The Hitcher

Name: The Hitcher
Genre: Thriller
Released: February 21, 1986
Duration: 97 min
Rating: 32
Cast: Armin Shimerman, Billy Green Bush, C. Thomas Howell, Gene Davis, Jack Thibeau

1986

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Ratings

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The Hitcher

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Movie Details & Credits

TriStar Pictures | Release Date: February 21, 1986 | R

Starring: Armin Shimerman, Billy Green Bush, C. Thomas Howell, Gene Davis, Jack Thibeau, Jeffrey DeMunn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John M. Jackson, Jon Van Ness, Rutger Hauer

Summary: A young man who escapes the clutches of a murderous hitch-hiker is subsequently stalked by the hitcher and framed for his crimes.

Director: Robert Harmon

Genre(s): Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 97 min

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Metascore

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Negative:

Critic Reviews

Jack Kroll

An odyssey of horror and suspense that's as tightly wound as a garrote and as beautifully designed as a guillotine. [24 Feb 1986, p.81]

Empire Ian Nathan

A stunner of unrelenting tension interrupted by action, violence and gore. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine

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. Read full review

Paul Attanasio

Much of the problem lies with Howell, a dilute, rabbity actor in the Tim Hutton mold. Everyone acts Howell off the screen, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, who displays an easeful gruffness as the girl who joins Jim. With Howell's weightlessness, the deeper elements of the story -- the byplay between guilt and innocence, for example -- never accumulate. Read full review

Jay Scott

A slasher movie about gay panic, a nasty piece of homophobic angst for the age of AIDs. [25 Feb 1986]

Janet Maslin

Existential terror, in the case of Robert Harmon's Hitcher, means an unmotivated viciousness that's as cryptic at the story's end as it was at the beginning. Read full review

Gene Siskel

A nauseating thriller that reaches down from the screen and defies you to stay in the theater to see what desecration of the human body it will present next. [24 Feb 1986, p.C3]

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User Reviews

PhilipBlake

May 25, 2019

The Hitcher is one of the best road movie ever. A top notch horror thriller with a mesmerizing claustrophobic climax and an one-of-a-kind cold and dark original score by Mark Isham. Haunting performance by veteran Rutger Hauer in what is one of his finest work to date. Do not take anyThe Hitcher is one of the best road movie ever. A top notch horror thriller with a mesmerizing claustrophobic climax and an one-of-a-kind cold and dark original score by Mark Isham. Haunting performance by veteran Rutger Hauer in what is one of his finest work to date. Do not take any considerations at the reviews of "critics" who claim that this is a mediocre movie, only their opinions are awful here. I only can agree on C Thomas Howell is probably not the best choice as the lead, but definitely feet to the character anyway. All these criminally awful critics are really beyond me, I was expecting a good overall rating from professionals and finally the correct ratings came from the metacritics users. What a joke.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Computey18

Nov 13, 2022

I Love this movie. From the Cinematography to the characters and settings. This is a underrated masterpiece.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MarcDoyle

Feb 27, 2018

This easily qualifies for my all-time most frightening movies list. Rutger Hauer is incredible as the evil character who can't be reasoned with and will stop at nothing to commit mayhem, etc. C. Thomas Howell seemed exactly right in the role. An absolute recommendation for late-nightThis easily qualifies for my all-time most frightening movies list. Rutger Hauer is incredible as the evil character who can't be reasoned with and will stop at nothing to commit mayhem, etc. C. Thomas Howell seemed exactly right in the role. An absolute recommendation for late-night streaming (in a group... with "finger" food)… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

imthenoob

Oct 22, 2019

I appreciate the uniqueness of it but my god, This is a pretty slow and boring movie. The "action" fails to excite and there isn't much dialogue to really get a top-notch performance out of the cast, although they do try their best.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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