Rating: 
Summary: Don't pick this guy up!!
Review: The Hitcher is a good film, but at times very silly. I enjoy the parts where Rutger Haur pops up and shoots some cops that are chasing Howell, that's comedy! Although this film can be silly and outragous, it's very suspenseful and kept me watching. Hey, I recorded this movie off ABC from 3:30 am to 5:30 am, what do you expect!
Rating:
Summary: Next time just keep driving.
Review: A definite must for any thrill seeker. A very suspensfull film. I definitly wouldn't want to be C. Thomas Howell. The reality of the film is stretched, but I feel that Hauer and Howell pull it off nicely.
Rating: 
Summary: Arguably one of the most wretched films ever made.
Review: I despise this movie, especially because it started out so good. By the time Rutger Hauer becomes a human Terminator it had long ago lost its charm (I mean he escapes from shackles with three cops with shotguns on him...Yeah..sure...right) I have rarely seen a more unpleasant, wrethedly acted or written film
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing, chilling, edge of the seat suspense
Review: A must watch for all movie goers who enjoy movies about psychos and about suspense. Rutger as the hitcher makes your hair stand on end. The student who he chases and frames keeps getting deeper and deeper into the trap and is saved at the end by an understanding cop. A must for any serious watcher of action or thriller movies - I vote it far better than 'The Run'
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch
Review: Not for the faint of heart, this is one of the best suspense/psychological thriller I've ever seen. A must have for devotees of Rutger Hauer, one of the most overlooked talents of the past few decades. His performance as John Ryder is utterly convincing.
Rating:
Summary: Taut, scary, psychotic; Hauer is brilliant.
Review: Hauer is terrifyingly convincing as John Ryder, the predatory Hitcher. Sparky chemistry between Hauer and Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh is well cast as the young bored highway-cafe waitress caught up in the fright. Terrific character acting, plenty of action, bloodshed and pyrotechnics. Rutger Hauer fans will agree this is among his finest performances, along with Blade Runner, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Surviving The Game. A classic fave for psycho thriller and blood-and-guts aficionados alike.
Rating:
Summary: Where should I begin?!
Review: Ok, one of my favourite movies ever, this is. I know it seems strange now, it isn't an epic with outstanding performances and great set pieces and all that, it's just a plain old, fun 80s horror road movie, but I just love it all the same. Rutger Hauer is imensely scary as a (not so freaky killer like Jason or Michael, nor a gruesome killer) but a sharp, haunting character with an icy personality. C Thomas Howell is very good as a young teenager. He starts off in the film to be a bit geeky, but once he meets Hauer he starts to get a little freaky himself. They are basically the two main characters in this. The film -- as you probably know -- is about C Thomas Howell delivering a drive-away car (let me just say I don't like the review from Digibiong! because he says there is a mistake on the license plate of the car, but it's a drive-away car so it doesn't matter) and he has to deliver it to San Dieago, on the way he picks up a stranger on the road, he seems like a nice guy, but he turns out to be quite psychotic. Howell is able to push the stranger out of the car and carry on down the road, but the hitcher isn't done yet, he starts to play a deadly game with Howell, like getting the police onto him, framing him, killing people in front of his eyes and all stuff like that. The film doesn't drag at the start, it starts off straight away with Howell picking the stranger up and it gets darker and darker every time. The gore in this film isn't that bad, we do HEAR a woman get pulled apart, but we don't SEE it. We never really do see a lot of deaths happen in the film, but I think that's what makes the film scary. It can be very atmospheric at times, but a lot of the scary parts happen in the day-time. When we come to the conclusion it gets a little dissapointing since it doesn't go on for long and I was expecting a great confrontation. So, that's "the hitcher", one of my favourite movies. Road movies are my favourite genre of movies and here are a couple more good ones: Breakdown
Convoy
Duel
Hitcher 2: I've been waiting
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest horror movies to come out of the 80's
Review: Some call the original Hitcher a horror movie, others classify it under the suspense genre, etc. All that aside, this little flick did more than turn a few heads back when it came out in the mid-80's, featuring Rutger Hauer's ice cold performance as a psychotic killer who hitches a ride with a young man (C. Thomas Howell) whom he terrorizes and frames for his crimes as the film rolls on. Considering the time the Hitcher was made, it's surprisingly not predictable, and loaded with taut suspense, with great performances from Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh (whose character has the most infamous death in the whole film), and especially Hauer who is disturbingly perfect as psychopathic killer John Ryder. Hopefully the Hitcher will be re-released on DVD with loads of features and a much better picture transfer (the one on this disc is terribly grainy), and considering all the DVD double dipping of late, that possibility isn't entirely unlikely.
Rating:
Summary: The roads weren't safe back in the eighties
Review: There can be something almost magical over 80:ies movies. "Terminator" has it. Especially the ending with the desert road and synthersizer music. The same kind of magic is present in "The Hitcher".
A young man is almost falling asleep on the road, early in the morning. He stops to take up a hitchhiker. From there on event follow upon event with nightmarish logic. Literally. (Maybe it all is a nightmare?) Great acting by the main characters. Actually very good acting throughout the film. And Hauer is cold as ice as the hitcher/madman.
The fine synthetic music and beautiful nature pictures sets the mood. Add some action, and good dialogue scenes. This horror/action/thriller is not for all tastes, but it is very well done.
Rating:
Summary: BIZARRE AND UNSETTLING FILM
Review: To this day I feel the Hitcher is one of the most bizzare films I have ever seen. It's a film with basically no sympathetic characters in it that leaves you quite unsettled with its sheer violence and black-hearted spirit.
C. Thomas Howell plays Jim Halsey, a young man taking a driveaway car from Chicago to California to deliver it. Along the way on a desert road he makes a mistake by picking up a hitchhiker John Ryder (Rutger hauer). Ryder admits to having just killed several motorists. As soon as he his able, Jim manages to dump him out of the car but now finds himself persued by almost superhuman means by this homicidal maniac who seems to always no where Jim is.
Ryder Kills several more people including local las officers and Jim is blamed for the murders. yet inexplicably Ryder actually rescues Jim from the police when he's capture, killing them as well. To Ryder it's one big game of cat & mouse an no one, not even the police are going to get in his way. Neither is a girl Jim befriends played Jennifer Jason Leigh, who suffers the films most diabolical fate.
The Character oh John Ryder is one of the most complex and curious in horror history. A man who is at once devoid of emotion yet seemingly in need of a symbiotic relationship with Jim. Almost a demonic being who shows Jim the dark delights and takes him under his wing as an apprentice. It's obvious he could kill Jim many times but doesn't, choosing instead to kill everyone else around jim, driving him to madness.
It's almost impossible to define this film. Thriller, horror, suspense? It's a film which is largely one of those where people really love it or hate it. i stand in the former.
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