The Hitcher

Terrible Remake

06 December 2008

In his feature-film debut, Meyers delivers a steady stream of cheap jolts and something-popping-unexpectedly-into-frame scares, but little tension or atmosphere. Like the original, The Hitcher is notable mainly for its stomach-churning gore (the filmmakers must have purchased their fake blood in industrial quantities), and for an ugly setpiece involving a character being ripped in half, which gives new meaning to the film's title. The filmmakers have it both ways with the microskirt-clad Bush: She's constantly ogled eye-candy, yet also a strong-willed avenger. Alas, her barely there clothing is the only memorable part of a derivative plugger that's bound to evaporate from the audience's consciousness even before it ends. It's bad enough when they create bad remakes of good things; it's worse when they take a BAD thing and out comes a terrible remake.

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