The Hitcher (2007) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

U.S. 2007
Director: Dave Meyers
Cast: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough, Kyle Davis, Lauren Cohn
Rating: R
Release Date: January 19th 2007
Running Time: 1 hour 25 minutess

The Movie Review

The Hitcher (remake) film still 1


THE HITCHER
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

People in the movie business once said...Don't go near the park, Don't look in the basement, and Don't open the door, (those are actually movie titles in the past decades :-)) then probably I should add one too...Don't pick up hitchhikers! At least it still rang some bells of truth in 1986, the year when the original The Hitcher was released. And for The Hitcher in 2007 (the remake), I'll have another advice. Later on…

Two college students madly in love, Grace and Jim are planning to go on their car to meet their friends for a spring break. In New Mexico state, they almost road kill a weird man that doesn't even flinch with that near-fatal incident. Having a bad hunch, Grace (Sophia Bush) tells Jim to start their car and leave the sturdy man behind. On a gas station, however Jim (Zachary Knighton) meets this guy again and the man politely introduces himself as John Ryder (Sean Bean). Feeling guilty Jim accepts John's request to go along with Jim and Grace to North. However, Jim and Grace is making the biggest mistake in their life for Jim is actually a psychopathic killer.

----Start of Spoiler Alert-----
Difference with the original you ask? Technically only concerning gender-switch which the power of male now replaced by the female (as in many horror movies nowadays). Another difference is that in the original film, Jim starts the journey alone, while in the remake Jim is a college student going with her girlfriend.
----End of Spoiler Alert-----

But the biggest difference is that this movie is a cluttering mass of horror elements tied up loosely. The gore is there, but the filmmakers seem doesn't know how to put gory scenes, they are not artistic but merely a useless effort to make this movie looks more terrifying. The gore sickens, and not terrifies. The nudity of Sophia Bush is coyly shoot, with only the back of her body being shown. I think it's better if that shower scene had not been inserted at all. And the thrilling factor depends entirely on boo scares, sadly moreover they don't work very effectively.

Surely The Hitcher also has its moments. Especially the intimidating performance of Sean Bean as the Hitcher, and also the performances of Sophia Bush and Zachary. Sophia Bush’s acting is pretty convincing, she should be, as The Hitcher is already her sixth movie and she has also been nominated twice for Best TV Actress in Teen Choice Awards.

However watching horror movie is, at some points, is to feel thrilled or scared and not to feel annoyed. The Hitcher is annoying for the stupidity of the characters, well yes bad luck could happen to everybody, but this is a movie, so I would expect something satisfying. The Hitcher is just too confusing to be enjoyed. Being a remake is already a negative stereotype, but being confusing too, that's just too much.