THE HITCHER (1986)

4 stars

Second Sight. Limited edition 4K UHD/Blu Ray box set and Standard 4K UHD/Blu ray. 30th September

Working from a brand new restored 4K from the original camera neg – supervised and approved by director Robert Harmon – Second Sight deliver a fabulous looking rendition of this 80s thriller. Granted some of the darker scenes are overly grainy – as per source I expect – but the scenes in the desert capture the scenery magnificently.

Jim Halsey (C Thomas Howell) is driving through the night, taking a car he doesn’t own to a new destination for the owners. It’s called a ‘drive away’ apparently. Everything I know, I learnt from the movies! He is trying to stay awake as the rain lashes down. He sees a hitcher and stops – “My mother told me never to do this”, he declares, as the guy gets in. We instantly know that he should have listened to his mum!

His new passenger is John Ryder (a suitably sinister Rutger Hauer). Jim is already unnerved, when John grabs his leg and forces him to accelerate past a VW Beetle on the side of the road… why? He stops the car and demands that Ryder gets out. Of course he refuses and menacingly tells him, “I cut off his legs… and his arms… and his head. And I am going to do the same to you”. Charm is not in his vocabulary apparently.

Later he successfully manages to push this frightening interloper out of the car – however, you know this won’t be the end of it. As the killings start to happen Ryder keeps popping up like some kind of ghostly, supernatural presence. A game of cat and mouse ensues…

This is a stunning and gripping thriller from director Robert Harmon and Eric Red – both making their feature film debut. Alongside the horror elements this has some great stunt work and the cinematography by John Seale captures the glorious vistas. With his piercing eyes, Hauer is a frightening presence – so much so that apparently Howell was actually afraid of him, as he was intense both on and off screen. With echoes of DUEL (1971), which the director and writer acknowledge, Ryder is an unrelenting, psychotic, almost supernaatural, force of nature. Scriptwriter Red drew some of his inspiration for the film from the song ‘Riders on the Storm’ by The Doors.

This wasn’t very successful on it’s original release it seems, but has only grown in stature over the intervening years – there was a late in the day sequel THE HITCHER II: I’VE BEEN WAITING (2003) and it was remade in 2007.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

4 stars

An excellent and comprehensive bunch of extras.

New audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; Audio commentary with Robert Harmon and Writer Eric Red; Scene specific audio commentary with Robert Harmon, Eric Red, Executive Producer Edward S Feldman, Composer Mark Isham, Director of Photography John Seale and Actors Rutger Hauer and C Thomas Howell; The Projection Booth Podcast: featuring
Robert Harmon and Rutger Hauer

Bullseye: a new interview with Robert Harmon (41 Minutes): A wide ranging talk with the director which includes about developing the character of Ryder. His early career including is short film China Lake, Hauer being creative on set and full of ideas, the stunts etc

Penning the Ripper: a new interview with Eric Red (41 Minutes): Inspiration for the script, including actually doing a drive away. Having a script that grabs in the first ten pages, trying to get the film made etc.

Plus new interviews with C Thomas Howell (28 Minutes), cinematographer John Seale (10 Minutes) and composer Mark Isham (15 Minutes)

Duel Runner: Leigh Singer on the evolution of The Hitcher and Rutger Hauer (20 Minutes). One those video essays

China Lake: a short film by Robert Harmon newly restored (35 Minutes). You can see why Harmon get the gig directing, as this short has certain similarities.

The Calling Card: Robert Harmon on China Lake (15 Minutes)

Telephone: a short film by Eric Red (26 Minutes). Not great quality as shot on video but interesting – and stars Bud Cort

The Hitcher: How do these movies get made? (38 Minutes). Archival making of

Trailers (5 Minutes)