The Hitcher (1986)

Tagline: “The terror starts the moment he stops”

UK Running Time: 96 minutes

Film Quality: 4/5
Gore Content: 2.5/5
Entertainment Value: 4/5
Originality: 3.5/5

Introduction

We’ve all heard the urban legend of the murderous hitchhiker or the mad axe man in the back of the car waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting driver. Such tales play on our fear of being caught in a confined space with a terrifying situation from which you cannot escape. It’s the idea of being in such a familiar place with a person of dubious, psychotic intent where the choice to enter that situation has been your own. ‘The Hitcher’ plays on both of those fears and runs with it in one of the few horror films that chooses the action film as its subgenre.

In a nutshell

Jim Halsey’s Mum told him never to do this! Picking up a hitchhiker whilst on a cross country journey in a drive away, he inadvertently puts his own life in danger as he is picked as the next victim of John Ryder, a seemingly omnipresent serial killer who he picks up to try and keep him awake. What ensues is a cat and mouse thriller across the deserted highways of middle America, but will the cat or the mouse emerge victorious?

So what’s good about it?

The opening ten minutes are tremendously tense as the likeable youngster picks up our world-weary hitcher during a torrential downpour and quickly realises his murderous psyche during some brilliantly cagey dialogue. C Thomas Howell plays the innocent naivety of Halsey with a great smile and cautious respect for his elder whilst Hauer is utterly terrifying as Ryder, stalking his prey and toying with it like a cat with a Field Mouse. That he underestimates his younger adversary sets in motion this cat and mouse journey where Ryder taunts and teases Halsey, putting him through hell.

The script was originally chock full of gore and violence with families slaughtered, police massacred with disembowelments and decapitations galore. Producer David Bombyk wisely urged a re-write to remove much of the violence and, along with Director Robert Harmon’s musings on the script as a Hitchcockian thriller aimed to take it as far away from a traditional slasher film as possible. This meant that what we are left with is a very taught, psychological horror film which plays on our basest fears and allows us to empathise and identify with Halsey whilst showing us a villain who, like most slasher protagonists, is on a motiveless killing spree. Very clever in a decade full of disposable and indistinguishable stalk and slash movies!

There's no escape in the open country

Moving along to the production, the cinematography really is impressive. Director Harmon makes great use of the desert expanse in that opening few minutes, juxtaposing the endless road and ‘nothingness’ around him which should represent escape, with the poky confines of a car seat and seatbelt. He then later manages to make that expanse a prison from which the only obvious escape is the confines of a police car and cell. This playing with confines of space is emphasised inn one of the opening shots where a near miss with a truck is filmed and shown with one of the widest shots in the film. A wonderful example of how this film plays with conventions and keeps you guessing.

This juxtaposition and mirroring is never more complex than in the relationship between Halsey and Ryder. We don’t know why Ryder is after him. He could kill him at any moment (guns most definitely kill in this film!) but chooses to keep him alive, orchestrate an escape and ultimately cause his own downfall. In many ways Halsey plays the ‘final girl’ character throughout the entire film! He’s the only one who can ‘see’ the killer, the only one who continually escapes his clutches and ultimately turns the tables. It’s a thrilling ride of a film (if you’ll pardon the pun!), an unusual and intelligent antidote to the glut of 80s slasher films and allowed the brilliant Rutger Hauer one of his most memorable and iconic rolls.

And what about the bad?

When it boils down to it, this is basically a cat and mouse chase film that may look more intelligent than it actually is. There’s a lot of style over substance and we never really get a chance to drill down into the characters’ psyches other than Halsey as victim and Ryder as villain. It’s ‘Tom and Jerry’ without the laughs! The police are as woefully ineffective as they are in most of your more traditional horror films and, to be honest, not a particularly likeable bunch anyway!

It depends on your point of view, mine is that it’s great fun and the implausibility of plot threads don’t really matter but it does takes some serious liberties. How does Ryder manage to sneak in, kidnap Nash, tie her between a truck and a trailer and get in the driver’s seat without anybody spotting him? Where did the severed finger come from and how did it get there? How does Ryder escape police custody close to the finale? I suppose the simple answer to all of those questions is ‘It doesn’t matter’ and that’s the massive pinch of salt you need to take to get full enjoyment from a film like this.

Any themes?

Ryder represents the open road and all of the dangers that come with it. The film opens with a near miss and the very first words of dialogue in the film are ‘My mother told me never to do this’ so there is clearly a metaphor there for not taking the open road and the harsh surrounding territories lightly. Films such as ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and, in particular, ‘Dust Devil’ follow similar themes with Ryder being the threat made literal. He also displays almost supernatural abilities, popping up when you least expect him and, when interrogate behind a two way mirror, reacting when Halsey whispers his name whilst well out of sight and sound. He certainly comes across as a mythical figure, he just ‘appears’ at the side of the road and this is also where he is dispatched. Is it beyond the realms of possibility that he could come back to terrorise another passing Samaritan?

Ryder gives Halsey 'The Finger'

Halsey is the one that escapes The Hitcher…Ryder says close to the beginning that ‘I want you to stop me’. Has Halsey been singled out as special and the one who has been ‘chosen’ to end his reign of terror, maybe even pass on the baton? Ryder has ample opportunity to kill Halsey but doesn’t, keeping him in the game, terrorising him. Halsey is the one on the run and it may be significant that one of the first things he does when he picks Ryder up is light a match for him, significant because it’s also the very last thing we see him do, except this time he is doing it for himself having dispatched his adversary. He’s taken his life and won the game but where can he go from here…he doesn’t get in the car and Ryder has taken everything from him. He’s a very different person from the wide-eyed innocent lad in the opening shot - as the last shot illustrates there’s nothing left, he’s literally a silhouette.

Release History

A lot of changes were made to the original script which was written to be much more gruesome but very little of it made the final draft and there were no issues with this film in terms of censorship. It’s always had a VHS and DVD release in the UK (criminally no blu ray yet) and been screened uncut on network TV a number of times.

Cultural Impact

John Ryder has become something of a cult figure more than an icon. Despite the fact they hide behind masks and don’t say a word, Ryder remains a more mystical and mysterious figure than Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees with a distinctive look thanks to his trenchcoat. The film itself has always maintained a cult following but was more of a critical success in Europe and the UK than it was in America.

Rutger Hauer was already forging himself quite a career playing offbeat characters and is clearly having a great time here, cementing his reputation. Were it not for his incredible turn as Roy Batty in ‘Bladerunner’ this would be his definitive role. Rumour has it that C J Thomas was scared of him off set due to his intense appearance, despite by all accounts having a reputation as a kind and gentle man, which certainly comes across during his scenes in the car, diner and truck cab.

I’ve never seen the remake but surely the fact that Sean Bean plays The Hitcher gives away his fate?

Final Thoughts

So which is it…an arty, articulate action film or a stylish and psychological slasher? I’ve always had a soft spot for this film and in my opinion it has one of the most intense and frightening opening ten minutes of any genre. Despite shifting away from sheer terror to psychological game playing and just about preventing itself from straying into action film territory there’s no denying it is a thrill ride.

Memorable Quotes

Ryder: “Well he couldn’t walk very far.”
Halsey: “Why not?”
Ryder: “Because I cut off his legs……..and his arms…….and his head…….and I’m going to do the same to you.”

Ryder: “I want you to stop me.”

Esteridge: “There’s something strange going on between you two, I don’t know what it is and I don’t want to know what it is.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Dust Devil’, ‘Breakdown’, ‘Joy Ride’, ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, ‘Duel’