ll cherish it until the day I die. I just hope it’s not at the hands of some devilishly charming Dutch hitchhiker.
Funny side story: Because of my love of Blade Runner, I sought out the soundtrack at Borders one day. I found this oddity and, thinking it was the real deal, bought it. I only later realized after opening it – which meant I couldn’t return it… Stupid Borders return policy – that it wasn’t what I was after. However, I still played the CD pretty constantly because I found that it had some damn fine tunes on it.
Anyway, the reason I’m telling you that story is because what I find funny now is that the opening track on the CD was Mark Isham’s theme to The Hitcher. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I put that track on ‘Repeat One’ and just laid in bed reading horror books and comics. That piece stuck with me all the way until I first watched The Hitcher, when I screamed out “I KNOW THIS SONG!” and scared the shit out of my parents, who were watching the movie with me. Good times, I tells ya.
