Hitcher, el asesino de la carretera

Starring everybody's favourite Dutchman, Rutger Hauer, this superb road movie thriller is tense, thrilling and superbly atmospheric.

The first scene between the Hitcher and Jim Holsey was superb, Rutger puts in a chilling performance. Mr Hauer has a reputation for pulling off some memorable bad guy performances, namely this, Blade runner and Nighthawks, but this is my favourite of his performances. The lines he has were brilliant. The pacing of the film was very good and apart from Rutger stealing the show the other actors were good. Jennifer Jason Leigh was good in her small role and of course C Thomas Howell in the lead does a good job. Overall this gets a 9/10 from me.

This is just a perfectly executed 80s action/thriller/horror film. Rutger Hauer owns his role and is genuinely terrifying. Ignore the bad reviews, this is a masterpiece!

Murder Spree Road Flick. Contains many fairly stupid moments ("plot holes") and yet remains gripping throughout its length. Graphic, stunning violence; be warned.

Howell is slightly vapid yet pretty and his relations with Rutger Hauer verge on the homo-erotic. Hauer is a near-perfect villain, demonstrating the steely resolve and psychological impenetrability that have made him a favorite "bad guy" in other films.

A great movie for the paranoid who wish to feed their fantasies. Owes something to Spielberg's "Duel" but remains its own film. Relatively spare visual style well-suited to the theme. Recommended, but not for the faint of heart.

One wonders if the filmmakers knew what kind of a film they wanted to make. This movie starts out promising, with C. Thomas Howell as a kid driving across the great dusty southwest (beautifully and desolately photographed and eerie in a Stephen King-esque sort of way) on his way to California, only to be inexplicably pursued by a homicidal maniac, played with cold glee by the chilly-eyed Rutger Hauer. There is a promise here of a psychological thriller a la Hitchcock, with Hauer seeming to have a near-supernatural and truly menacing presence. There is something inhuman and demonic about him, though it's hard to put your finger on precisely what. The relationship (yes, one can call it that) that develops between Hauer and Howell is interesting and deeply disturbing. Behind the enmity, they seem to have some truly dysfunctional need for each other, which makes the cat-and-mouse game all the more suspenseful. Unfortunately, somewhere around the middle of the movie, it degenerates into just another shoot-em-up action flick and Hauer's character seems silly rather than demonic, while Howell is just annoying. After about a half hour of this, I just wanted both of them to die. I didn't care anymore. Had the filmmakers known how to write (and direct) a satisfying, appropriate conclusion to the very suspenseful first half, this could have been a great movie. Instead, it falls on its face--and is all the more disappointing because we expected something better.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Jim Halsey (C Thomas Howell) is a young man driving his car down a freeway one night who suddenly decides to stop for a man who is hitching a ride. That man is John Ryder (Rutger Hauer.) From the off-set, he doesn't make himself out to be a nice guy and he doesn't let up from there- threatening to kill Jim for no reason and making him sweat for his life. Jim manages to get rid of his twisted assailant- only to be thrown headlong into a maze of murderous mayhem as 'The Hitcher' goes on a killing spree (involving a lot of cops) with Jim getting taken as the scape-goat.

The film opens with a masterful bolt of suspense- in a thunderous rain-shower, The Hitcher holds out his thumb as a crack of thunder erupts over-head, setting the scene for the suspenseful, scary ride that's about to follow.

Hauer lives and breathes the role. In a career that sadly (because I really like the guy) declined into an endless sludge of direct to video hell shortly afterwards, this is quite possibly the role he'll best be remembered for (after all, he was only the co-star in Blade Runner.) Ryder is a cold, mean psycho whose only motivation seems to be to cause as much terror as he can. In his opening scene, he masterfully transforms very quickly from a bit of an arsehole into a threatening madman, as he explains to his charge why the last guy who gave him a ride won't get out to call for help. No clear explanation is ever discovered as to why he does what he does, the closest we get to this being a chat across a table in a diner, in which he offers "you're a smart boy...figure it out."

In the main supporting role Howell also shines (though nowhere near as much as Hauer), as the beleaguered, petrified young man whose endurance and sanity is pushed to breaking point. In an early role, Jennifer Jason Leigh makes a bit of an impression as the cafe owner's daughter love interest.

Spielberg's Duel first dealt with a man being hounded on an American highway for no reason...you are only left to guess 'The Hitcher' is meant to be the mad truck driver's brother. ****