The Hitcher (1986)

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This is a film whose time has passed, in my opinion anyway. There was a time when this was scary and effective and such but I think it has lost its touch for a few reasons. To me this is just another version of Duel (1971) where you actually get to see the driver of the other car, Duel was the first of its kind and was effective because you never found out who the other driver was, or why they were chasing the main character. In the Hitcher, you know the killer's name is John Ryder, but the most effective part of this movie was you never knew why he was torturing C Thomas Howell's character so much, but since No Country for Old Men (2007) came out I don't know if this film can be as effective on people who have already seen that now. Because in NCFOM, Javier Bardem's character is basically the ultimate evil/crazy person, he kills again and again without having need to and he never explains why he does it, just like The Hitcher, but NCFOM one ups the Hitcher because The Hitcher isn't very believable at all in my opinion. After ditching the Hitcher countless times he always seems to catch back up to C thomas Howell at the most convenient times ever, I just think that it's too slim of a chance that they would keep meeting at the right times, etc. Plus this film is famous for its extreme violence, (jennifer jason leigh gets torn in half) and I'm not a big gore fan so I found the extreme violence more than a tad unnecessary. Nevertheless, this movie had a big cult following for a while and it was made into an HBO TV show, a sequel (with C Thomas Howell, and Jake Busey (son of Gary Busey)) and a remake with Sean Bean (LOTR, Game of Thrones,Black Death) as the Hitcher. Also hitch-hiking is pretty much illegal in most places around the country, and most people know how bad of an idea it is nowadays anway, so the thrill/scare in that isn't as likely anymore. Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Hobo with a Shotgun, Ladyhawke,) does do an excellent job as the hitcher though, I give this one a 3/5. Watch the trailer below: