[8]

A teenager (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitcher (Rutger Hauer) in the middle of a rainy night and barely escapes to tell the tale. Unfortunately, that first night’s escape is only the beginning. The hitcher is relentless, pursuing the boy on the open road, framing him for murder, and forcing him to bare witness to his carnage. Hauer is at his psychopathic best here, calm, cool, and methodical. The tension mounts exquisitely. Director Robert Harmon keeps you ill at ease for the entire duration of the film, breaking with convention enough to let you know nothing is sacred and anything goes. It’s a beautifully directed film with unusually high production values for a horror/thriller. Great cinematography by John Seale and terrifically moody score by Mark Isham. With Jennifer Jason Leigh.