UHM - Review - The Hitcher (Remake)

Hollywood once again delivers an unnecessary horror remake. This time Michael Bay and the rest at Platinum Dunes (group that brought us the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) are "re-imagining" the 1987 Robert Harmon film starring Rutger Hauer and C. Thomas Howell. To make matters worse they get music-video director Dave Meyers to direct. Early on there were promises of "new twists" and even an entirely "new ending". There was even talk of possibly making the hitchhiker a female this time. All of this, of course, turned out to be nothing more than talk, because having seen the movie I can say that except for maybe a few scenes, this is essentially just a modernized version of the original film. The story is the same, except instead of having one lead, we have a young couple (I guess to speed the plot along since the original had the lead meet up with a girl later in the film). The couple picks up a psycho hitchhiker that wants them to "stop him" and constantly rants about how he wants to die. After kicking him outta the car he continues his killing spree along the road, and eventually framing the young couple for his murders.

Although Sean Bean is an excellent actor and does a decent job as the crazy hitchhiker, he's really no comparison to Rutger Hauer. There's something about how Rutger stares at you as the hitchhiker that can send shivers up your spine. The movie does offer some new situations and an impressive sequence involving the hitchhiker taking out a group of police officers while on the road, and there are some scenes that give us a little more explanation about how things came to be that weren't revealed in the original. The blood and gore is also amped up a bit in this remake, which is always a plus, but by the time the credits rolled I just felt like I just watched the original all over again. I don't see the point in remaking these movies if they don't offer new ideas that weren't explored in the original. I guess it was to be expected from writer Jake Wade Wall whom also brought us the ever-so-pointless When a Stranger Calls remake. Whether they attempted to pay homage to the original or tried to give us a new take on the story, the message here was lost and the movie became nothing more than a rehash of the first.

OVERALL

If you've seen the original then you've seen this film. All this remake delivers are a few new sequences and a couple explanations that weren't in the first, so do yourself a favor and just rent the original if you haven't seen it already.

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CDaMouse :

Posted 97 days ago

Based more on the sequel I found, since the movie syncs up with it more than the original. The girl does die in the original, but if you paid attention, in that film both main characters did not know each other. In the sequel they were a couple, just like this remake, so that kind of gave me the indication he was going to be the one to get it, also since everything else followed the sequel so much. But then again not many people knew of the sequel..

Zzyzx :

Posted 115 days ago

What the hell is this a remake OF, really? The Hitcher, or the hitcher 2: I've been waiting? Basically all they did was follow a halfassed plot of Hitcher, although replacing the original kid with a trendy emo-fag, and then killing him off the way the girl originally was .. then in the style of Hitcher 2, the guys girlfriend steps up to kill the psycho. Piece of shit, Fuck the dunes! Down with Remakes! Burn down hollywood!

LuvHorrorMovies :

Posted 129 days ago

I LOVE THIS MOVIE...IT'S MY FAVOURITE!!!!

Werewolf Hunter :

Posted 288 days ago

A disgrace to the original. Rutger Hauer alone makes the original more of a reason to watch than this. A waste of time-don't bother.

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