The Hitcher (1984)

One of the greatest horror movies to come out of the 80's
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.

Great movie, horrible DVD
The reason I bought a DVD player almost four years ago was that I finally saw for myself the drastic increase in picture quality from VHS. I can tolerate DVD releases that skimp on extras like behind the scenes documentaries and director commentary, but I do demand good picture quality. This DVD fails to deliver. It doesn't look too bad when the scenes occur in daylight, but when you reach the point in the story where darkness falls and the scenes were shot at night, the extremely low quality of the film print and digital transfer come shining through. I haven't seen this much grain and artifacting since... well, ever. It's even worse than the "gray market" DVD of the Twin Peaks pilot episode. Buy if you must, but as for me I wish I'd held out for a better edition.

Surreal, dreamy, and absolutely thrilling
This is probably Rutger Hauer's best known role - and *the* perfect example of how good an actor he is. His magnificent performance adds to the film's strange and surreal atmosphere and creates one of the most chilling movie villains of all time. A mysterious modern Flying Dutchman, shadowy and coming from nowhere, undead and cursed to roam not the sea but a desert and kill over and over again, Rutger Hauer's "John Ryder" cannot be liberated unless *he* himself is killed... and this is the favor that he asks a young driver he meets to do. The movie is not standard, down-to-earth thriller. It creates its own world and you can only understand it when you watch it and have the Flying Dutchman's story in mind. Only then will you see that what some people thought to be mistakes and holes in the script are in fact deliberate and well-thought elements of the plot. Watch the movie thinking of "John Ryder" as the Flying Dutchman, and you will understand every...

Click to Editorial Reviews