I first saw “The Hitcher” when it came out in the 80s. As a teenager, it stuck in my brain as a curious film: grim, gritty, nihilistic (though I probably didn’t know the meaning of the word back then. I’m still not totally clear about it.)

I rewatched the film a few nights ago as a mature, wizened adult, one noted for his critical eye and powerful mind bursting with game-changing insight. (Also known for my humility.)

My take? “The Hitcher” is one of the best horror/thrillers ever made. Maybe the best.

The movie starts with young C. Thomas Howell driving along the highway early in the morning. To stay awake, he picks up a hitchhiker played by Rutger Hauer. The hitchhiker immediately acts weird, oozing such malice that Howell pushes the man out of the car while it’s still moving. (Hauer has this kind of psychopathic cool in the film, which made me realize there’s an aspect of psychopaths seldom discussed in the modern era. Their lack of fear is something we—regular folks (I’m assuming you are not a psychopath, but what do I know?)—are jealous of.

If Howell thinks he’s gotten rid of his tormentor, he’s quite wrong. The hitchhiker stalks Howell for the rest of the film, pushing the situation into terror and tragedy.

As a kid watching this, I probably found the plot unbelievable. At one point, Hauer fells a helicopter with a handgun, but you went along with this stuff in the era of Rambo and the Terminator. As an adult, I see it was never meant to be taken seriously. Howell is not in our world—he’s in a liminal space I’ll call “the road”, an ethereal netherworld (you half-expect Charon to pull up on a motorcycle) populated by truck stops, Greyhound buses, endless moving scenery, and strangers. You can’t trust anyone.And Hauer is not a mortal. He’s a demon from hell.

The ending is the only ending we could expect.

There’s a great, dreamy soundtrack/soundscape reminiscent of the group Tangerine Dream, who dominated a lot of these ethereal ‘80s movies.

I give it five severed fingers out of five. (That’s a reference you’ll get if you see the movie.)