Highway zur Hölle

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.

As female runaways turn up dead in a town of Greater Los Angeles, the chief of police and his partner (Russell Johnson and Randy Echols) zero-in on an unassuming delivery man for a laundry cleaning business (Robert Gribbin).

"Hitch Hike to Hell" (1977) is a 'B' flick with a simple story and prosaic delivery featuring an antagonist reminiscent of Clark Kent and the police chief played by The Professor from Gilligan's Island.

Speaking of whom, the captain makes a reference to three serial killers that were popular at the time: The Zodiac Killer in San Francisco (who has never been identified), The Skid Row Slasher in Los Angeles (who turned out to be Vaughan Greenwood) and The Houston Mass Murderer, Dean Corll. Yet, the movie is actually loosely based on Edmund Kemper, The Co-ed Killer whose victims in 1972-1973 were six female students hitchhiking in the vicinity of Santa Cruz County, which is an hour's drive south of San Francisco.

The movie was originally advertised as a fun Crown International hot-chicks-and-cars flick, but it's nothing of the kind. Despite its modest budget and pedestrian technique, it's a serious take on a psychologically messed-up serial killer in which sympathy is worked up for the murderer. Don't get me wrong, there's no excuse for what Ed Kemper did in real-life or what the fictitious killer does here, but it all comes down to the consequences of serious mental-spiritual illness, not to mention a questionable relationship with one's mother.

The tone is similar to "Targets" meshed with "The Toolbox Murders." While it's easy to look down on these kinds of films, there are some well-done parts here that are respectable and even moving, such as the lieutenant's hesitancy about bringing children into a world where such wicked things happen. Then there's the climatic depiction of the shock/grief of the girl's mother, which is actually moving.

Russell Johnson's role in Gilligan's Island ended a decade before this, but he looks basically the same, just slightly older.

It runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in Encino, Los Angeles, which is located 7-12 miles west of the iconic Hollywood Sign.

GRADE: B-

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.

Well, no doubt about it that the fans of '70's exploitation will still really enjoy this movie. I know I did but I of course still can't call this a very good movie really.

Everyhing about this movie is making it obvious that it had a very low budget. It's one of those movies that seemed to be shoot with only one camera, who every now and then switched positions to capture the other character's responses. The movie also being filled with some needlessly overlong sequences which just drag on. It also has some simple editing, simple directing and some simple acting. It's fair to say that this movie is not really very surprising in any way. Of course besides the movie has a pretty simple story in it, that relies purely on it's principal concept.

It's a movie about a killer who picks up hitchhiking runaways and then goes completely berserk once he discovers that they had run away from home and do not love their mother. This is something that happened as well to the movie it's poor main characters. His sister had run away from home and his poor old mother, which he loves very much, has never got over this. As a sort of revenge for his mother this man kills these runaways.

The concept itself isn't too bad really and I guess this is the only reason why the movie still works out within its genre. The movie is being pretty silly and lame at times, which also gets really due to its dialog and the actors performing. Most actors had very little experience before appearing in this movie and most actors had not appeared in very much ever since.

Really for the genre fans only.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

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.