The Hitchhiker

This movie was disappointing for at least one of two reasons. The suspense created disappeared because of horrible acting or lack of direction from the director.. I don't know.. it was like a tasty bubble gum that seemed to run out of flavor yet you continue to chew on it because it once tasted great. Like most thrillers The Hitchhiker had promise yet failed to deliver when it had me bright eyed and ready to turn the volume down(I was watching the movie alone.. in the dark) This so called thriller simply came apart like it was made of Lego transforming into something else. It simply ran out of gas and left me staring at a made-for-TV-like style movie with one exception.. it was probably rated-R.

When I saw that The Hitchhiker was made by The Asylum, I immediately thought "Oh no, here we go again". But I watched it to give it a benefit of the doubt, and while for The Asylum it is not so bad The Hitchhiker is still lacking in a lot of areas. I'll give it some credit, Jeff Denton is quite good as the villain and it is not too cheap visually having some decent scenery and effects and the editing is not as choppy as feared. On the other hand, the dialogue is horrendously bad, the characters are undeveloped clichés and the story is painfully predictable and severely lacking in any kind of suspense. The rapes and gore are nowhere near harrowing enough, with too much of the former and not enough of the latter. The ending is far too jumpy and rushed and doesn't feel rounded off satisfactorily. Apart from Denton, the acting is poor, I didn't get any sense of terror from either of the women. So on the whole, lacking but a marginal improvement on the general standard of Asylum's movies. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Hitchhiker theasylum's (theasylum.cc) Starring Jeff Denton (interviewed), Shaley Scott( soon to be interviewed). Leigh Scott ( writer & director) brings us his version of the someone who you need to pass by and not stop for. This movie was scary and suspenseful. That said , It has some ugly moments with sheer violence and sending the wrong message towards female abuse. Denton plays the bad guy and has major problems with women, Jeff has played flaming genteels(Pirates Of Treasure Island) and good guys( Beast of Bray Road),This time NOT NICE !We have labeled Denton with JAMES DEAN look, This film is something DEAN may have tried if time and car error had been kinder. Shaley Scott , Is known for her singing and this film proves she can act too. We felt she was really given a opportunity to shine and that is very rare for your first effort on screen with lines. She is also featured on the box art, Which again is quite a kudo. The violence is very real seeming, Especially the gun play has a gritty hurt- producing effect. The ending is questionable for effect, I hate red herring stuff, But the female hero made it all work .

The scariest part of this movie is that I am actually taking time out of my day to comment on it. I could be doing something much more productive, like cleaning out my sock drawer. The characters in this movie are beyond stupid to the point you just don't care for them. You can easily find yourself rooting for the main antagonist, "Rollin' Commando" Jeff Denton,who himself, comes across like a hipster dufus. This villain is as terrifying as a poodle with the runs. If you had the choice of watching this movie, watching the grass grow, or watching paint dry....then by all means, watch this movie. Grass growing or paint drying aside, I'm sure you could find something to do much more worthy of your time. This movie, however, is not without merit. You could easily use the DVD as a coffee table coaster....or even use it for skeet shooting.

I'm sure this film will get scathing reviews, but I actually found it to be quite tense, scary and disturbing. As much as you'd like to rip it apart at times for what it doesn't deliver, it does deliver enough to keep you glued to that screen the entire time, just like the box promises. The hell with Jason, Freddie, Michael Myers and the others; the scariest monster is the average guy-next-door that appears nice on the surface, then slowly morphs into a fearsome psychotic. Jeff Denton did an admirable job as this particular "nice-guy" killer, and he was pretty darned believable. Even though the girls were obviously not professional actresses, they managed to deliver worthy performances in these roles, adding to the dreaded atmosphere. The dumb-cop segment was pretty far-fetched, but like I said, it can be forgiven in favor of the unsettling mood this movie created. As soon as I saw that plastic-lined motel room, I knew this was going to get brutal. Call me a sadist, but I just really love this type of movie. 8 stars.