THE HITCHER (1996)
Label: WBDHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) DTS-HD MA 2.o Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Robert Harmon
Cast: Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Jeffrey DeMunn
The Hitcher (1986) is a 1986 cult classic directed Robert Harmon (China Lake), and written by Eric Red (Bad Moon), wherein 20-something Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell, The Outsiders) is travelling cross country, delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego. He finds himself tired and alone, driving through the unending wasteland that is rural West Texas, and when he sees a hitchhiker thumbing it on the side of the road he stops to give him a lift. The hitcher introduces himself by the dubious name of John Ryder (Rutger Hauer, Split Second) thumbing it on the side of the road. Jim cracks a joke about the dangers of picking up hitchhikers, not realizing he's just let a stone-cold killer into his vehicle, and his life will never be the same. Rider is an unusually intense person, and while they engage in uncomfortable conversation they come upon a vehicle on the side of the road that appears disabled or in distress. When Jim slows down to see if they might need help Rider stomps on his foot, pressing the accelerator, telling him not to stop. Alarmed Jim asks why he dad that to which Ryder replies that he killed and dismembered the occupants of the vehicle, threatening Jim with a switchblade telling him he will do the same to him. Jim scared shitless asks why he's doing what he's doing, to which the hitcher replies "I want you to stop me.". When Jim sees an opportunity to escape he takes it, kicking the unbuckled hitcher out the passenger door before speeding off. Later on he sees a car with a family in it, he is shocked to see Rider in the backseat with kids, and while he tries to warn the family he ends up having an accident, later discovering the grisly remains of the family further on down the road. Soon after Jim meets a kindly and sympathetic waitress named Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Single White Female) at a roadside diner, and she too becomes a pawn in Ryder's demented game.
Thus ensues an almost Terminator-ish cat and mouse game between young Jim and the demented and deadly hitcher, with the mysterious stranger's path of destruction blamed on Jim when the local cops pin the blame on him, and you can hardly blame them, wherever there's death and destruction Jim is there, but after interviewing him he seems an unlikely suspect despite his proximity to the murders. But that matter little as Ryder too ends up at the police station where he decimates the cops, offscreen, and Jim finds himself on the run pursued by more cops.
This is one of those films I first watched on HBO as a kid at one of those sleepovers at my childhood friend Barry's house, where I seem to have watched the bulk of the 80's horror-thrillers that made me the horror fan\ I am today. Even then it very much reminded me of The Terminator in that Rutger Hauer is a seemingly unstoppable killing machine, his turn here is so unnerving, the Terminator-ish of it all compounded by the fact that he is totally demented, and like a machine cannot be reasoned with. There's no cold machine-logic at play here, he's just a man with murder on his mind, having chosen this one young man to torment, and as a kid I found that prospect absolutely terrifying. Hauer's steely cold-blue eyes are mesmerizing, and I always wonder what's swirling around in his mind behind those eyes, he is such a mystery, his motivations are never revealed, and as such his threat is ever present and unpredictable, he seems like some awful figment of Jim's mind at times, but he's certainly a part of the physical world, as evidenced by his path of death and destruction.
The first few times I saw this I will say I thought that C. Thomas Howell was a bit of a wink-link, a bit too over-the-top at times, too reigned in during others when I thought he should be the opposite, but I have softened on that. When I was younger I always imagined myself rising tot he occasion and making solid well-thought decisions if something I saw in a movie would happen to me, but decades of real-life experience and observation of human nature in action has corrected that incorrect train of thought, I know now when the stress sets in, even without a cold-blooded killer terrorizing you, people tend to fall apart and make poor decisions, and at the end of the day, if people did make poor decisions in films horror movies would be pretty dull!
This is a flick that looks terrific, we get big blue skies, dramatic sunsets, gorgeous open vistas, all of shot by cinematographer John Seal who shot Deathcheaters, Witness and Mad Max: Fury Road, and it looks terrific. The film also has a terrific and tense and often pummeling synth score my Mark Isham (A River Runs Through It) that adds a lot of atmosphere tot he nail-biting thriller elements.
This is definitely more of a thriller than an out-and-out horror, but it's plenty horrific, even without a lot of gore, it's just very tense and atmospheric, and the vehicle carnage here is fantastic. There are several highway pursuits, including one extended manhunt with the cops chasing down Jim, a pursuit that is interrupted when Ryder shows up in a stolen truck causing all sorts of vehicular carnage, even shooting down a police helicopter with his hand-cannon in the process, it's an off the charts bonkers bit of thriller-action. The downbeat finale which involves a semi-truck and the threat of someone being torn apart is a real nail-biter as well, and is still quite a gut-punch.
Audio/Video: The Hitcher (1986) arrives in region-free 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros, a gorgeous new 4K restoration sourced from the original negative camera negative supervised and approved by director Robert Harmon with Dolby Vision (HDR) color- grading. Notably, this is the same restoration released in the UK by Second Sight Films, presented in 2160p UHD and framed in the original 2.39:1 widescreen. After years of only watching this on an rather ugly DVD this most recent viewing of The Hitcher on 4K was truly a revelation, like seeing it for the first time all over again. The source looks immaculate, grain looks natural and unmolested, and the finer detail of clothing textures and the crags of Rutger Hauer's face and his steely blue eyes look terrific. The Dolby Vision (HDR) grade is impressive, the colors of the blue skies and desert sunsets are rich, the skin tones and primaries are refreshed, and fire sequences all showcase terrific looking color depth; and the darker scenes are nicely deep and layered with excellent shadow detail.
Audio options include English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and a new Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) remix, with optional English subtitles. It's great to have the original theatrical stereo track on the disc, it has wonderful stereos separation tracking the action onscreen, music cues are potent, the highway car carnage and sounds of gunfire exchanges are robust and potent. The Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) takes all that's great about the stereo tracks and kicks it up several notches with immersive elements and sharp sound design, the car carnage especially packs a wallop with the Atmos, as does quieter moments that are more nuanced. One of the biggest benefits outside of the more immersive experience with the Atmos is the low-end registers, the sounds of the semi-truck threateningly revving it's engine during the finale packs a real punch.
Onto the extras, we get an archival Audio Commentary by director Robert Harmon and writer Eric Red, plus the new 41-min Bullseye: Interview with Robert Harmon, in which the director talks about the screenplay and Hauer's intense performance, the filming and production, and how the film was received; plus we get the 2-min Theatrical Trailer.
Notably, whole this release from WB features the same A/V as the UK release from Second Sight the extras are quite paired down, SS's limited edition and standard release versions are absolutely dripping with in-depth extras, and if you are an extras junkie like I am I would recommend seeking it out (I did), but if you are just looking for a rock solid A/V presentation with a modest set of extras this is certainly the most cost effective way to go, and it's a very strong presentation.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by director Robert Harmon and writer Eric Red
- Bullseye: Interview with Robert Harmon (41:29)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:28)
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