Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
Rish is a much bigger fan of the original than I am. I love Rutger Hauer and the tension of the original is amazing, but it is a relatively new movie to me. Still, when I heard they were remaking it, I questioned their integrity. Of course, this is really only one in a long line of remakes as Hollywood tries their very hardest to make it so that no child of today will remember that films were made before 1990.
So, umm, there's this couple driving through the desert, and they pass a guy trying to hitch a ride. They don't give him a ride at first, and that seems to be enough for him to be quite upset with them.
I love the paranoia of this story and that it is all real. The story escalates so quickly and everything gets so out of control so fast that it is almost impossible to feel like there can be a happy ending for our heroes. And they are heroes I found myself liking a lot.
I really liked Sophia Bush in Stay Alive and I really liked her here. I found her male companion decent, but mostly forgettable. Sean Bean's villain is not as threatening as Rutger Hauer's was, but that is because he is much more sympathetic. And that is both more frightening and less.
The real key to the movie, though, is that they managed to conjure the same tension as in the original. It builds and builds until everything sort of snaps toward the end.
So was this remake necessary? Not even a little. It was nearly shot for shot.
Did I hate watching it because of that? Not even a little. Sean Bean and Sophia Bush made this well worth the time spent. Even if we did have to endure a slumber party two rows behind us in the theatre.
Posted: February 12, 2007

Rish Outfield's reviews
I didn't enjoy it as much. But then, as tyranist pointed out, I really love the original Hitcher, it having been the first R rated film I ever saw, courtesy of my troublesome, racist, foul-mouthed uncle, bless his soul.
But I don't think this had much to recommend it, even though I don't regret seeing it in the theatre opening weekend with my friend. While The Hitcher 2007 is not the most worthless remake I've seen recently (I happened to get a copy of The Omen 2006 just this week), it doesn't have a lot going for it, and certainly holds NOTHING over the Rutger Hauer original. And while Sophia Bush may be preferable to C. Thomas Howell (and that's arguable), she's certainly no Jennifer Jason Leigh.
It's funny, because I was so unhappy about the remake of The Fog, that I wrote half an essay about it . . . and The Fog 2005 was much more original than this was (still, Omen 2006 makes this look like a remake in title only*).
A big problem, besides huge lapses in logic for the characters, was that Sean Bean is just too darn likeable. I've only seen one movie where I was able to hate him, and they bent over backward for it in that film.** While the girl is attractive, she had no qualities that made me like her (I think tyranist feels quite the opposite)(not that she isn't attractive but is likable, but he feels that she is very likable AND attractive)(can I EVER just write a review and leave the parentheticals out of it?). She was completely forgettable in last year's Stay Alive, which wasn't great, but was better than this.
Best Scare: They omitted the finger-mistaken-for-a-french-fry scene from the first one, but they did do a couple of John-Ryder-jumps-outs that worked pretty well.
I'd Recommend It To: See, I'd rather you rent the 1986 version. But if you absolutely refuse, I can forgive you checking this one out.
*And that's not the most egregious example, either. No, folks, that would be Psycho 1998. It's been nearly a decade, and I'm still reeling from that one.
**Patriot Games, if you're at all curious.
Posted: February 13, 2007

Total Skulls: 20

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie		The Birds
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?