The Hitcher is the feature of director Dave Meyers, who is known as a successful music video director. He s collaborated with top artists like Pink, Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, Creed, Missy Elliot, Janet Jackson, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Kid Rock, OutKast, and Britney Spears.
So why did he remake a classic horror flick?
I guess to irritate us, because his video assets did not carry over to the silver screen. This new thriller film tracks the terrifying road trip of the incompatible-on-screen Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush) and Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton), a collegiate couple who are tormented by a deranged mysterious hitchhiker John Ryder (Sean Bean) mdash; the Hitcher. The couple decides to go on spring break in Jim s muscle machine 1970 Oldsmobile 442, but while driving down the New Mexico highway one rainy night they pass Ryder standing in the middle of the road.
The couple barely avoid running him over. It seems Ryder has car problems. He turns up at a gas station while the couple is making a stop and they decide to give him a ride to the nearest motel.
But the initial encounters with Ryder are increasingly off-putting to the couple because Ryder threatens Grace and Jim with a knife. At this point in the film, I m wondering why is there a strange relationship between Ryder and the couple? I can only imagine that there are major flaws in the screeenplay, because it doesn t make sense.
The couple manages to eject Ryder from the car, but he reappears in another family s car. Grace and Jim soon finds this family dead in their car.
Ryder ambushes the couple and they bravely fight back, but they are blindsided when Ryder implicates them in the killings.
Ryder isn t finished yet, because he now finds out the couple is arrested, so Ryder kills the police officers who are holding the couple. Sean Bean who plays Ryder is a very good actor with range, but with this weak plot he can t stretch with his character. He seems to be imitating Rutger Hauer (the original Ryder in the 1986 version).
As the film continues, Grace and Jim escape from jail and the open road chase scenes are suppose to be suspenseful, taking place on an action-packed battleground of blood as they elude Ryder as well as New Mexico State Police Lt. Esteridge (Neal McDonough), but it only becomes a mechanical scare show. This updated version of the classic film loses the main key to horror, which is tension, and replaces it with illogical scenes and a corny boo .
In my opinion this remake of the 1986 thriller of the same title that starred Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh falls short of its mark.
Directed by: Dave Meyers
Run time: 90 minutes
Release date: January 19, 2007
Distributor: Rogue Pictures
MPAA Rating: R
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