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Hitcher (The)
R1 - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th June 2007). |
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The Film
 Generally I hate it when films get remade, especially when the remake adds very little to the legacy of the original. Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes has set out to remake classic horror films for the current teenage market, those who either don't remember the classic horrors of days past or weren't around when they originally came about. After initial disgust at the idea it became painfully clear that the filmmakers chosen to remake them were fans of the horror genre and of the original films they were remaking and certainly had a fresh perspective on the projects. I liked the remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003) and didn't mind "The Amityville Horror" (2005) but "The Hitcher" I don't really know that much about and therefore do not hold such an affinity for, the 1986 original was not one that I watched growing up and soaking in the horror films over the years. All I knew was that it starred Rutger Hauer and was a cult favorite, so having previous liked what Platinum Dunes had released thus far I popped in this disc. What I saw over the course of the next 1 hour 24 minutes was some of the most inane and ridiculously stupid film I'd seen in quite some time, even though it had a few (emphasis on few) sprinklings of goodness but the bad outweighed the good by a lot. Basically 'The Hitcher" is the story of John Ryder (Sean Bean), a hitchhiker that also happens to be a psychotic lunatic that loves to harass, play with and eventually kill people. Couple Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophia Bush) on their way to spring break just so happen to make John's acquaintance. After nearly running him over in the rain and leaving him stranded John and the couple eventually end up at the same gas station where Jim offers him a ride to the nearest motel, as it turns out that was the wrong decision and John spends the rest of the film hunting them down, killing and generally making life for Jim and Grace a living hell. The appeal of such a concept for horror is that the mysterious stranger is not always going to be a good person just looking for a ride; it plays on the fear of strangers that your parents always warned you about. But in this case it takes it too far into the realms of the ridiculous. Let's start with the characters and their general stupidity, Jim and Grace are given numerous opportunities to stop John or get him caught but they take every wrong approach to the point that it has you screaming at the screen in frustration at what a bunch of dumb asses they are, one example is near the end when Jim is chained between the trucks, Grace holds a gun to John and has what I believe is total control of the situation yet John manages to do what he does and she ends up regretting not doing anything when she had the chance. Lame. We are all familiar with the 'relentless killer' vehicle in films, there are many cases were that concept was used effectively and brilliantly, one such case is "The Terminator" (1984). In almost every 'relentless killer' film we see the killer doing crazy and often unbelievable stuff, suspension of disbelief is at play usually because we are led to believe the killer is above human. In the case of "The Terminator" it was a robot, but in the case of "The Hitcher" our protagonist is merely a human, yet he manages to kill an entire sheriff's station, he takes out an entire police convoy including a helicopter (while shooting at it from his car), he even manages to break his thumb to escape from handcuffs and then completely take out the armored van that is transporting him. Seriously folks...and he's not even a robot or anything! What really gets my goat is that after all this carnage, all this bloodletting he submits really easily to Grace who suddenly and almost out of nowhere manages to wield a shotgun and take care of business. Where is the logic? Where is the motivation? It seems that the brains of this script where left splattered all over the road along with John's victims. You might be asking yourself is there anything about this film that is good? The gore is pretty good, especially for horror fans the KNB effects group do a fairly good job or letting the blood flow, plus the stunts are really cool. That and Sophia Bush is damn hot, plus she spends the duration of the film in a tight shirt and a short skirt...nice (oh yeah and the ladies get Zachary Knighton), Sean Bean does his bit and doesn't flinch so there's nothing to report there. The photography is nice to look at and you can see that the overall production values are high, but really folks I'm stretching to find anything good at this point. If you like cheap thrills then give this flick a go, otherwise just get the original like I'm about to do.
Video
Presented in the film's original 2.40:1 widescreen ratio this anamorphic transfer is generally quite good, a lot of the film takes place at night or in dimly lit situations and for the most part the image holds up relatively well with the occasional bit of grain evident. Sharpness is very good and consistent with color saturation appearing quite well balanced. The image features no compression related issues and is exactly what one expects from a recent release.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included both of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. They are in English and French, for the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English soundtrack. Much like the transfer the sound is also quite good, for a horror-thriller this soundtrack is quite aggressive and displays a decent range. Dialogue is clean and clear with sound effects and directional effects sounding natural and nothing appears out of place, the score thumps in and the action scenes are loud and robust. Overall this is an excellent soundtrack for this DVD release. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Universal Pictures has included a series of four featurettes, eight deleted scenes and a series of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up we have "Dead End" a featurette that runs for 13 minutes 9 seconds, this is a look at the KnB special effects crew that did the practical effects for the film including a look at how they ripped the character Jim in half between the trucks as we follow the actor and the crew on the set of filming that scene. Next up is "Road Kill: The Ultimate Car Crash" featurette which runs for 10 minutes 1 second. This is a closer look at the stunts which were coordinated and pulled off for the film, primarily the car stunts such as the massive crashes, the cop van roll, the police pile-up, the shooting of the helicopter and the 360 degree slide in the rain among other things. We get a look at how they were done and the effort put into safety on the set. Following that we have "Fuel Your Fear: The Making of the Hitcher", this is the standard EPK style featurette which runs for 10 minutes 56 seconds. The basic promo stuff is seen here with the cast and crew telling us about the film, their characters plus takes a brief look at the production process and why you should go and see it...fluff. Finally the fourth featurette is entitled "Chronicles of a Killer", which runs for 4 minutes 36 seconds, these are fake news bulletins which cover the various deaths that occur during the course of the film, there's no context to this footage and I'm unsure whether they were created as a sort of promotional thing for the film or whether they were going to be used in the film itself. Either way they are very cheesy. A series of eight deleted scenes is also on this disc and can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' function, the scenes included are: - "Introducing John Ryder" which runs for 1 minute 28 seconds, this is an extended version of the scene where John is drawing on the two-way glass with blood while Grace is in the other room. - "Ryder on Rampage" runs for 4 minutes 2 seconds, Grace sees more dead bodies in the Sherriff's office and picks up a flashlight before going downstairs to the cells where Jim is locked up. - "A Waking Nightmare" runs for 5 minutes 3 seconds, This is an alternate version of the scene where Jim and Grave make it to the roadside motel, Grace dreams of John being in the room with her. - "Asleep With The Enemy" runs for 4 minutes 5 seconds, this is another version of the roadside motel scene, in this version John lays next to Grace while she's asleep and leaves her cell phone by her bedside table. - "Cold and Scared" runs for 1 minute 30 seconds, a third version of the roadside motel scene, here Jim barricades the motel room door but this time John doesn't show up and it cuts to Jim and Grace in the shower. - "Dangerous Curves" runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds, this is the fourth version of the same roadside motel scene, in this version Grace wakes up to John touching her in bed. - "Rest in Pieces" runs for 33 seconds, this is an extended version of Jim's death where we see him hanging from his upper torso for a bit longer. - "End Of The Road", this is an alternate ending which runs for 3 minutes 46 seconds. In this ending Grace pummels him with the shotgun instead of shooting him. Rounding out the supplements are a series of bonus trailers that include: - "Hot Fuzz" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "Smokin' Aces" which runs for 33 seconds. - "Alpha Dog" which runs for 34 seconds. - "HD DVD" promo spot which runs for 1 minute 2 seconds.
Overall
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