Highway zur Hölle

A warped and demented mother's boy, Howard (Robert Gribbin) makes a habit of raping & killing various women hitchhikers. When the bodies mount up it's up to Captian Shaw of the Crescent P.D. (played by Russell Johnson, better known as the Proffesor from Gilligan's Island) to try to catch this deviant. The film is a tad on the tedious side (Howard picks up hitchhiker, rapes, kills, back to momma's for dinner, has flask backs to the murders, rinse & repeat) Of course interspersed with the Professor hamming it up.Their IS however one scene that deviates from the standard path that the movie sets up, it has a stereotypical flamboyant gay guy (aptly listed in the credits as 'gay boy') whom Howard picks up and is obviously used for misplaced comedic effect. Oh and a pregnancy sub-plot that comes out of nowhere and feels like it should be in a different movie completely, in this one it just felt like painful melodramatic filler. Given the subject matter and the fact that this is a low-budget exploitation movie, it's pretty tame going. For all it's faults (and there are a great many of them) the film isn't as bad as it is made out to be and i've seen worse. Russell Johnson himself makes the film watchable. If you lack a pretty high tolerance for these kind of low-budget films though I'd recommend that you steer clear.

My Grade: C-

Something Weird DVD Extras: 3 shorts: "the Hitch-Hiker", "Dangerous Strangers" & "the Cautious Twins"; A 27 minute tour of Box office International with Harry Novak circa 1992; Gallery of exploitation art with accompanying soundtrack (5 minutes, 19 seconds); Theatrical trailer; and 2 trailers for the other film on the DVD "Kidnapped Coeds" (one under it's alternative title of "Kidnapped Lover")

Eye Candy: Jacqueline Poseley gets topless; Jane Ratliff shows brief nipple

Surprisingly , this film was pretty good. The acting was fine and the facial expressions of the lead character- Howard , was outstanding. The story of a social misfit at around 30 yrs. old, still tugging to Moms apron strings. A sister that ran away from home , causes torment to Howard , trying to protect his mother in perhaps the most sinister ways, involving Crescent City Ca. runaways. There were some fine, creative twists in this film , that entertained from start to finish. There was one particular scene with a not so ordinary runaway, that had me laughing hysterically. I do not want to give away the scene; I will keep quiet. The film , though not gory was still very watchable. There are some loose ends about Howards family that took away from the film, but it took away not much. The movie did allow for the expansion of some of the other character bios , but did not overdo it.The scenes where folks were supposed to have violence inflicted, were not done well;Reminding me somewhat of the 'Batman' show of the mid 60's. I think the film wanted those scenes to be a little spoofy on purpose. Russell Johnson of Gilligan fame was the only actor of note. The rest of the cast was more than acceptable . This film passes with high marks, in my opinion.

Wow, talk about a pleasant surprise! I was expecting to see a terrible, bottom-of-the-barrel exploitation fodder from the seventies, but I ended up seeing a spirited cult gem that really makes the most of its minimal budget. The story introduces Howard Martin; an introvert and rather nerdy young man who lives alone with his mother since his sister ran away from home. This event somewhat messed up Howard's brain, since he now picks up hitch-hikers in his laundry van and savagely strangles them if it turns out they're runaways from their moms. The subject matter certainly isn't original, since it's an ordinary serial killer on the road premise and the culprit is once again an oppressed mommy's boy ("Psycho", anyone?). Still, the screenplay of "Hitch Hike to Hell" is well thought out and features some really clever ideas that immediately gained my respect. The setting, for example, is a middle-sized town that serves as a junction for the state's most important highways, which makes it extra difficult for the police to keep an eye on all the hitch-hikers. The drama-element of the story surprisingly isn't an obstacle and actually rather captivating. This is all very nice so far, but what REALLY sold me to this movie is the dared ending that you can't possibly see coming! The image of what might happen will briefly cross your mind, probably, but there's no way you expect the film to actually execute it! Watch and see! There are some some dull moments and odd padding scenes to struggle yourself through, but the acting performances are quite good and the music is adorably kitschy. I really don't understand why some people write such harsh things about "Hitch Hike to Hell"...Definitely recommended if you're into rare cult stuff.

Hitch Hike to Hell certainly can't be considered a 'great' slice of seventies exploitation, and while this type of film has been a lot better; there are far worse examples to choose from also. The film's influences are wide and largely obvious, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and, of course, Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left standing out the most. It's also obvious that the film didn't have the greatest scriptwriter on board, as while the tacky dialogue can easily be ignored, the numerous coincidences and obvious plot devices stick out too much, and lowered my enjoyment of the film. For example, just how many runaway girls can one man run across? Anyway, the plot focuses on Howard Martin, a weird shy man that drives a laundry truck. Beneath his harmless exterior, the man is a raving lunatic who is obsessed with his mother and can't stand to hear that a young girl is running away from hers. This leads him to begin killing the runaways by strangulation, but it's not long before the police catch on and begin hunting for the mysterious stranger murdering women on the highway.

Hitch-hiking is a common theme within horror cinema, and has lead to some of the greatest genre movies of all time. The main problem with this movie, however, is that it gets a bit monotonous after a while. Basically, the central psycho picks up a woman, she tells him that she's run away from home - and then he kills her. It's clear that the film was shot on a low budget, and indeed; it looks very, very cheap. But despite that, director Irvin Berwick manages to create a great country atmosphere, which is built up by the spacious locations and a relaxed soundtrack. There's not a great deal of violence in the film, and the style of the movie is such that we never really get the impression that the lead character is a bad man. He commits acts of violence, and then in the next scene everything seems OK. It's a rather odd tone for a movie like this, but the mean spirit comes in at the end with a climax that really is quite shocking, as well as being unexpected given what we've seen of the character earlier. Overall, I can't give this film a high recommendation as it really isn't all that good; but in spite of that, it's worth seeing for the exploitation fan.

Johnson (Professor from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) plays a cop in this low-budget film. Gribbins stars as a mama's boy laundry driver who picks up Hitchhikers and kill them. The victims are runaways and it triggers him to see them because his sister ran away from home many years ago. Some nudity and violence will be cut for TV, and the film I hear wasn't release till 1970. Gribbin played a opposite role in another drive-in classic TRIP WITH A TEACHER. Johnson actually does a fantastic performance and I am suprised he didn't do more "B" film back then. Not recommended.