The Hitcher

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

A remake of the 1986 cult horror semiclassic of the same name seems pointless unless you can bring something new to the concept. But this uninspired version's fresh idea is to change the victim's gender in a signature scene where the character meets a grisly end after being tied between two trucks and pulled in two. Now there's a creative stretch! However, if you've never rented the original, this 2007 take will probably keep you entertained as a young couple (Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton) traveling a desolate highway picks up a hitchhiker (Sean Bean), who spends the next hour and a half terrorizing them and later implicating them in one of his over-the-top slayings. Of course their Spring Break excursion turns into a bloody cat-and-mouse game that keeps stunt drivers working overtime. This film's producers are also credited for lame retreads of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Amityville Horror (with Friday the 13th and The Birds in the works), and they clearly have a money-printing formula going. Using more sophisticated movie technology, The Hitcher, like all the rest, is designed to explicitly mirror the graphic screamfests studio factory lines keep churning out these days. Thanks to inventive musical cues, and sharp editing, the obvious scares are here. But the whole thing is so déjà vu, it gets kind of ho-hum, despite the increased body count and quick running time. On the plus side, Bush (One Tree Hill) offers some nice roadside scenery and Bean is a terrific villain. If only we could see them go at each other's throats in something a little more original next time.

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