The Hitcher (1986)
A young man transporting a car to another state is stalked along the road by a cunning and relentless serial killer who eventually frames the driver for a string of murders (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Robert Harmon
Written By: Eric Red
Starring: Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn, Billy Green Bush, Armin Shimerman, John M. Jackson, Gene Davis
Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Action, Horror
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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The Hitcher belongs to 26 collections
1. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
2. Slasher (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 16 stars)
3. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
4. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
5. Road Trip (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 12 stars)
6. Horror Franchises (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 8 stars)
7. Slant Magazine's 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time (collaborative: moderated by edsu - 5 stars)
8. 500 essential cult films (not seen) (public: cayh - 5 stars)
9. Remade (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 4 stars)
10. Coheed's Films I Need To See Or Try To Track Down (public: Coheed - 3 stars)
11. Stalker thriller (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 2 stars)
12. Stuart Wellington Recommends (collaborative: moderated by lexwhitfield - 1 star)
13. Daylight Horror (collaborative: moderated by birgitbrause - 1 star)
14. aflickering searches for new capital F favorites (collaborative: moderated by AFlickering - 1 star)
15. Homosexual subtext (collaborative)
16. Crime (collaborative: moderated by ForrestQ)
17. Cinema Sewer (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess)
18. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)
19. Owned (DVD) (public: bizarre_eye)
20. My DVD Collection (public: balseiros)
21. Whewp (public: Alien3)
22. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 23 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
23. Tom's Movies (public: tomwalsh)
24. Halloween Month 2022 (public: Alan_Laidlaw)
25. BI - MF (public: Jobs-Bronson)
26. Christopher Nolan's Favorite Films (public: BeeDub)
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| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 4 |  |
doctor7 | 86 86th |
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The Hitcher provides you with just enough answers to allow the story to flow forward but keeps you guessing as to the hitcher's motives. Why did he select Howell? Was he impressed with him kicking him out of the car or some other reason? The lack of any real answer keeps you trapped in the fear of the unknown. Likewise the excellent directing choice of mystery over gore really works to setup the fear the film provides. Aside from a few gripes this is one fantastic, almost surreal, horror flick.
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| 4 |  |
BillyShears | 85 86th |
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Rutger Hauer is like some force of nature in this.
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| 3 |  |
joseywales | 70 56th |
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Rutger Hauer is great, the movie however is not.
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| 3 |  |
Stain | 90 86th |
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Much better than you'd think
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| 3 |  |
luc | 90 96th |
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Great performance of Hauer, an ice-cold killer. A movie
that I'll never forget ! Big suspense.
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| 3 |  |
Jasongirl67 | 75 69th |
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Great road thriller Hauer and Howell are great together and both actors give their best on screen performances in my opinion
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| 2 |  |
irvinejump | 85 91st |
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Rutger Hauer is the MAN!!! An awesome performance for what is essentially a two man show. Toe knee :-)
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| 2 |  |
Kojiless | 58 61st |
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Another one of those movies mainstream Hollywood would have difficulty releasing today due to the lack of explanation about what's going on. Pitch this to a studio now and they'd insist having Hauer's character give a 5 minute soliloquy explaining his motives behind the killings. Half the fun of this movie is debating with friend whether the Hitcher was actually a crazy man, or just a figment of the kid's imagination (the other half being Hauer's awesome performance).
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| 2 |  |
caiman | 53 17th |
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The first fifteen minutes of this are pretty great, and Rutger Hauer is menacing and intriguing. I also liked how the story remained unpredictable and enigmatic. With all that said, I can't help but feel disappointed, as the vast majority of the movie pretty much sucked. Silly cop chases, pointless hostage situations, and really peculiar character decisions plagued the brunt of it.
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| 2 |  |
Luna6ix | 72 41st |
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A thriller taking a lot of cues from Hitchcock, and pre-80's horror. It's a decent story and good performances from Howell and Hauer. The only trouble is that this movie is something of an anachronism, in the mid-80's gore was king and this is a goreless heap of suspense. Decent for what it is, but Hopper's derangement isn't quite terrifying enough to make up for its shortcomings.
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| 2 |  |
RealMacgyver | 70 53rd |
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Rutger Hauer messing with a guy for 90 minutes, or as he calls it "Tuesday". Kind of The Terminator without the time travel bit. If you like your 80's DTV stuff (though this could well have been theatrical) you'll love this. Just don't expect any explanations.
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| 2 |  |
mrandersen10 | 75 59th |
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One of the more ridiculous movies I've seen in quite a while; but it's gripping stuff, and I really can't stop thinking about it now. Hauer's steely-eyed, demented serial killer ranks up there with the best of them. A movie that only the 80s could produce.
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| 2 |  |
hellboy76 | 67 58th |
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Underrated, Hauer is incredibly creepy and this may be Howell's last tolerable role.
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| 2 |  |
Paxton | 70 63rd |
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I can't say for sure whether or not C. Thomas Howell ever picked up another hitchhiker, but I can say that it was a long road to the mustache in Pure Danger a mere decade later.
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| 1 |  |
wayofthegun | 65 29th |
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It's a good thriller if you have a great ability to suspend disbelief since the entire sequence of events borders on preposterous.
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| 1 |  |
Kavu | 73 52nd |
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Hauer and Harmon do a great job and the rest of the movie has tons of camp value. Quite entertaining.
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| 1 |  |
Bojangles | 35 17th |
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JJL at peak hotness cannot make up for the fact that nothing anyone does makes any sense. The story is either some sort of allegory, or completely retarded. The highly cinematic atmosphere that it manages to create makes part of me want to explore it as an allegory, but I'm too distracted by its nonsense to take that leap. Poorly conceived, well made.
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| 1 |  |
shstern | 55 46th |
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a good movie which there is now a remake of which is slightly better but then how could it not be with sean bean?
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| 1 | st_fly | 86 88th |
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Very Good
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| 1 | Dustyd | 70 63rd |
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flawed but effective suspense film with a standout role for Hauer
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| 1 |  |
nandorizzi | 45 31st |
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Good performance from Hauer. But I dont consider a classic.
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| 1 |  |
kittykins | 75 34th |
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Rutger Hauer. That's all I have to say.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 82 91st |
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Nice Movie
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| 1 |  |
eric-jan | 75 74th |
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Must see oldschool "horror" / thriller classic! Watch a maniac dominate the feeble mind of this (irritating) teenager. One of Rutger Hauer's greatest!
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| 1 | moviesinhell | 75 54th |
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I'll say this much for this movie: it may burn up a lot of octane, but it doesn't waste any time. When this first appeared in '86, its Terminator-rip-off climax played more plagiaristically than it does today. There's a sly edge that threatens to push it to the brink of self-parody, but this is a flick that's stood the test of time.
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| 1 |  |
Piglet | 73 72nd |
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Hauer is terrific and terrifying!
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| 1 |  |
PetrosTser | 70 66th |
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A gripping film. Rutger Hauer was a genius choice to portray the titular role and definitely stands out amid the rather amateurish cast. For the most part, "The Hitcher" is a fascinatingly haunting offering, darkly-lit, and with some very well-directed sequences (e.g. at the diner). The finale felt a little underwhelming but the ride was a definite thrill.
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| 1 |  |
adamj1982 | 78 75th |
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This movie has aged well and is still an effective thriller today.
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| 1 |  |
actlikealady | 71 52nd |
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Well done original film.
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| 1 |  |
PianoSama | 70 82nd |
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Three strong performances from Howell, Hauer, & Leigh on top of a tight pace and a narrative that pulls zero punches make up for some occasionally iffy logic & a lead character who's just irritatingly stupid for a good chunk of the runtime. It's tense, gripping, & mostly well put together, & it's definitely an entertaining thriller despite steering dangerously close to nonsense several times. It's also incredibly depressing & almost nihilist by the end, but it works fairly well. Worth a look.
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| Average Percentile 56.28% from 1125 Ratings |  |