I'm a big fan of Umberto Lenzi; he is the king of Italian 'Polizi' flicks and also made a handful of brilliant Giallo's, not to mention some decent stuff in other genres; but the man obviously didn't know when to quit as almost everything he made post-Cannibal ferox (Nightmare Beach excluded) is terrible, and Hitcher in the Dark is no exception...though it has to be said that it's better than the likes of Ghosthouse, Black Demons and House of Witchcraft. As the title suggests, the film is based around the common thriller of theme of hitchhikers, and the plot reminded me a lot of the solid seventies exploitation flick 'Hitch Hike to Hell'...mostly because they're essentially the same film (although the fact that this came out just a couple years after The Hitcher should be noted). We follow Mark: a disturbed young man who drives around in a camper van picking up young girls and killing them. It's not long before he comes across Daniela; a pretty young girl who Mark decides not to torture and kill immediately because of her resemblance to his mother...
Yes, if Alfred Hitchcock taught us anything, it's that there's no such thing as a young psychopath who isn't obsessed with his mother, and clearly Umberto Lenzi subscribes to that view as well...which isn't much of a surprise. The fact that the film greatly lacks suspense doesn't do it much of a favour at all. The way that the plot is portrayed actually isn't that bad; but we're never made to care for the characters and it's always obvious where it's going (or at least it is to anyone who has seen more than a couple of films like this one) and the film never really manages to shock or surprise; two key elements of a thriller! The characters are all incredibly clichéd and positively wafer thin, which helps to make the film less interesting. Content with torturing his audience, Lenzi ensures that the film does not feature a great deal of blood or gore either, which often made me wonder why I was watching. Still, I can't completely condemn this film. Hitcher in the Dark is better than I was lead to believe it would be before seeing it; and at least I didn't fall asleep before the finish.
