Rotten
A highly unimaginative slasher that keeps the tension going with a massacre about every 15 minutes.
Variety Staff, Variety
The Hitcher
The terror starts the moment he stops.
1986 · 1h 38m · R
Action, Horror, Thriller
Directed by
Robert Harmon
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The Hitcher
Overview
On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.
Director and cast
- Robert Harmon Director
- Rutger Hauer as John Ryder
- C. Thomas Howell as Jim Halsey
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nash
- Jeffrey DeMunn as Captain Esteridge
- Billy Green Bush as Trooper Donner
- John M. Jackson as Sergeant Starr
- Henry Darrow as Trooper Hancock
- Jon Van Ness as Trooper Hapscomb
- Jack Thibeau as Trooper Prestone
- Armin Shimerman as Interrogation Sergeant
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
63%
Tomatometer
Rotten
Mr. Hauer, who has reportedly vowed not to play any more villains or crackpots, is probably making the right decision, if this is any measure of the sort of role that comes his way.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Rotten
I would have admired it more if it had found the courage to acknowledge the real relationship it was portraying between Howell and Rutger, but no: It prefers to disguise itself as a violent thriller, and on that level it is reprehensible.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
It's a highly competent sick-fright version of the evergreen chase formula.
Time Out
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