Search - The Hitcher on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Graphic Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1986 DVD Release: 06/08/1999 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 38 mins Studio: HBO Home Video Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Thriller, Crime Thriller, Slasher Film

Pretty boy actor C. Thomas Howell stars in this dark, violent suspense film about the strange psychological bond between a traveling serial killer and one of his intended victims. Driving cross-country from Chicago to San Diego, Jim (Howell) narrowly avoids an accident when he falls asleep at the wheel. He picks up a hitchhiker to help stay awake, but within five minutes, the erratic John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) has threatened not only Jim's life, but also his manhood, brandishing a switchblade to the boy's crotch and ordering him to keep driving. Jim manages to escape, but soon Ryder begins a game of cat-and-mouse across the Texas highways, taunting the lad from the windows of passing cars, then leaving the corpses of his victims in their vehicles by the side of the road for Jim to discover. A sympathetic face arrives in the form of Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the waitress at an otherwise deserted truck stop in this bleak, abandoned landscape, but the local police soon arrive, intent on hanging Jim out to dry for the string of grisly murders. The stakes continue to mount in Ryder's little game until Jim finds himself embroiled in a statewide manhunt with Nash at his side. Former cinematographer Robert Harmon made his directorial debut with this popular thriller; screenwriter Eric Red, also making his debut, would go on to write similarly brooding genre fare including Near Dark, Bad Moon, and Alien 3. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Rutger Hauer - John Ryder
C. Thomas Howell - Jim Halsey
Jennifer Jason Leigh - Nash
Jeffrey DeMunn - Capt. Esteridge

This underrated film starring Rutger Hauer and C. Thomas Howell is similar in style and tone to Steven Spielberg's Duel and offers a very good video and audio transfer to the suspense-genre fan, if not much else. The anamorphic widescreen transfer captures the claustrophobic sense of entrapment the characters feel as they are pursued by a dangerous rogue hitchhiker on a cross-country trip. The audio, offered in either in 5:1 Dolby Digital or Dolby Surround, keeps viewers on the edge of their seats with piercing wind blowing through the back speakers and an eerie atonal musical score. The extras on the disc are minimal, including simple cast and crew bios and a theatrical trailer. Don't look for alternate languages, as there are none. Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide