The movies have long warned us not to trust hitchhikers, but evidently Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) is either foolhardly or hasn’t seen a lot of films. He certainly gives us an impression of youth and naïveté, aided by Howell’s tender age of 19 and his impressively naked performance only underlining the character’s vulnerability in the face of death and, perhaps, pure evil. The hitchhiker he picks up moves quickly from merely odd to outright terrifying, pulling a knife and demanding Jim tell him that he wants to die. And it gets worse from there, Jim finding that for all his innocent bravery, the menace pursues him like a bad dream through the desert landscape. Wolf Creek 2 surely draws as much from The Hitcher as The Hitcher draws from Duel.
The Hitcher himself is Rutger Hauer in perhaps one of the all-time great screen villain performances, the cold menace that he brought to android Roy Batty in Blade Runner transferring naturally to “John Ryder”, whose very name seems a cypher (Lou Cypher-? Like Frank Booth in Blue Velvet or “The Shape” in Halloween, he seems more an incarnation of evil than a flesh-and-blood man). I’m far from the first to point it out, but his lazy lids, cold grey eyes and reptile demeanour prefigure Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter.
More clearly corporeal but nearly as bad are the rabid cops of Texas, of whom there are an endless parade. Director Robert Harmon’s camera turns highways into hellscape, at times roving, searching, at others hung ominously over bad-road landscapes like a Texas setting sun. Luckily, Ryder has one ally; a young and lovely Jennifer Jason Leigh is an instant star, looking like a proto-Drew Barrymore in her blonde bob and infusing the film with a nervous energy and paradoxical gracefulness.
The picture was dismissed by critics upon release and failed to attract audiences, something usually attributed to it being just too darned bleak – a foolish reason to dismiss a film and especially one as brilliant as this, but then critics can be foolish: not me though. In any case, it’s a damned shame, and while from the evidence here Harmon had the talent to be a major filmmaker, he instead spent the rest of his career making undistinguished films, and since 2005 has worked exclusively on the Jesse Stone series of TV movies. Still, at least he wasn’t involved in The Hitcher‘s sequel film, or its remake.
There are two full-length commentaries featured here; the first is by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of an academic book on The Hitcher and a fantastic guide to the film’s subtle nuances, paying special attention to the complex gender politics therein. The second commentary comes from director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red. Neither is in a particularly chatty mood, and we don’t get anything near as deep a treatment of the film as in Heller-Nicholas’ commentary.
Earlier in this review, “full-length commentaries” may have struck you as an odd phrase. The reason it’s in there is that there are also some short scenes played with clips of various members of cast and crew speaking over them. In addition to these, there are plenty of interviews: “Bullseye”, with director Harmon; “Penning the Ripper”, with writer Eric Red, who discusses his influences including the obvious Duel,and shares his thoughts on Harmon (which are positive) and Hauer (which are not always positive); “Doomed to Live” sees a very high-energy C Thomas Howell sharing some anecdotes from his career and recounting what he learned from his highly capable co-stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rutger Hauer; in “The Man from Oz” we hear director of photography John Seale’s reflections on The Hitcher‘s cinematography, and at times don’t hear them thanks to the dodgy audio; “A Very Formative Score” sees composer Mark Isham discussing The Hitcher‘s spooky, almost melancholy score which he created through innovative use of sampling along with other electronic instruments.
Moving on from these interviews – and trailers – the most interesting features here are two short films, the Harmon-directed “China Lake”, and “Telephone”, written and directed by The Hitcher‘s writer Eric Red. “China Lake” further develops the main feature’s “rabid cop” theme – or rather, prefigures it, since this film, produced three years before The Hitcher, is likely what secured Harmon the job. It’s beautifully made, utilising the same mixture of sweeping, moody desert landscapes and close-up, brutal violence, all anchored by a chilling Charles Napier performance. The short would be remade to lesser effect as The China Lake Murders, with a new cast and crew. Eric Red’s “Telephone” sees a woman (Laurie Lathem) who dials a random number and keeps the stranger (the inestimable Bud Cort) on the line, declaring her intent to commit suicide via gunshot. Cort tries with increasing desperation to change her mind, through pleading, reasoning, cajoling, sympathy, and myriad other moods and techniques. It’s very much the type of film one expects from someone who is primarily a writer; the focus is the dialogue, while the visuals and sound are student-film-quality, but the strength of the script, the compelling premise, and especially the performances keep it mostly compelling throughout its twenty-five minutes.
Also worth the price of entry are the various critical pieces included in the package. We have an entertaining fifteen-minute reflection by Harmon on “China Lake”; “Duel Runner”, an analysis of Rutger Hauer’s John Ryder character by academic Leigh Singer, who considers the aforementioned parallels with Duel, and discusses Hauer’s career including his most famous rôle as Batty in Blade Runner, and “How Do These Movies Get Made?”, a decently long (40 mins) and unusually candid look back at the film, made in 2002. There is also an episode of the podcast The Projection Booth, with a candid Robert Harmon and a quieter Rutger Hauer.
Not only is the picture a forgotten classic – one which received a warm reception recently at the FrightFest film festival, wherein even many hardened horror fans were seeing it for the first time – this set by Second Sight is truly one of their best works yet.