The Hitcher (2007)

A serial killer pins his crimes on two college students who gave him a ride.

Director:

Dave Meyers

Writers:

Eric Red (screenplay), Jake Wade Wall (screenplay)

Stars:

Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Bean	...	John Ryder
Sophia Bush	...	Grace Andrews
Zachary Knighton	...	Jim Halsey
Neal McDonough	...	Lt. Esteridge
Kyle Davis	...	Buford's Store Clerk
Skip O'Brien	...	Sheriff Harlan Bremmer Sr.
Travis Schuldt	...	Deputy Harlan Bremmer Jr.
Danny Bolero	...	Officer Edwards
Jeffrey Hutchinson	...	Young Father
Yara Martinez	...	Beth
Lauren Cohn	...	Marlene
Michael J. Fisher	...	Transport Guard #2 (as Mike Fisher)
Joe Self	...	Transport Guard #1 (as Joseph Michael Self)
Brad Robinson	...	Correctional Officer
Kurt Grossi	...	Officer Franklin

Storyline

While driving through the New Mexico Desert during a rainy night, the college students Jim Halsey and his girlfriend Grace Andrews give a ride to the hitchhiker John Ryder. While in their car, the stranger proves to be a psychopath threatening the young couple with a knife, but Jim succeeds to throw him out of the car on the road. On the next morning, the young couple sees John in another car with a family, and while trying to advise the driver that the man is dangerous, they have an accident. While walking on the road, they find the whole family stabbed in the car, and John sees that the driver is still alive. He drives to a restaurant seeking for help, but the police blame Jim and Grace to the murder and send them to the police station. However, John kills the policemen and pursues the couple, playing a tragic and violent mouse and cat game with Grace and Jim.

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Plot Keywords:

two word title | grindhouse film | college student | psychopath | on the road | 

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Taglines:

Never pick up strangers.

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, terror and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sean Bean spent little time with his young co-stars so as to distance their relationship and make himself seem more unknown and menacing. He believed this would drive the chemistry in a more realistic fashion.

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Goofs

When the Oldsmobile 442 flies off the road, the airborne car crashes very hard nose first into the ground. Jim and Grace are not wearing seat-belts yet somehow they manage to remain seated without slamming into the dashboard or windshield.

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Quotes

Grace Andrews: [after crashing their car trying to warn the family about John Ryder being in their car] How did he find us?
Jim Halsey: Maybe he wasn't looking for us... maybe it was just bad luck.
[Jim throws the 'lucky' penny he found earlier in the movie]

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Alternate Versions

Following advice from the BBFC the distributor elected to make minor cuts to the film in order to achieve their desired '15' classification. The cuts removed sight of blood pumping from a man close-to death (too sadistic for a '15') and sight of blood spurting from a slit throat (too graphic for a '15'). The uncut version is available on DVD and HD DVD with an 18 classification.

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Connections

Features The Birds (1963)

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Soundtracks

On and On
Written by Stephen Bishop
Performed by Stephen Bishop
Courtesy of Media Creature Music

User Reviews

Guess that modern retarded kids would like it.

Way, way too shallow, stupid, teen, sterile AND cheap. What else is left to say?

If you are familiar with the original (yes, I know you're tired of reading reviews praising the original but it's just a bone chilling psycho-thriller masterpiece, so shut the **** up), then you'd find this college-teen movie pretty damn laughable.

No suspense, no tension, cheap acting, action-style one liners, crippled and twisted script... There's a lot of cheap stuff going on in this utterly retarded flick.

I believe that adding a college chick as a main character in the plot and making a cheap *TRY* to "develop" her throughout the film until she becomes a strong and ready to kill bitch is the most ridiculous thing happening in the movie. And the main character boy with his Emo-gay-teen hairstyle is not helping fix things at all.

This movie is a piece of trash. Not that anybody expected the opposite, of course. If you like teen movies, if you are into stupid college teen "I know what you did las summer" cheap plots, then you may enjoy the thing.

Frankly, get the original and don't bother watching this "remake". Or rather "craptake".

This film gets 1 out of 10 points. Yes, it *IS* that bad.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Hitcher

Filming Locations:

Austin Studios - 1901 E. 51st Street, Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,234,000, 21 January 2007

Gross USA:

$16,472,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,399,945

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Intrepid Pictures, Platinum Dunes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1