Creators
Roger Andrieux and Tab Baird
Cast
Page Fletcher”¦”¦”¦The Hitchhiker
Michael Madsen”¦”¦”¦John Hampton
Michael Ironside”¦”¦”¦Sheriff Lee
Kelly Lynch”¦”¦”¦Theresa/Melissa
Bill Paxton”¦”¦”¦Trout
DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 300 Minutes on 2 Discs
The Show
In the midst of a bunch of Twilight Zone wannabee’s coming out, The Hitchhiker was at first thought to be only another imitator. It proved to be much more then that lasting six seasons and giving people plenty to be scared of.
With Twilight Zone and Tales From The Darkside dominating the regular channels of television and haunting audiences, it was time for the fear to be taken a step further. And with The Hitchhiker airing on HBO, it was given a little more freedom to be edgier and a bit raunchier. I’m not saying that these things were gore fests or straight up porn, but they had the leisure of leaning that way if they saw fit.
It really was a nice twist on the short horror story to have this stranger walking alone across the country and just waiting for someone to pick him up. It was always those that deserved what they had coming to them that seemed to get the worst of it, and that was the way Page Fletcher liked it. He wasn’t necessarily trying to hurt anyone. He was merely showing them what the errors of their ways could bring to them by staying the horrible people that they were.
I remember a lot of these episodes from when I was younger. Even back then I was always interested in horror and scary things so I took in any of it I could get. And I do remember sneaking away to catch episodes of horror along the byways and highways late at night whenever I could. I had to sneak because there was a bit of cursing and more adult scenes then I should be seeing at a young age. Even today, though, I can recall the fear this show put in me back then for it still gives me the same eerie feelings now.
Disc One
Man At The Window – A former drug addict screenwriter is at the end of his rope and work of a woman who has both a female lover and an abusive husband. The screenwriter soon finds himself taking more than just her words as he becomes the target of the husband’s rage.
Dead Man’s Curve – Returning home for her high school reunion, a now famous novelist finds herself in a romantic triangle that proves to be extremely dangerous.
Made For Each Other – Two men traveling together pick up a prostitute that soon comes between them as they start to go mad against each other.
Joker – A practical joker continues to play his dirty tricks on everyone until things suddenly start to turn around towards his own self and gets what’s coming to him.
Videodate – A sneaky salesman uses disguises and false identities to fool women and take advantage of them. Unfortunately for him, a mysterious artist soon turns things around and begins to play him like he does others.
Disc Two
Best Shot – A hot-shotting lawyer likes to live his life dangerously but ends up taking it too far when his personal life and career intermix. One night he hits a pedestrian and leaves him to die”¦but that soon proves to be the wrong decision.
My Enemy – Two people who look almost exactly the same decide to switch places, but find out that it’s a lot more trouble then it’s worth and the results turn out deadly.
Tough Guys Don’t Whine – A famous movie director has become well known for his gangster films. Getting too involved in his work, he decides to recruit real gangsters for his next flick and that ends up costly.
Riding The Nightmare – Tess seems like the normal everyday woman with a great job and a wonderful family. She happens to also possess a power that allows her to commit murderous deeds to and for people.
The Cruelest Cut – A young man living a free spirited life gets involved with a prostitute that may or may not be a murderer.
The Video
The show is presented 4:3 Full Frame aspect and, well, looks like it was made in the eighties. There really wasn’t much done to improve the look of the show, and you just can’t help but feel they would have at least touched up some things.
The Audio
The show is heard in Dolby Audio 2.0 and sounds kind of like it would have back in the eighties. Could have been improved a bit, but still gets the job done.
Special Features
None
The Inside Pulse
Episodes of The Hitchhiker still give a great creepy feeling and sense of fear about them some twenty years later. With today’s special effects and new technology being able to create horrible monsters and much scarier surroundings, it’s easy to see why many people would rather watch shows like Tales From The Crypt, another of my favorites. But the eeriness and horror brought about with these early eighties tales put The Hitchhiker into a category all of its own. The inclusion of no extras really takes away from the DVD itself, but I recommend picking it up for it’s a great series to watch when you’d like a good fright without jumping out of your skin.
