ShangLuda Admirable film.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

cinemajesty Movie Review: "The Hitcher" (1986)The directorial debut of Robert Harmon realized under highly effective cinematography by John Seale, who eventually will do his best work on "The English Patient" (1996) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015), comes along with high-voltage suspense driving of the young adult Jim Halsey, giving face in James-Dean-mimicking coolness by actor C. Thomas Howell, who meets an imaginative ultra-violent father figure, performed in menacing-scary manners by Rutger Hauer as John Ryder, on isolated roads of the Mid-west areas of the U.S. leading to California. The screenplay by Eric Red has a deep understanding for tension build-ups and rhythmic pay-offs that I had no time the feeling of being lost or dulled-out within the 90 minutes hypnotic editorial by Frank J. Urioste, who also edited "Die Hard" (1988) and "Basic Instinct" (1992). "The Hitcher" is a lucky punch of a movie thriller, where simply every shot follows the next with curiosities of being further sucked into an imaginative world of young man between dreams and realities, where constant surprises await in upcoming scenes, as the character of Nash, portrayed by 23-year-old actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who delivers the matching pendant to Jim Halsey, when they come together to fight authorities in form of up-on-their-heels highway patrols for pleading innocent in games of cat-and-mouse with John Ryder, where nothing is what is seems, before this extraordinary 1980s thriller concludes to my satisfaction.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

sol- Driving across Texas, a young man is stalked by a serial killer who briefly hitched a ride with him in this thriller written by Eric Red of 'Near Dark' fame. Rutger Hauer is perfectly cast as the unsettling, unpredictable hitcher and the opening scenes are loaded with atmosphere as lead actor C. Thomas Howell keeps falling asleep at the wheel before picking up Hauer. As the menacing Hauer subsequently plays cat and mouse with Howell, framing him for murders along the way, 'The Hitcher' is initially frustrating to view since his motives for pursuing Howell are vague. As the film progresses though and Hauer keeps telling Howell that he is smart enough to figure it out, the film begins to feel much more allegorical, with Howell suffering the consequences of doing what he (as he says) his mother told him never to do: give a lift to a stranger. Interesting as this may be, 'The Hitcher' is hardly flawless and significant stretch in which Howell is aided and assisted by a young woman who believes him lacks the tension and Kafkaesque paranoia of the rest of the film - though of course what happens to her is most unexpected. Whatever the case, the movie is filmed in a classy manner. There are some great 360 degree shots in the police station, there is a superb shot in which the camera creeps up to Hauer at low camera angle in the middle of the road, and Mark Isham's score is perfectly moody.

Lil_Git There's something about this movie that makes me go back time and time again to relive the thriller that is "The Hitcher." I first saw this movie a few years after its release when I was about 14 yrs old or so and I remember feeling really disturbed and creeped out by the character "John Ryder." This movie is one that left an impression on me and decades later I still warn against picking up hitch-hikers and, when people laugh, I just look at them and say "did you not see The Hitcher?" The performance delivered by Rutger Hauer in this iconic movie is unforgettable and the relationship between he and protagonist, C Thomas Howell, is very convincing. You can feel the utter despair and shock that poor Jim Halsey is going through as he is terrorized along the route by Ryder.Just as Jaws kept me scared of swimming in the ocean, The Hitcher will keep me from ever picking up a hitchhiker. 10/10

NateWatchesCoolMovies I feel like Robert Harmon's The Hitcher is a misunderstood, under appreciated film. A lot of folks see it as either a crass piece of exploitation, or a run of the mill slasher film, a by the numbers product of its decade without distinction or class. They couldn't be more wrong. Yes it's a horror film. Yes it is brutal, sadistic and unflinching with its jarring violence. But it's crafted with such an ambient, graceful beauty and paced aesthetic that makes it truly stand out. It preys on our ancestral, archetypal fears of the unknown, the unnameable, and the desolate grey undefined ares in our world where sparse life thrives, the perfect breeding ground for an evil force to stalk people. In this case the evil takes the former of a mysterious, murderous hitchhiker played magnificently by Rutger Hauer. This is one of two towering, biblically epic performances that made his career (the other being Blade Runner), and he is a seething diabolical wonder in the role. He plays him initially as an endearing, quiet gentleman who quickly morphs into a deranged, blue eyed angel of death, stalking a terrified young man (C. Thomas Howell) across the dusty back roads of the southwest. The film walks a perfect line between chaotic blood and metal vehicular violence, tense, intimately frightening conversations and moody, dreamy interludes of eerie Vistas set to a haunting score by Mark Isham. Jennifer Jason Leigh has an a adorable extended cameo as a poor waitress inadvertently caught up in the mayhem. Written by Eric Red (Near Dark) who has a flair for brutal scenes, the film flies wild with a gut punch gritty bunch of kills and shocking stuff, which run parallel to the ponderous and atmospheric ambiance which is counter intuitive to the way most horror films of this type operate, but works just amazingly here, creating a dread soaked, lonely, inexorably doom laden horror masterpiece that stays in your dreams long after you see it, especially popping up in your mind on random road trips to desolate areas;)