I first saw "The Hitcher" (1986) in a theater and it was a crowd-pleaser in the sense that it hit every note and played the squirm inducers with bell-like clarity. But it was also exquisitely anxiety-producing.

| Dec 25, 2024

As a straightforward thriller, The Hitcher is idiotic and illogical; as an allegorical piece about the power of Evil to wilt the foundation of Good, it becomes more interesting.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 9, 2024

Although hardly the totemic terror it's made out to be by contemporary cult-classic enthusiasts, "The Hitcher" is best appreciated as an analog showreel of exceptional explosions and car stunts.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 30, 2024

Harmon’s tightly controlled direction generates an increasingly taut atmosphere as the body count rises, and Halsey futilely tries to extricate himself from the madness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 24, 2024

An exhausting (in a good way) ride of a film.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 7, 2023

As much action film as horror film, this sexy, sweaty homoerotic thriller features a great, unnerving performance by Hauer and an extremely twinky Howell. A classic gay panic film of the 80s!

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 5, 2023

There's a lot to like about this odd film, which will keep you in suspense even against your will.

| Feb 12, 2021

Despite the fact that The Hitcher is both conventional and ultimately hollow, it does take the viewer for a terrifying ride.

| Jul 19, 2019

This set-up is intriguing, and you wish director Robert Harmon had made more of it.

| Jan 4, 2018

A cosmic horror film drawn out of a psychological thriller.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 2, 2014

That kind of nonstop self-seriousness should wear thin after a while but director Robert Harmon makes the screenplay's unabashed cruelty more potent than churlish.

| Mar 29, 2011

Spare and engrossing original road slaughterfest.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 15, 2010

An uncanny frisson, plus a road of endless curves

| Feb 12, 2010

Feature debuts don't come much better than director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red's sleek, dream-like thriller about a naïve college boy who crosses paths with devil in the flesh after taking a wrong turn on some lost highway.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 30, 2009

A highly unimaginative slasher that keeps the tension going with a massacre about every 15 minutes.

| Mar 26, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 21, 2007

Without the original film's subtext of male bonding gone awry, nothing here has a shred of psychological resonance.

| Original Score: D | Feb 22, 2007

A partir de um conceito simples, o diretor cria tensão e transforma seu vilão (muito bem vivido por Hauer) em uma figura quase alegórica.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 29, 2006

It's a highly competent sick-fright version of the evergreen chase formula.

| Feb 9, 2006

Rutger Hauer is so menacing as the title fiend that you'll never pick up a hitchhiker. An absolutely relentless horror-thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 10, 2005