Hitch Hike to Hell

A warped and demented mother's boy, Howard (Robert Gribbin) makes a habit of raping & killing various women hitchhikers. When the bodies mount up it's up to Captian Shaw of the Crescent P.D. (played by Russell Johnson, better known as the Proffesor from Gilligan's Island) to try to catch this deviant. The film is a tad on the tedious side (Howard picks up hitchhiker, rapes, kills, back to momma's for dinner, has flask backs to the murders, rinse & repeat) Of course interspersed with the Professor hamming it up.Their IS however one scene that deviates from the standard path that the movie sets up, it has a stereotypical flamboyant gay guy (aptly listed in the credits as 'gay boy') whom Howard picks up and is obviously used for misplaced comedic effect. Oh and a pregnancy sub-plot that comes out of nowhere and feels like it should be in a different movie completely, in this one it just felt like painful melodramatic filler. Given the subject matter and the fact that this is a low-budget exploitation movie, it's pretty tame going. For all it's faults (and there are a great many of them) the film isn't as bad as it is made out to be and i've seen worse. Russell Johnson himself makes the film watchable. If you lack a pretty high tolerance for these kind of low-budget films though I'd recommend that you steer clear.

My Grade: C-

Something Weird DVD Extras: 3 shorts: "the Hitch-Hiker", "Dangerous Strangers" & "the Cautious Twins"; A 27 minute tour of Box office International with Harry Novak circa 1992; Gallery of exploitation art with accompanying soundtrack (5 minutes, 19 seconds); Theatrical trailer; and 2 trailers for the other film on the DVD "Kidnapped Coeds" (one under it's alternative title of "Kidnapped Lover")

Eye Candy: Jacqueline Poseley gets topless; Jane Ratliff shows brief nipple

Johnson (Professor from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) plays a cop in this low-budget film. Gribbins stars as a mama's boy laundry driver who picks up Hitchhikers and kill them. The victims are runaways and it triggers him to see them because his sister ran away from home many years ago. Some nudity and violence will be cut for TV, and the film I hear wasn't release till 1970. Gribbin played a opposite role in another drive-in classic TRIP WITH A TEACHER. Johnson actually does a fantastic performance and I am suprised he didn't do more "B" film back then. Not recommended.

Surprisingly , this film was pretty good. The acting was fine and the facial expressions of the lead character- Howard , was outstanding. The story of a social misfit at around 30 yrs. old, still tugging to Moms apron strings. A sister that ran away from home , causes torment to Howard , trying to protect his mother in perhaps the most sinister ways, involving Crescent City Ca. runaways. There were some fine, creative twists in this film , that entertained from start to finish. There was one particular scene with a not so ordinary runaway, that had me laughing hysterically. I do not want to give away the scene; I will keep quiet. The film , though not gory was still very watchable. There are some loose ends about Howards family that took away from the film, but it took away not much. The movie did allow for the expansion of some of the other character bios , but did not overdo it.The scenes where folks were supposed to have violence inflicted, were not done well;Reminding me somewhat of the 'Batman' show of the mid 60's. I think the film wanted those scenes to be a little spoofy on purpose. Russell Johnson of Gilligan fame was the only actor of note. The rest of the cast was more than acceptable . This film passes with high marks, in my opinion.

Hi and welcome to my review of Hitch Hike To Hell - 1983

What with a splendid title like this, it would have been hard to keep it from my B-Movie and Horror radars. If you're a loyal fan of these genres, then the title will attract you to your doom, like a moth to a flame. Surprisingly Hitch Hike To Hell turned out to be an entertaining, though mildly annoying, watch.

The story gets a 1 out of 2: John Buckley does his best to convey an Ed Gein psychopath to the screen. If weren't for Robert Gribben's over the top portrayal of him, it would have been a competent representation. Hitch Hike To Hell is the story of Howard. Howard is a Momma's Boy. When he gets ill, Mother's there to squeeze his hand. When Howard has trouble at work, Mommy jumps to his aid. Even when he has nightmares, she will get into bed with him for a supportive cuddle. These affections wouldn't be too harmful if Howard were a child, but he's an adult. All of this over devotion and care has given Howard a misconstrued idea of love. Though he merely wants to help, which is his true nature, when he learns the Hitch Hikers are runaways who don't love their Mothers, he loses control and punishes them. His actions are further supported in his mind because his own sister abandoned his Mother. Therefore, every hiker he punishes assumes her face in his cracked mind.

Here's the chief drawback though, even though the film deals with rape and murder, it's a little too light. The flippancy becomes particularly evident when an eleven-year-old girl runs away from home. We see her jump into the van, and we begin to hope and wonder if this story will follow a more sinister path? It's here I realised precisely how upbeat the film is. Now I don't know if this is down to the story or the direction. Because of this crucial moment, I think the film needed to be a tad darker in outlook.

The Direction and Pace receive a 2.25 out of 4: Irvin Berwick could have decided to keep the feeling light as it would help to portray Howard in a more human light, which it does. We know he's the killer, but the upbeat feel helps prove him to be the bumbling, unsure, nervous, yet kind man he is to everybody... until the switch is flipped in his mind, and the beast is released. This merry feel provides interest and engagement for the audience, and the speedy pace keeps the story moving happily along.

Though Berwick tries to capture some iconic and disturbing imagery, it falls short. The best of these is after Howard's first kill. He opens the vans rear doors and kicks the lifeless body into the dirt. Berwick shoots this from a distance, and we see the wasteland behind an abandoned building. It's a splendid shot and adds a depth of despair to the proceeding. But it all too quickly disappears. For the most part, the filming is standard and average. It's the tempo and story which kept me watching.

The Acting gets a 1 out of 2: For the most part, the cast is more than suitable for their roles. I especially liked Russell Johnson and Randy Echols as the two detectives on the case. Johnson does well as the driven Cpt. Shaw, while subordinate Lt. Davis, is shown experiencing his own personal issues with the job.

Sadly, it's the lead of Howard Martin that lets the whole film down. Robert Gribbin wasn't the correct choice for this psycho. He's passable as the calm and bumbling Howard. However, this too could have been handled better. It's when poor Howard enters beast-mode that Gribbin losses all control. Gribbin oversells every aspect of his meltdown. Howard's twitching is too pronounced. His mental breakdowns are excessively loud and visible. These inevitably caused me to cringe and laugh when they happened. That reaction is not a good thing, especially when the film is supposed to be serious.

And, my Enjoyment level hits a 1.25 out of 2: That said, even though Gribbin deserves a raspberry for this role. The story, the direction, and the other actors and actresses nevertheless made it enjoyable for me. For a B-Movie shocker come exploitation flick, there's not much exploitation or shock. But it does possess something. And, in the end, I felt a tad guilty at finding the movie more enjoyable than thought-provoking. But, hey, it made me smile, and that's not an undesirable thing.

Hence, Hitch Hike To Hell receives a total rating of 5.25 out of 10: If you love your B-movies and Chillers, then I'd say give Hitch Hike To Hell a try. Hell, I may even watch it again... and guilt-trip myself for doing so. Guess I'll have to put this in my Guilty Pleasures list.

Stick out your thumb and hitchhike on over to my Killer Thriller Chillers, The Game Is Afoot, and Guilty Pleasures lists to see where Howard and his Momma landed in my rankings.

Take Care & Stay Well. Get Inoculated.

Well, no doubt about it that the fans of '70's exploitation will still really enjoy this movie. I know I did but I of course still can't call this a very good movie really.

Everyhing about this movie is making it obvious that it had a very low budget. It's one of those movies that seemed to be shoot with only one camera, who every now and then switched positions to capture the other character's responses. The movie also being filled with some needlessly overlong sequences which just drag on. It also has some simple editing, simple directing and some simple acting. It's fair to say that this movie is not really very surprising in any way. Of course besides the movie has a pretty simple story in it, that relies purely on it's principal concept.

It's a movie about a killer who picks up hitchhiking runaways and then goes completely berserk once he discovers that they had run away from home and do not love their mother. This is something that happened as well to the movie it's poor main characters. His sister had run away from home and his poor old mother, which he loves very much, has never got over this. As a sort of revenge for his mother this man kills these runaways.

The concept itself isn't too bad really and I guess this is the only reason why the movie still works out within its genre. The movie is being pretty silly and lame at times, which also gets really due to its dialog and the actors performing. Most actors had very little experience before appearing in this movie and most actors had not appeared in very much ever since.

Really for the genre fans only.

4/10

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