Customer Reviews

The Hitcher [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

An improved version of the already high-caliber 1986 "Hitcher" starring Rutger Hauer, this new incarnation casts Sean Bean ("Lord Of The Rings", "The Dark", "Silent Hill") as an even deadlier and more twisted title villain, and Sophia Bush ("Stay Alive") and Zachary Knighton ("The Prince And Me") as young lovers Grace and Jim, who on a road trip encounter the hitcher in the middle of a rainstorm, and become the prime targets of his obsession.

The Hitcher has been upped to where he's about as dangerous as a human being can be without raising the question of the supernatural. No remorse, apparantly no fear of death or pain, disturbingly with no apparant motivation, indisputably evil, and yet retaining an undeniable charismatic edge, as well as a huge air of mystery (his background, and even his real name, are never revealed) the character slashes and shotgun-blasts his way into the upper tier as one of the most instantly memorable killers to rampage across the screen in recent years. Zachary Knighton and the smolderingly gorgeous and cute-as-a-button Sophia Bush are likable and believable as the main couple of the film. Strong performances are turned in by the rest of the cast as well, and the tight flow of the movie encompasses psychological terror and suspense, up-close visceral carnage, and some of the most intense and high-octane highway chase/battle action ever seen, way above that seen in many higher profile action blockbusters with five times the budget. It attains a highly active tension and tightness the likes of which have not quite been reached by many of its more famous horror-thriller hybrid peers.

"The Hitcher" delivers on all counts it takes on, and is highly recommended for fans of such movies as the '86 original, "Highwaymen" (by original "Hitcher" director Robert Harmon), the "Hills Have Eyes" movies, and "The Vanishing".

THE HITCHER is actually a pretty good remake, and a pretty good thriller. I think we all know the premise: a young couple meets a hitchiker who ends up being a murderer. It's more than that though.. you get to care about the characeters, and you get to know them.
The two stand outs are clearly SEAN BEAN and SOPHIA BUSH. They both do a wonderful job. Sean Bean is just creepy as hell in this.. he will really scare the hell outta you. Sophia Bush shows that she can do more than One Tree Hill and teen drama's.. she is a good actress in this.
Have fun with the movie. Don't expect a masterpiece, but it certainly is good. Don't write it off because you don't like remakes.

-Kelly <3

"The Hitcher" is a so-so film that desperately wants to be a killer music video. Starring Sophia Bush (that One Tree Hill girl who is so pretty it makes my eyes water) and Zachary Knighton (I'd never heard of him before, but he looks like the type who'd date Sophia Bush), the film wastes no time with pleasantries. The two lovers hit the road, and then the road hits back.

The road in my oh-so-clever analogy turns out to be John Ryder, the hitcher, a man with a grudge against life. Literally. In one of his first lines of the film, Ryder admits that the reason he tortures, maims, and kills people is because he wants someone to stop him. This sort of Swiftean take on nihilism is often used by scriptwriters to give a character license to indulge in flat-eyed melodrama (emotive beef jerky, I call it), but Sean Bean -- as the unflagging madman -- lets his desperation and his senseless rage simmer without boiling over into false theatrics. Bean is really the reason to watch this film.

It's too bad he's not in it more than he is. Most of the time we are forced to watch Bush and Knighton wander around making typically bad decisions and then griping or whining about it to each other when there's a break in the action.

I don't blame the actors. These sorts of brash bonanzas of violence and destruction don't really need much in the way of plotting to do their job, but they do need some kind of decent writing. I mean, take a look at Spielberg's Duel. For a movie with such a minimal plot and perhaps two pages of dialogue, this film works macabre magic. "The Hitcher," in lieu of compelling characters and a solid build-up of tension has, instead, the rat-a-tat-tat subtlety (and pace) of a semi-automatic. Short bursts of loud chaos, interspersed with brief moments of silence. You don't want that barrel to melt.

I give the film a thumbs up for its dervishes, for the car chases (set to blaring Nine Inch Nails), the near-misses, and the bold direct hits (I'll admit that I was shocked and surprised by the scene with the semi-truck and the chains). But, just like the (lack of) beliefs of the title character, the movie doesn't seem to care about much of anything, making it easy for the viewer to feel likewise.

Yet another pointless remake of a PERFECT original. Why do they keep doing this???? THE OMEN, WICKER MAN, HALLOWEEN, BLACK CHRISTMAS, TEXAS CHAINSAW, etc. were all just fine the way they were, (thank you very much), and their remakes brought nothing new to the party. (If anything, these horrible horror remakes will keep newcomers away from the wonderful originals - IN DROVES!)

And the films that could use a facelift - (Not quite good but almost good horror films such as THE FOG, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, APRIL FOOLS DAY) - were botched even worse than the original films that they hoped to fix! And now we have PROM NIGHT waiting in the wings.

Has Hollywood run out of ideas???? Can FRIDAY THE 13TH, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE EVIL DEAD, THE EXORCIST or JAWS be far behind? And while it may not seem like that much to you 20 or 30 somethings, (after all, its just OLD movies right?), let me remind you that one day you'll be crying out as SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and SAW join them.

Please, Hollywood, stop this insanity! Stay away from our beloved, treasured horror classics and give us some NEW CLASSICS to savor.

We're begging you.

I was a huge fan of the orginal film The Hitcher, and was very excited to see a remake being made in 2006. I was reluctant to rent it because I aboslutely loved the orginial. It was one of my all time scariest, creepiest movies that I've carried images of in my mind for two decades.

Now, I am happy to say--I've just rented The Hitcher and don't want to return it to the videio store! This movie is a keeper! The special effects are fabulous, the actors superb, and I am thrilled and delighted with this remake.

I feel it is a true piece of creative and thrillingly creepy and eerily wonderful horror!

Thank you for this film!

Sincerely,
Star

This is one of the better thriller movies I have seen. The mix of suspense and violence is just right and will keep you watching until the end.

It is simply stupid to hate a movie simply because it is a remake. That is the reason for the majority of bad reviews coming in on this movie.

The Hitcher is a clever sculpted movie with great style and great screen prescence. The acting was somewhat lopsided I'll admit. Zachary Knighton pulled off his character well enough and Sophia Bush didn't do badly either but both of them were brushed aside by the mere presence of Sean Bean. He was brilliant! There really aren't too many more words to describe his work.

His role as John Ryder was played perfectly, so deep and so real. He made a chilling villian, one that you can seriously hate and root for at the same time. He pulled off an American accent quite convincingly, and even better was his costume and hair. They were very well done. The entire set and scenery was well placed and very well shot.

The horror was as horror should be, suspensful and gory but the blood was tastefully placed and not needlessly splattered all over the screen. The killings were done with such simplistic reality it was almost frightening.

Overall the movie was a great one and definately deserves a spot in your movie collection. Sean Bean's acting is enough to merit that.

This is yet another botched remake of a cult classic that should never have been remade. The new version, "The HItcher" looks good visually and the production values are higher than usual for this genre. But a truly terrible script sabotages any hopes of this film becoming a classic of its kind. For one thing, the male and female couple do so many incredibly stupid things that you quickly lose any interest in their fates. At the beginning, the poor bleeding heart hero wants to stop his car and pick up a hithhiker in the pouring rain. His girlfriend wisely persuades him not to. But then the hitchhiker appears at the service station where the couple have stopped. When he asks the couple for a ride, the poor hero agrees to. Quickly, the hitcher proves to be a psychotic killer. Somehow the couple get rid of him but they never report this incident to the state troopers. They stop overnight and sleep in their car as if nothing had happened. When they find a family in their car who have been butchered, the couple get into the car and drive to a service station. The girl runs in but heads straight to the bathroom. The boy remains in the car, working to revive an obviously dead man. Do they call the law? Oh, no. Somehow, police finally stop the couple and put them in jail. But the hitcher kills all the officers in the jail and the couple escape, although they're aware that backup troops are racing to the scene. And then the crazy couple actually hop into a car and race away from the fresh troops, instead of being taken into protective custody where they could at least be safe from the killer. On the highway, the hitcher kills all pursuing cops and even one in a helicopter by simply aiming and firing his pistol. The movies deteriorates even worse from here on and if you're like me, you've already fast-forwarded to the end. This movie reminded me a lot of "Rest Stop" which is another abomination because the heroine acts in a way that is so stupid and incredible that you really hope the killer will off her to stop her non-stop crying and carrying on. If "Hitcher" had had a better script, it would have saved it. But when your main characters act no way that most humans would, you pray that you'll never have to sit through it again.

...you could get the original HITCHER and watch a much better movie. I have to confess: I'm a big fan of the original HITCHER, it was scary, breathlessly suspenseful, and even made you think. This pointless remake has none of those attributes. For one thing, changing the lone driver in the original to a cloyingly cute young couple in the remake is a disastrous decision. The original, with its lone protagonist driving cross-country across dark and rainy wide open spaces, was very likable and more to the point, terribly vulnerable. By changing the story to a couple going somewhere for spring break, you automatically undercut the tension greatly because you have TWO people who can turn to each other. This is the first in a series of bad choices made by the filmmakers. Please buy the original...it's just that: ORIGINAL. And it's a good movie, unlike this derivative ripoff.

Why did I do it? I knew this movie couldn't be any good and yet I had to watch it! Like a train wreck, this film destroys what was good about the original. It's a slick looking movie and it is short so, I guess if you don't compare it to the original you might be able to get through it's 1 hour and 20 minute time length. It's filled with stupity from begining to end. If you want to watch 'The Hitcher' watch the original! 1 1/2 stars?