Robert Harmon’s “The Hitcher” (1986) is among the few horror films that, just upon mentioning the title, a spark of recognition and dread immediately washes over film fans.
Every subsequent film about this universal dread (picking up a stranger and the potential threat that follows) owes a debt to this one.
It begins with a perfect introduction – Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) is driving a car cross country on a rainy day and picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer).
The opening line, Howell’s “My Mother told me never to do this,” is perfect.
Ryder, who wears a trench coat and initially says very little, reveals himself to be extremely dangerous but Halsey cleverly figures out a way to get him out of the car and leave him for dead on the road.
Thus begins an odyssey in which Ryder keeps appearing to Halsey on his journey, leaving a trail of bodies everywhere he goes.
Some questions arrive early: Is the whole thing a dream Halsey has before crashing? Is Ryder even there or could he be an extension of something dark Howell’s character is trying to keep within?
None of these are answered.
The HBO horror anthology series “The Hitchhiker” (1983-1987), the William Friedkin-directed “Nightcrawlers” episode of “The New Twilight Zone” (1985-1989) and the great 1960 “The Hitch-Hiker” episode of the original “Twilight Zone” come to mind.
The opening even reminded me a little of the great prologue from “Twilight Zone – The Movie” (1983), as well as “Duel” (1971), “Road Games” (1981) and the third installment of “Nightmares” (1983). In other words, “The Hitcher” is in great company.
The watered-down 2007 remake, starring Sean Bean and produced by Michael Bay, never came close to touching this and neither did the lazy, 2003 straight-to-video “The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting” (with only Howell returning).
Harmon’s thriller is also a savage western, bearing a nightmare logic, an immersion into the supernatural without an explanation. The latter quality felt like a frustrating component a decade ago but now, the film’s strength is truly in how unpredictable it is.
Jennifer Jason Leigh, who appears in the second act as a sympathetic waitress, isn’t playing a plot device but an interesting character. She is willing to go on a journey that initially seems to suggest “Bonnie & Clyde”-level excitement lacking in her life.
John Seale’s incredible cinematography gives this class and playfulness.
The diner encounter between Howell and Hauer is incredible – note how intense the film is when its just two men talking. The give and take between Howell and a never better Hauer is excellent.
Cult movie buffs may balk at this but really, Hauer is so much scarier in this than in “Blade Runner” (1982). Howell’s character has little backstory, which is fitting, as Halsey is us, our audience surrogate.
The Eric Red screenplay presents horrific twists without ever showing us specifically the aftermath, a touch that also worked powerfully in another cult horror classic, “The Exorcist III” (1990).
Roger Ebert hated “The Hitcher.” A valid argument is that, rather than simply mysterious, one can argue the film is logic impaired. After all, can John Ryder really do all those terrible things with just a switchblade?
The terror starts the moment he stops.
This day in 1986: THE HITCHER starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh was released. pic.twitter.com/puOQl8Qdxt
— FANGORIA (@FANGORIA) February 21, 2023
“The Hitcher” is a steady exercise in sustained tension. The action sequences are jaw dropping, such as Ryder’s bursting out of a parking garage and smothering his prey in gasoline. Note the recurring visual of the camera looking at our main character from the ground up.
It does get redundant near the end, as Ryder can’t be stopped, and no one believes our protagonist. Thankfully, things drastically change for the narrative in the third act. The final scene is abrupt, cyclical and unsettling, a fitting end.
I’ve been on road trips with stops at charming, dusty diners, deserted towns and miles of nothing. Journeys like that inevitably make me think of “The Vanishing” (1988), “With a Friend Like Harry…” (2001) and this film.
“The Hitcher” was made before we had cell phones, the Internet and instant phone access. It demonstrates how someone driving into the great void of the American desert could get lost out there.
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