Rating: 
Summary: a great twilight zone episode with a tad too much blood
Review: "the hitcher" is an overlooked horror masterpiece, whether one can stomach the admittedly excessive violence or not. rutger hauer gives the performance of his career as john ryder, a tormented and possibly supernatural hitchhiker that c. thomas howell makes the big mistake of picking up on his way cross country to a car dealership. boy he shouldn't have done that. see what happens when you pick up people hanging out in the middle of nowhere in trench coats? you get thrown into inescapable metaphysical nightmares that will leave a scar or two on the psyche.the most unforgettable scene is in the beginning, when howell throws hauer out of the car onto the road and the hitcher, whatever and whoever he is, slowly gets up and looks tragically and hauntingly into the distance. it can't be said what he's thinking about or what his tormented look means, but it is one of the most memorable sequences in the history of the horror genre. the camera pans under him and cuts off at just the right moment. ... there is no way the gratuitous and disgusting shoot em up scenes can detract even slightly from the value of this film. it is hypnotic, dreamy, and absolutely entrancing. not even one star should be taken away from this movie for the violence. this movie is so firmly etched into my memory that every time i hear the doors' "riders on the storm" i think of it immediately. see it.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!!!!
Review: If you've never picked up a hitchhiker you never will after seeing this film. If you have, I'm sure you'll think twice the next time you see one. When The Hitcher first appeared to me on HBO back in 1986 it became my all time favorite movie. Still to this day it is one of my favorite movies and one of the most breathtaking thrillers I've seen. The story about a young driver (Jim Haulsey), played by Thomas C. Howell, delivering a drive-a-way car to California. On his way through a small town he picks up a strange hitchhiker named John Ryder(Rutger Hauer) hoping that the hitcher will keep him awake. Well, that he certainly does. John tells Jim a gruesome tale of murdering the previous family that picked him up. Jim then throws him out of the car. Throughout the rest of the film there is a lot of suspense and quite the cat and mouse game played by the hitcher and his victim, Jim. It's hard for me to put in to words how good this movie is. I could go on forever about the plot but you'll never get a true feeling of how thrilling The Hitcher really is. Don't take my word for it. Check this one out yourself and I'm sure you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Heres a movie that you scare the day lights out of you
Review: Everytime i watched this classic it scares and i cant sleep for days. Rutgher hauers best work. He is awesome as the hitcher. MUST SEE
Rating:
Summary: Very Well made horror thriller
Review: This film is not really about much at all. You will not emerge from the cinema a better or more intelligent person. It is however an effective well crafted horror thriller. A young man is driving a car across America. He picks up a hitcher who is clearly a psycopathic killer and is perhaps something more. He is able to escape but as he travells across America he is followed by the killer. The role of the killer is played by Rutger Hauer. He is brilliant in the role and is able to convery a sense of both menance and evil. The film is not one that has many scenes which are gross outs or filled with horror yet the film has an absolute tension which goes from scene to scene. It is a consumately brilliant film from a technical point of view.
Rating:
Summary: Just Insane Enough!
Review: Can someone really play this part as well as Rutger Hauer and not be just a little insane themselves? Edge of you seat suspense! Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. You could never put yourself in the place of C. Thomas Howell, who picks up hitch-hiker Rutger Hauer, and never think that a good deed could turn so bad so fast. If you've never picked up a hitch-hiker, but have heard all the warnings and horror stories why you shouldn't, you haven't heard the best till now. Rutger Hauer is relentless in his persuit of C. Thomas Howell. Even when he thinks he's rid or Hauer, he shows up again and again, like the bad penny he is. Penny hell! He's a quarter atleast!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Horror. At Last.
Review: This has to be the best thriller of the 80s, and it shows you that you stood never pick up hitchhikers. It's about a man named Jim (C. Thomas Howells), who is delivering a drive-away car to California. He picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer, BLADE RUNNER), but has life becomes a relentless nightmare as John holds a blade to him and tells the boy "I what you to stop me". As the film goes on Jim tries warn people about the some wath supernatural killer, but is blamed for the killings and ends up fighting both the cops and the hitcher. Jennifer Jason Leigh (SINGLE WHITH FEMALE) is good as the main screamer. Indeed I recommend this film to any horror fan that is looking for story and thrills, not sex and gore. If Hitchcock made this in the 60s, someone like Janet Leigh or Grace Kelly wood play Jennifer's Character. Of all the "bed" guys in horror movies from Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates (PSYCHO), Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Clenn Close as Alex (FATAL ATTRACTION), Robert De Niro as Max Cady (CAPE FEAR) and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), Hauer is the mote terrifying one of them all. This is no Academy Award winner, but THE HITCHER is a good movie. Writer Eric Red (BAD MOON) also scripted NEAR DARK. 1986. HBO. 98 MINS. Rated R For Strong Violence, Horror, and for Language.
Rating:
Summary: Simple and effective.
Review: I never saw this DVD, but I watch this movie in the Cinema. The movie is simple but effective! Rutger Hauer was superb. Unfortunetly this actor appears in few good movies like Blade Runner and this one. This is a great actor but not well credited. Unfortunetly he's getting old. (Not 4 years life span).
Rating: 
Summary: This Is Why You Should Never Pick Up A Hitchhiker
Review: This 1986 cult film is worthy of much greater attention than it originally got. This is one fine suspense, psychological thriller in every sense. C. Thomas Howell stars as a young man on a road trip who picks up a mysterious hitcher on the side of the road(played by Rutger Hauer). Our hero soon learns that this guy is not all there and dumps him off. Big mistake. The nutty hitcher is now stalking this guy while on the road. Along the way, our star meets and hooks up with waitress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Rutger Hauer is a fine actor and he's never been more intense and disturbing as he is here. He really brings the screen to life. The same cannot be said for Howell. He is a bland actor with an ultra bland character. It's hard to really root for the guy when he's nowhere near interesting enough to really care about in the first place. Jennifer Jason Leigh does the best of her transparent role, but she, and the character, was really unneeded. But, I guess you need to have a damsel in distress. The movie is very well filmed and mapped out. It's a great ride that is enjoyable from beginning from end. No matter what a bad review at the bottom of this page says. Ignore that one at all costs. Implausible, really, but good fun.
Rating:
Summary: Short of being a terror masterpiece, but worth watching
Review: THE HITCHER is a fairly good horror film that involves the premise of a young man (C. Thomas Howell) picking up a sinister hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer) on a rain-soaked Texas highway. This turns out to be a rather bad mistake; because for the next 24-48 hours, he is in fear for his life from Hauer, a psychopath responsible for a number of gruesome murders along the highway. And that's not the end of it; those murders have been pinned on him by Hauer. Like the later BREAKDOWN, this highway thriller borrows its inspiration from such terror masterpieces as DUEL, STRAW DOGS, and DELIVERANCE. It falls a bit short of being a masterpiece, however, because of the extreme violence within--some of those scenes are genuinely repellent and detract from the movie's disturbing atmosphere. Howell and Hauer, however are well-matched adversaries, and Jennifer Jason Leigh adds color as a sympathetic local who, in one of the film's grislier moments (even though it happens offscreen), becomes Hauer's next victim. Had director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red been willing not to resort to ultraviolent slasher film cliches, this might have been a masterwork. But far worse horror movies were made during the 1980s. Compared to those, THE HITCHER might as well be a masterwork.
Rating:
Summary: Listen to your mother.....
Review: If you have ever been tempted to pick up a stranger, this movie should cure you for good. Forgive me for probably repeating some things. This movie stars C. Thomas Howell (Ponyboy in The Outsiders), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), & Jennifer Jason Leigh (Fast Times At Ridgemont High). This was the extent of my knowledge when I first saw this movie at the age of 15 with my best friend (our theater more or less did not believe in carding). This movie looked cool but we had no major expectations. WOW! This was one of those movies where you had no idea how much time had passed when it was over. Howell is convincing enough as your basic 80's midwestern dirty white boy. I could relate. He was the main draw at the time for moviegoers. But Hauer is positively bone-chilling in his role as an aimless drifter who has decided, after Howell initially gets the better of him, to focus all of his deranged energy & attention squarely upon the shoulders of Howell's character by alternately terrorizing him & oddly assisting him - while offering no explanation for either (well, near the end we learn a little). Leigh plays the innocent bystander who becomes caught in the middle. Anyone looking for or suspecting the standard romance angle will not find it in this movie; the only developing relationship that develops here is between the kid & the hitcher. Normally, at this time in my life, I went to rated R movies looking for some T&A (didn't we all...), but this is a movie where there is none - and is not missed one bit. The only other rated R flick from this period for which I would say the same was Runaway Train. What I am saying is that the plot is engrossing (as long as you believe most anything could happen out in the lonely Texas badlands - esp. when you don't order from the menu!). The ending is not altogether brilliant but for sure is not any sugarcoated giftwrap Hollywood triumph of good over evil or anything like that. The movie will make you wonder: what good could anyone have made of such a situation? I kind of like that. To touch on some other aspects: the soundtrack done by Mark Isham is awesome for this movie. It is very unnerving and tense. And it is perfect in a lonely, desolate, Texas high plains sort of way. Movie stunt buffs take note: this movie features the very first filmed scene of two motor vehicles executing a simultaneous barrel roll onscreen. No multiple angles or tricks. One straight-on camera shot of the two vehicles tumbling just inches apart, side by side, toward you at full speed. That is pretty cool. The overall cinematography is excellent as well, taking full advantage of the wide open spaces & dark, dusty corners. I would probably agree with many that the visual quality of the film (I am thinking more for DVDers) is not the best. Also there are no artificial special effects or tricks that I am aware of, which is fine in this case. Basically, a weird offbeat script with a small but well chosen cast & crew which resulted in this singularly terrifying gem. Even the dogs did their parts well. You will be disturbed!
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