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Rutger Hauer’s bedraggled, trench-coated hitchhiker John Ryder is everything the Joker always wanted to be, just without the film bro philosophising and cosplay-friendly get-up. A true agent of chaos who exists outside of rules, society, and possibly even reality itself. The way he appears and disappears, floating in and out of the worst day of hopeless everyman Jim Halsey’s life, showing up just in time to send another calamitous domino tumbling, is, very plainly, supernatural. A character who’s so far beyond the realms of reason or humanity, he’s practically primordial; more of a lesson than a person. Don’t trust strangers – you will be dragged kicking and screaming into a cross-country cat-and-mouse game that will surrender your very soul, and potentially get a little bit homo-erotic too.

Famously written by Eric Red from the lyrics of The Door’s 1971 classic Riders on the Storm (“there’s a killer on the road…...

It was a few years in the making, but Second Sight Films recently sent their 4K and Blu-ray release of the 1986 classic The Hitcher out into the world, and you can pick up a copy of the 4K release at This Link. To celebrate this release, The Guardian got in contact with The Hitcher‘s director Robert Harmon and the film’s star C. Thomas Howell – and found that they both had some interesting things to say about Rutger Hauer’s contribution to the film and his approach to playing the homicidal John Ryder.

Directed by Harmon from a screenplay by Eric Red, The Hitcher has the following synopsis: While transporting a car from Chicago to San Diego, Jim Halsey picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder, who claims to be a serial killer. After a daring escape, Jim hopes to never see Ryder again. But when he witnesses the hitchhiker murdering an entire family,...

John Ryder may have wanted Jim to stop him, but you’re going to have a hard time stopping any fan from picking up the upcoming 4K Blu-ray of The Hitcher. Surprisingly, the movie has never been available on a Region 1 Blu-ray, but thankfully Warner Bros. is gassing up for exactly that.

As per The Digital Bits, Warner Bros. will release The Hitcher – which stars Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh – on October 22nd.

Here is the official write-up: “In this 1986 cult classic, director Robert Harmon thrills the viewer with the story of young Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell), who stops on the highway to pick up a hitchhiker, not knowing that by doing so, he opens the door to terrible evil. The mysterious hitcher, unforgettably portrayed by Rutger Hauer, is a relentless slaughterer, preying on those who invite him into their lives. Somewhat dismissed at the time of its original release,...

The night is dark. In the distance a small speck of light speeds through jagged hills. The shadows in a car's cramped interior frame the driver as he strikes a match, smokes a cigarette. A storm is coming. He falls asleep. A flash of light, the headlights of an oncoming truck, wake him from the dreamworld. That's how The Hitcher starts. Before even one word of dialogue is spoken, it has packed in the much of the imagery that will permeate the rest of the film.

In a small and naïve act of rebellion, Jim Halsey (C Thomas Howell), the driver, picks up a hitcher, John Ryder (Rutger Hauer). Ryder acts in a physically and psychologically intimidating way towards Howell. After Howell eventually expels Ryder from the car, a game of cat and mouse begins. Ryder murders a nuclear family almost in its entirety (later the little girl is briefly seen.