The Hitcher (1986)

Plot Outline: Jim is young college kid is transporting a car to San Diego when he stops and picks up a hitchhiker during a rain storm. However the hitchhiker turns out to be a complete psychopath, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake which the police think is the work of Jim. What does this hitchhiker want with him?

The Review: Owing a lot to Spielberg's Duel, The Hitcher blends that film's deserted road chase themes with more modern horror elements and plenty of action to create this cult classic. If hitchhiking was ever popular, then it surely took a dramatic nosedive after this hit the screens in 1986 and reinforced one of the golden rules of horror - never to pick up hitchhiker. The whole character of the hitchhiker remains mostly a mystery throughout the film. What does he really want? Does he want Jim to kill him? Is he just having some fun, albeit it extremely violently and callously? Is he making himself feel better by doing this? We're never really sure of his motives. The only thing we are sure on is that he won't go away.....easily. Like some sort of evil spirit, he's just there and always one step ahead. This unexplained factor throws the viewer off and thus The Hitcher could fall into the same category as such films as The Birds, where something happens but no one can explain it. The film doesn't suffer at all as a result, in fact it plays on it because you're not really left pondering why the hitchhiker is what he is after a while. You just accept it and get on with watching what he does. There's not a great deal of dialogue in the film but the characters came off extremely strong. Rutger Hauer as the hitchhiker certainly gave one of the best performances of his career, second only to Blade Runner in many people's eyes but even then I still rate his work here higher. He doesn't speak much yet he manages to create such an evil, ruthless and despicable character come to life. He has such a strong presence in this film and director Harmon use plenty of close-ups of his face and eyes to really put the point across that this is one mad hombre but at the same time, you can see that he is intelligent and calculated - he knows what he is doing and how to get what he wants. He's only as good as his opponent however and C. Thomas Howell manages to live up to his part of the bargain, giving us a great performance as Jim starts off as a weak, shy young man but thanks to the actions he's forced to take, he turns into something much more violent and aggressive. Final credit must go to director Robert Harmon though. Throughout the entire film, he suggests what the hitchhiker will do and then proceeds to show us in graphic and shocking detail. Made in the 20th or 21st century, I bet studios would have told him to dumb it down and go for the cheap way out. Not here however - everything you see is as shocking as it has every right to be. The finale is also a fitting end to the film. It may seem like a bit of a damp squib compared to the rest of the film but it all makes total sense.

Final Verdict: The Hitcher works on so many different levels, you'll get chills no matter how often you watch it. It's just an almost relentless psychological assault to which Rutger Hauer must certainly go down in the history books as one of the big screen's most enigmatic and scary villains. Check it out in widescreen if you want to see it too just to add to the sense of desolation and loneliness in the desert.

Rating: