This is the strangest film I've probably ever seen in the road horror genre. But interestingly, one of the best if not THE best.Rutger Hauer is deadly, hypnotic, scary, cold, clever, seductive and fearsome as the mysterious John Ryder, the Hitcher of the title, who terrorises young innocent Jim Halsey (C Thomas Howell) through a wild, rugged desert.Jim is driving a drive-away car from Chicago to San Diego, the desert road is bleak, it's nighttime and a storm is brewing..he's tired and trying not to fall asleep, but he's overcome with fatigue and drifts off...he nearly collides with a huge truck, but it wakes him up, and he's a little shook up. He spots a man at the side of the road..a mysterious figure in a trench coat, thumb out, waiting to hitch a ride. Thinking the man will keep him awake, Jim stops to let the man in.."My mother told me never to do this" he says...It's just the start of a horrific nightmare for young Jim...the Hitcher is relentless in his pursuit..This movie had me glued to the screen, it gets right into your soul. Rutger Hauer is one of my favorite actors, and in this movie he stands out and is excellent throughout. No one does unhinged like him. 10/10 from me.

This is a dark and suspenseful, edge of your seat, thrill ride. This movie was so much better than I had thought it was going to be. I really can't believe I hadn't seen this sooner.

This unstoppable psycho on the loose film has strong links to two other classic thrillers which came before it: Rutger Hauer, as the indestructible maniac on the loose, has some of Schwarzenegger's menace as THE TERMINATOR; and the chase through the deserts is a lot like DUEL, except with Hauer replacing the mysterious truck. THE HITCHER has a great pace which just doesn't let up until the very end of the film, and all the time you can feel events building towards a showdown as more and more violence erupts on to the screen.Written by Eric Red (BODY PARTS), the plot is both intelligent and intriguing, so you just sit back and marvel at the way Hauer manages to implicate Howell more and more in the various crimes he commits, the most memorable moment being the shooting of the two policemen (just after Howell says he will give himself up), for which of course Howell gets the blame. The feeling of helplessness against this psycho is done well, and Howell is believable as the boy caught up in all the violence. He's no Bruce Willis hero type, but just an everyday person who screams and sweats a lot and barely manages to survive against Hauer's relentless onslaught of knifings, shootings, massacres, and brutality.It is Hauer's performance which sticks in the mind however, and it is a career-best role. Hauer is perfectly cast as the maniac, a sadistic psychopath who coldly kills with no remorse; his is a superb, text-book example of what a true psychopath is like, with the bulging eyes, maniacally grinning face, and heartless jokes. Hauer does his job so well that you almost begin to wish that he does win out against Howell's snivelling, wimpish hero at the end, as he has a lot of charisma in this film.The pair are joined by an accomplished supporting cast, including a young turn from Jennifer Jason Leigh, who brings a touch of warmth to the story. The sheriff from THE BLOB also turns up as, yes, you guessed it, a sheriff, and Armin Shimerman, best known to sci-fi fans for his role in STAR TREK, has a tiny role as an interrogator. There are lots and lots of cool action scenes to move things along, with cars bouncing, rolling and exploding, lots of shooting, and scenes of carnage where the blood does flow quite thickly (the moment where Howell discovers a dog, licking the blood from a corpse, is truly horrific).There are many moments to savour in the film and which stay in the memory long after viewing. The bit where Hauer nonchalantly shoots a helicopter out of the sky to even the odds; when Howell finds a severed finger in his burger and chips; the abandoned car, with blood dripping out of the door (a sudden moment of subtlety here which is far more gut-churning than more visceral images would have been); the bloody carnage in a police station; and the set-piece at the end. These moments of inspired originality are what help to propel THE HITCHER into classic status. And it'll certainly make you think twice the next time to see someone thumbing a lift along the highway...

Rutger Hauer is very good in the character which seems to be be lifted from his role as Roy in Blade Runner. My beef is that the movie doesn't answer the question Jim ask John two or more times. Why me? All he responds is "I think you know" with a knowing look. Yes, And... This was good as a white knuckle nihilistic thriller. But, if you open the door to it being a psychological one too, it seems rather hollow in the end. All guts, and no gloryhole. This Review is suppose to be longer, so here's some gibberish. The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog. Mares eat oat and does eat oats. A lamb will eat ivy, if you let him. Yesterday, I saw a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. How I wish he'd go away.