While driving from Chicago to San Diego, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer) who introduces himself as John Ryder. Little does Halsey realize that this simple act of kindness will change the course of his road trip, and his life, forever.
The Hitcher, by contrast, was different, very different. Unlike the typical slasher, where killers always had reasons behind their murderous deeds, no matter how contrived, Ryder has no apparent motivation for his actions. He targets Halsey for no other cause than Halsey’s attempt to do a good deed, and Hauer, an actor at the absolute height of his powers, masterfully imbues his monster with an extraordinary humanity without explanation or apologies.
The isolated desert setting provides a strong atmosphere of horror as well. John Seale’s (Mad Max: Fury Road) cinematography provides many astonishing glimpses of the morbidly beautiful, barren landscape, with the scorching heat-haze effect evoking the aesthetics of a malevolent, possibly supernatural entity. Mark Isham’s (Blade, The Mist) haunting electronic synth score accents the proceedings with a sense of melancholy not often found in this type of material.
40 years later, The Hitcher remains a true experiment in horror. Cloaked in screenwriter Eric Red’s spare, minimalist dialogue and characterization, it is a genre film that dares to constantly surprise and challenge its target audience. The blend of action, drama, horror, and the outright refusal to tidy things up make this a surprisingly intelligent and subversive piece of cinema.
One that will inevitably come to mind the next time you find yourself driving alone late at night, looking ahead to see if there is a shadowy figure looming on the horizon. (*edited from John Archer’s essay in Hidden Horror: A Celebration of 101 Underrated and Overlooked Fright Flicks [2007])
Join AC and his incredible panel of guests (Jess Ader, Maxwell Deering, Grant Kuchan, John McDevitt) as we celebrate 40 years of THE HITCHER!!
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