The Hitcher (1986)

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

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

Mr. Hauer, who has reportedly vowed not to play any more villains or crackpots, is probably making the right decision, if this is any measure of the sort of role that comes his way.

I would have admired it more if it had found the courage to acknowledge the real relationship it was portraying between Howell and Rutger, but no: It prefers to disguise itself as a violent thriller, and on that level it is reprehensible.

A cosmic horror film drawn out of a psychological thriller.

Spare and engrossing original road slaughterfest.

An uncanny frisson, plus a road of endless curves

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.

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

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

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

...essentially entertaining throughout...