Le voyageur de la peur

Umberto Lenzi is perhaps best known for his zombie and cannibal movies of the early '80s: the derivative but gory Eaten Alive!, the silly but fun Nightmare City, and the spirited nasty Cannibal Ferox. He's certainly not so fondly remembered for his later movies, which include this frustratingly dull psycho thriller that possesses a mean-spirited tone, and boasts a fair amount of sleaze, yet still manages to be both tedious and rather dumb.

Joe Balogh plays rich kid Mark Glazer, who cruises the highways in his daddy's Winnebago picking up young hitchhikers to torture, rape and kill. After seeing pretty blonde Daniela Foster (Josie Bissett) dancing at a campsite, he decided to make her his next victim: when she storms out of a bar following an argument with boyfriend Kevin (Jason Saucier), Mark is there to offer her a lift to the bus station. She doesn't make it. Instead, she spends days shackled in the RV being abused by crazy Mark, who has confused the girl for his long-gone mother, who ran off with the tennis coach when Mark was ten. Meanwhile, Kevin is combing the area for his missing girlfriend.

Much of the movie focuses on the mind games played by captor and captive, and with neither Balogh or Bissett being great actors, these scenes are interminably boring. The film is much better when its being more exploitative: the opening murder of a gorgeous blonde is promisingly lurid; Daniela's attempted seduction of Mark delivers lots of nudity; a wet t-shirt competition at a family waterpark is totally unnecessary, but welcome; and the torture of Kevin provides the gore (the nut-job carving the word 'PIG' into Kevin's chest with a switchblade).

As far as the dumb stuff goes, the daftest scene sees Daniela wasting a prime opportunity to smash a vodka bottle over a sleeping Mark's head, although the twist ending is almost as unbelievable (it was apparently tacked on leave things on a happy note).

Firstly, you can't be paying movies like this your fullest attention. This is the kind of movie you watch when getting through a stack of ironing or playing a monkey bloons game. Secondly, these midday horrors have to be watched accelerated somehow.

Ok, so the story is straight out of 80's slasher heaven. It's a jump in my ride of death movie. Acting is pure B gold. So rich guy uses camper van to catch female hitchhikers is kill them. The movie is full of one liners, thats about the depth of the dialog. Don't bother unless you are seriously into B thrillers.

I love 70s movies and it shocks me that this was released in '89 as if looks and feels like a mid 70's movie. Its not a "horror" but more of a thriller about a young man who preys on woman hitchhikers in his dad's camper. Its cheesy and there's nothing new here but its entertaining if you go in not expecting much.

There's also a small amount of T&A sprinkled in if you're into that.

Tedious tale of a serial killer who picks up hitch-hikers, Daniela (Josie Bisset) is his current pray and Kevin (Jason Saucer) is her boyfriend trying to rescue her.It is written by Umberto Lenzi. The guy who made Cannibal Ferox & Eaten Alive should just stick to people who eat people movie, as this film plays out like a poor man's Toolbox Murders. Heh what am i saying?? Toolbox Murders was a poor man's Toolbox Murders. But I digress, the point is you'd probably do better just waiting for the upcoming remake of The Toolbox Murders by Tobe Hooper.

My Grade: D

Dvd Extras: Umberto Lenzi interview; theatrical trailer; trailers for Black Demons, and My Dear Killer

Eye Candy: Daniela (Josie Bisset) goes nude & a completely random wet T-shirt contest

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.