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The Hitcher (2007) More at IMDbPro »

The film has a weak 20% rating on rottentomatoes, indicating that only a fifth of the reviews where deemed to be in any way positive. Whilst the movie itself has been panned worldwide, Sean Bean has recieved plenty of positive comments based on his performance in the title role.

Some critical quotes

"In the 2007 re-make, the film abandons dread for instantaneous gory gratification" James Berardinelli, 2007

"Meyers keeps the action moving and the tension high." Doug Bentin, 2007

"a trashy remake of the 1986 horror" BBCi Review, 2007

"Aside from a few changes, The Hitcher 07 is pretty much the same film as the original, just not done as well." Dreadcentral.com, 2007

"I might be in the minority here, but I liked The Hitcher just fine." Chris Hartley, 2007

The Hitcher actually pieces together quite nicely. " efilmcritic, 2007

"another example of sloppy storytelling." Peter Sobczynski, 2007

"The last 15 minutes are an obvious and desperate attempt to make the film long enough to count as a real movie" Eric.D.Snider, 2007

Dissapointing, The Hitcher opened at number 4 in the US box-office and vanished from the top ten only two weeks later. This is against the trend of Horror remakes at the Box-Office, but despite being better than many of the remakes out there The Hitcher's failure may make Hollywood think harder about remakes and if making them is still a worthwhile gamble.

The set-up is completely different, as we start with two teens a young couple, and Ryder is picked up at a gas station and not the open road. The musical choice and style is also much different, the director going for a more modern and glossy finish to the picture. The way in which the films climax is very similiar except for a bit of gender role reversal. Several of the set-pieces in the film cause the same consequences as they did in the original but the way in which Ryder executes his plans can differ quite alot.

Highly unlikely as this film actually resembles that sequel in many ways. There is also the matter of the films weak Box-Office performance and tepid critical reaction. All in all I doubt we will be offered any further Hitcher movies in the near future.

Sophia Bush managed to score two awards at the Teen Choice film awards, one of which was down to her performance in The Hitcher. Many were surprised the film was not nominated for a Razzie at the 2007 ceremony.

Currently, the only Blu-ray release of this film is in Australia on the Icon label. However, it is region-free, so you can import it from there.

Said item can be found here.

It should be noted that it is in PAL speed as opposed to NTSC.