The Hitcher ★★★★

EVEN though he has had a prolific career in Hollywood for several decades, Dutch actor Rutger Hauer has never been able to fully replicate the enormous impact he made in 1982’s Blade Runner.

He has appeared in a lot of semi-successful films, but one of the best is The Hitcher, a stripped back, nihilistic thriller released back in 1986.

The film wasn’t a major critical or box-office success at the time, but its reputation has endured and these days it is well and truly a cult favourite less maligned by critics.

C. Thomas Howell plays Jim who is transporting a car through Texas when he picks up a hitchhiker at night in driving rain.

Hoping to have some friendly company that will keep his awake, Jim soon realises that the traveller calling himself John Ryder (Hauer) is completely the opposite.

Ryder threatens Jim with a knife, but the young man manages to take Ryder by surprise and push him out of the car.

Jim continues on his way but, like the truck driver in Steven Spielberg’s Duel, Ryder keeps cropping up along the highway and terrorising Jim for reasons unknown.

Along the way Ryder commits a series of murders in a manner that ensures Jim is targeted by police as the likely suspect.

Directed by Robert Harmon and written by Eric Red, it’s a film that pulls no punches in its depiction of an individual with no moral limits and a desire to cause as much carnage as possible.

The film’s final act is extraordinarily good and in keeping with the character and his intentions until the bitter, bloody end.

Watched on Shudder.