All Jim Halsey has been looking forward to is a chance to go to California. When the opportunity finally presents itself for him to take a “drive away” car to San Diego, he immediately jumps at the chance. But driving from Illinois to California is a long haul and one night, after he falls asleep at the wheel and is nearly hit by a semi, he does what he has always been told not to: he picks up a hitchhiker.
C. Thomas Howell stars as Jim Halsey, a naïve young man who is willing to help someone who seems caught in a bad way. Rutger Hauer stars as John Ryder, the hitchhiker that Halsay picks up on the side of the road one night in the middle of a rainstorm. Yet Ryder isn’t your standard everyday hitchhiker; Ryder is a serial killer with a bloodlust that is never ending on a desolate road ripe for picking.
The Hitcher ranks as one of my favorite movies of all times period. This is largely in part to Rutger Hauer who delivers an amazing performance. Throughout the movie he exudes a quiet confidence and overwhelming exhaustion at what he does. From the very beginning he tells Halsey that he wants to be stopped and gives him one opportunity after another to do just that with his seemingly endless cat and mouse game.
The Hitcher isn’t your average horror movie. It is a slow paced thriller with bouts of action and suspense and a plot that will keep you guessing right up to the nail biting ending. Written by Eric Red and directed by Robert Harmon, the movie co-stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jeffrey DeMunn. Though this movie almost didn’t make it into production due to the violent nature of the film, its success launched a sequel and a remake starring Sean Bean. Though I do love Sean Bean, there is absolutely no way in hell that he would ever be able to play John Ryder in the same magnitude as Rutger Hauer. Accept no substitute is what I always say. This applies to movies as well.
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