Product Details

• Actors: Kari Wuhrer, Jake Busey, C. Thomas Howell, Shaun Johnston, Marty Antonini
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 6, 2004
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009MEA4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,165 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Floundering and unnecessary sequel to a classic, March 5, 2005

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting (DVD)

Upon first look at the Hitcher 2, your first question will simply be, why? Why was this direct to video sequel to an 80's horror/suspense classic even green lighted? Who knows, but it shouldn't have been. Despite some relatively good stretches, for the most part the Hitcher 2, which retreads on the plot of the original, is a routine and predictable pot boiler. An older C. Thomas Howell returns as Jim, who is now a troubled cop trying to put his past behind him and go away for a little R&R with his girlfriend (Kari Wuhrer). Eventually, they come across a hitcher (Jake Busey) whom they pick up, and well, you know where this is going. Busey is good as a murdering psychopath who may or may not be Rutger Hauer's character from the original film, but Howell looks so bored in his brief return as Jim, and Wuhrer's acting abilities are wasted leaving her as eye candy (which isn't such a bad thing). The police force is presented here as ignorant hillbillies, a stereotype which the original Hitcher avoided, and the acting isn't anything to write home about either. Predictable until it's end, which actually does offer a few nice surprises, the Hitcher 2 is something which should have never been. Fans of the original will want to see this, but all others should avoid.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Drive on. There's nothing to see here., August 26, 2003

By 

Matthew Skidmore (Stourbridge, West Midlands United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting (DVD)

With what seems like the most unnecessary sequel in recent cinema history, THE HITCHER 2: I'VE BEEN WAITING is ''finally'' here. Coming from out of nowhere, this film not only doesn't need to be made, but actually succeeds in making you know that it doesn't need to be made.

The story picks up years after the first movie closed, as Jim Halsey (played by C.Thomas Howell, who has grown up to resemble a rejected member of Motley Crue) is still haunted by the nightmare that was Rutger Hauer. He is now a veteran cop, undergoing serious stress and anxiety. In an effort to get his life back on track, he seeks out his police mentor buddy (Jeffrey DeMunn's character from the original, here played by someone else). However, to get to him, he must travel down that same stretch of road from the original movie, where he first encountered Hauer's malevolent villain.

En route, he takes his girlfriend Maggie (Kari Wuhrer in serious direct-to-video fatigue), who is blissfully unaware of Jim's past. Together, they travel down that same dusty highway, with Howell sweating and moaning about 'how they cannot stop for anything, must keep driving' etc. However, within 5 minutes of the running time, up pops Jake Busey - decked out on long black overcoat, wild blonde hair and carrying a rather big gun. Obviously, Howell flips his lid after Busey whispers in his ear 'I've been waiting for you' and then all hell breaks loose.

Well, I say 'all hell'. If you call people running away from a guy who looks about as frightening as a grinning children's entertainer at a kid's 5th birthday party, then by all means be terrified. However, I doubt it. To be fair to Busey, he is thoroughly entertaining - with his wild looks and goofy antics just about making the film bearable. Its just coming after Hauer's icy and twisted portrayal in the original film, Busey has to work EXTRA hard to get any real licks in. Returning 'star' Howell valiantly strives to rise above the mediocre script, and at some points he succeeds in exhibiting the right amount of stress and paranoia, but even he is flogging a dead horse in this dreadfully routine TV movie.

Director Louis Morneau has made some decent movies in the past. With the high-octane action comedy MADE MEN to the fun time travel thriller RETRO-ACTIVE, he has delivered excellent movies on shoe-string budgets, allowing his style and sharp sense of pacing drag you through even the dumbest of scripts. However, on this occasion his directorial style works against him. With this kind of film, mood is the key. The first movie had it in spades - lush cinematography, expert editing and a dark screenplay that set it apart from the rest of the 80s slasher led dreck. On this sequel however, Morneau shoots it like it were an action film. With his camera zooming all over the place and cutting scenes within an inch of their TV movie life, he never allows the viewer to become engrossed in the proceedings and care about any of the characters. Which is a shame as the cast are making an effort, even if the 'dime store, seen it all before' script isn't.

Universal's disc has NO extras. Not even a trailer. Which hurts even more, after you've seen the movie. The picture and audio quality are however, fine. With cinematographer George Maroodian's stylish (if fast moving) camerawork exhibited in full.

So, to sum up - after seeing the original film, you already know that there isn't a need for a sequel to THE HITCHER. That movie had a beginning, a middle and an end. Why Universal decided to make an awful sequel to a classic 80s thriller is anybody's guess. And, why I had the curiosity to spend [money]to see this unnecessary exercise in tedium is also, anybody's guess. I just hope you can learn from my mistake, keep your money firmly in your pocket and stick with the original.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cheapjack sequel to a classic thriller., June 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting (DVD)

The original 1986 "THE HITCHER" was a taut, horrific road movie. This film is a follow up in name only, and a pedestrian straight-to-DVD attempt to cash in on the reputation of the first film. A dull and tedious retread of the original story has the older kid from the first film being chased across Texas yet again by an unexplained Hitchhiker. The poor writing really shows in that all horror bits are just rip-offs of the sequences in the first film. Only C. Thomas Howell, who presumably needed the paycheck, returns in this one. Doing a "HITCHER" movie without Rutger Hauer is like doing an "ALIEN" film without Ripley. Instead of wasting your money on this junk, rent the terrific special edition of original "THE HITCHER" that just came out in Europe.