Pretty Good

best movie i've ever seen.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This film tells a story about the dangerous bond between a mysterious serial killer and a young driver called Jim who makes the mistake of picking him up when driving cross country through a desolate part of Texas. Immediately after their chance encounter, a series of violent murders occurs, with Jim getting the blame after being continually set up by the killer. The result is a major manhunt and further escalating violence.The Hitcher is a film which you think will be a horror movie but which is really an odd combination between a psychological thriller and action film. Despite the premise, it holds back on the horror potential if anything. This isn't, in itself, a bad thing although the 80's action that makes up the latter part of the story does sometimes seem an odd bedfellow to the more psychological approach of the earlier scenes. I felt that the movie did lose steam as it went on to be perfectly honest, the further it removed itself from the dark realism of the original premise the less interesting it became. The killer is really almost a supernatural being, with a persona that always feels he is otherworldly in some way. Rutger Hauer brings some charisma to the role but it is ultimately a fairly cardboard psychotic character he is playing. C. Thomas Howell is slightly whiny in the lead role, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is possibly a bit underused as the waitress who assists him. Despite my reservations, this is still an entertaining enough thriller with some good individual scenes and ideas.

First,let me say this. C.Thomas Howell's acting was horrible. In a movie there is supposed to be a character you care about. Real quick I discovered that I didn't care if he lived or died. I didn't care about Nash either. Secondly,it seems like everyone in this movie,with the exception of John Ryder is stupid. The kid can't manage to find the right words to tell the cops what's going on? He mumbles a sentence here and there to try to explain the situation but that's about it. The police just stand there while the girl is tied to the truck. No one even tries to sneak over and untie her before she is torn in half. Oh and NOBODY has any ability shoot and hit their target,except of course,the bad guy.Over all,I think it was a terrible movie. I watched it alone. I wish I would have watched it with someone else,though. Not because I was scared,but because it would have been fun to laugh at it and make fun of it.

This movie... It had a sort of legendary, mystical quality before I watched it. Heard it was pretty good many years ago, always liked Haur a lot, had bits of the trailer imprinted in my memory from 30 years ago, but just never got to see it. So glad I watched it today of all days... it was just one of those days (my normally sweet fat lazy cat bit my 6 year old daughter and drew a tiny bit of blood because she disturbed him by trying to put a blanket on him to keep him warm... Stupid flipping cat... Water spray bottle x 100 revenge/punishment) and now I can sleep better having purged some aggravation from my heart. More from the movie than the water bottle (all he had to do was stay in the kitchen instead of coming near me to beg for a fourth meal after attacking my kid). To the review, I just loved it. Rutger gave his best performance I think. The word menacing doesn't do it justice. I won't spoil it, but do this if you can. Avoid plot summaries, reviews, or spoilers of any kind. When you watch the movie, try to figure it out. Ask yourself what is happening for certain and what parts are a hallucination or the supernatural. I think this movie has several layers to it that come together nicely if you pay close attention to detail. Great performances all around truth be told... A few people launched careers off this movie if I am not mistaken.

Despite "John's" omnipotence, The Hitcher was a tight, thrilling horror/suspense that contained one helluva bad guy from Rutger Hauer. Even in 1986, it showed some absolute originality and liberties with the death toll…namely one towards the end. I guess if I can forgive Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees knowing more than they possibly could, I can skip over many of the plot holes, such as the hitcher magically getting dozens of miles ahead of our hero as if he teleported and multiple problems, such as the conveniently placed heroine and the opening takes place at night, then day, then dusk, then day, then night – all in 3 minutes…and in a storm.Since Rutger was just so awesome and hero C. Thomas was believable as he was losing it, the good outweighed the bad. Not to mention the motives, or lack thereof, of John made it all the creepier and kept the story going. A little more than a decade later, the same theme would be that of Halloween: H20 and another two plus decades we would be introduced to the similar villain, (Heath Ledger's) Joker. This is my first time seeing the original The Hitcher and I might have cried foul on my 2nd favorite Halloween flick and 2nd favorite Batman movie had I seen this first. That said, I still enjoy all three movies and am sorry I hadn't seen this sooner.Completely recommended, as it holds up today…and this coming from someone who saw it for the first time today: June 15, 2015.