[It's] cheerfully in touch with its own brainlessness.
The Hitcher (2007)
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Reviews Counted:15
Fresh:2
Rotten:13
Average Rating:3.5/10
Consensus: Sean Bean tries giving motive and emotion to the hitcher, but director Dave Meyers is more interested in cheap shocks, and gratuitious gore and torture.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong bloody violence, terror and language.
Runtime: 84 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Jan 19, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $16,237,220
Synopsis: Music video director Dave Meyers's debut film is an updated version of the 1986 shocker of the same name, featuring Sean Bean (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy) in the title role of a chillingly... Music video director Dave Meyers's debut film is an updated version of the 1986 shocker of the same name, featuring Sean Bean (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy) in the title role of a chillingly sadistic hitchhiker. Twenty-something couple Grace (a mini-skirted Sophia Bush from ONE TREE HILL) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) embark on a road trip across the American Southwest to meet up with Grace's friends on vacation. Things get off to a bad start when they almost run over a hitchhiker in the middle of a rainstorm, and then leave him to fend for himself. When they later run into the man who calls himself John Ryder (Bean), at a gas station, their consciences get the best of them, and they agree to give him a ride to the next town. The couple's passenger quickly turns on his hosts, and although they manage to escape, he follows them and makes their lives a living hell. Soon, Grace and Jim find themselves framed for John Ryder's vicious crimes, and they are on the run from both the authorities and the Hitcher, of whose existence no one but they are aware. As their flight gets increasingly desperate and the Hitcher's methods of torture more brutal, Grace and Jim struggle desperately to discern what the man wants, and why he has chosen them. The film benefits from its beautiful, desolate desert setting, as it highlights the solitude and desperation of the couple's situation. Despite a few problems of plausibility and the frequent foolishness of the protagonists--of which horror fans are well-accustomed--THE HITCHER delivers fright in all the right places, as well as beautiful women and plenty of gore. [More]
Starring: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough
Starring: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough, Kyle Davis, Danny Bolero, Yara Martinez, Lauren Cohn, Jeff Hutchinson, Skip O'Brien, Travis Schuldt
Director: Dave Meyers
Director: Dave Meyers
Screenwriter: Jake Wade Ball, Eric Red
Producer: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Alma Kuttruff, Alfred Haber
Studio: Rogue Pictures
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Reviews for The Hitcher
[Grace, played by Sophia Bush] can't go six blocks without having to pee, and we're supposed to believe she knows how to fire a Colt 45 and a shotgun?
That [original] film was intellectually engaging as well as tangibly creepy, while the new remake is just plain bad, and boring to boot.
There's no snowball effect and the characters are too weakly drawn and acted for there to be any psychological dimension to their interaction. The ending of the first movie was unsettling; the conclusion of this one is unsatisfying.
Perhaps most unforgivably, pic lacks suspense. The action scenes are directed credibly enough, but the nail-biting buildups and awful aftermaths are laid out mechanically and drained of emotional effect.
Like the same-titled 1986 cult favorite, this remake is a crash-and-burn action horror with intellectual pretensions.
The screenplay disastrously rewrites the original's climax, turning Bush's college waif into an indestructible female Terminator who can unerringly fire a police-issue riot gun and kick a steel paddy-wagon door off its hinges.
Probably the nerviest move on filmmaker Dave Meyers' part was to include a clip from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, well demonstrating just how far we've descended when it comes to cinematic suspense.
There are several good jumps and scares, and it's surprisingly tense the whole way through, not just gory and cheesy.
The movie doesn't make a lick of sense, but then neither did the original. There are enough shocks to keep it going but all thoughts of originality also perish on the side of the road.
Of the half dozen jump-out-of-your seat shocks, only one was truly gratuitous. Okay, maybe two.
Ultimately, this is a bit of trash that will most comfortably line the cages of those who have no memory or attachment to the original. This in itself is an idea more terrifying than anything portrayed in The Hitcher.
No one's going to argue that the 1986 psycho-thriller The Hitcher was a pillar of world cinema, but it had a scuzzy originality. The remake, by default, lacks even that. I don't think I've seen a movie with less reason to exist.
Latest News for The Hitcher
April 28, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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February 05, 2007:
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January 29, 2007:
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January 25, 2007:
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