Horror The Hitcher Distributed By:  Universal Studios   Reviewed by Ismael Manzano               As a youngster vacationing with family in Puerto Rico with little understanding of my family’s native language, I often resorted to watching videos for good old fashion English-speaking entertainment.  Some of those videos are forever engrained in my head, considering that I watched them repeatedly during my summer vacation.  One such film was the 1986, C. Thomas Howell movie, The Hitcher.  I was a big fan of the film and not ashamed to say that it insured that I would never pick up a hitchhiker—ever.  So of course when I heard they had made a remake of the movie—as seems to be a big Hollywood trend nowadays—I had to check it out for myself; had to see if Tinsel Town could recapture the horror-movie magic or make create another horrible blunder—as seems to be the trend.              The Hitcher follows Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush, One Tree Hill) and Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton, Related), young lovers driving down to Spring Break for vacation and to meet up with friends.  Things are going great until they meet John Ryder (Sean Bean, Troy, Silent Hill), a hitchhiker with a more than a couple of screws loose.  The action starts off pretty early and the madness of John Ryder is established with heart-stopping clarity that will instantly have your mental self-defense rolodex spinning. Jim and Grace manage to escape Ryder’s clutches, but are thrust back into danger when they see him on the road again and try to warn the unsuspecting people who have taken him into their car.  Stranded and vulnerable, the two are pursued by John Ryder with relentless, psychopathic vigor that makes for a constant, heart-pounding rush of a movie.             But can these two twenty-something year olds fight against the irrational unknown that is John Ryder or will he destroy them as he has countless others?              All in all, this movie scared the crap out of me.  The depiction of John Ryder as a nameless, faceless, manic was well done and well performed by Sean Bean.  Looking at him I saw only madness and nothing else.  That he didn’t have a past, an identity or an explanation, only heightened the movie’s appeal.  And the use of what I consider to be an iconic horror film scene—you’ll know it when you see it—that gave me nightmares for weeks, insures a new classic in the making.  This movie doesn’t follow the exact path of the original, which I liked, but it does follow the same general theme and manages to capture its essence while updating it for the next generation.  An example of which is that there is a role reversal of sorts in this Hitcher from the original.  While Jim is still prominent in the film, the main character is obviously Grace, something which some may frown upon but I thought was a great choice. The thing I love about this genre of horror movie is that it isn’t your usual slash and burn, monster in the attic kind of flick.  It’s a cautionary tale, as the original horror movies were meant to be.  It preys on our primary fear of strangers, the unknown, and ones fear of being unable to protect someone they love, but does so without the veil of mythic creatures, masked slashers or demons from below.  The monster in this tale is an ordinary looking man who, for no apparent reason, is just plain evil.  Now for the cons.  My only real critique about this film was that John’s actions at times resembled that of a soap opera villain.  He seemed to be everywhere at just the right moment and capable of sneaking up on everybody no matter how many people are there.  He comes, he goes and no one ever sees him until its too late.  That bit of over dramatization took away from the believability of the character and some of the tension in the film.  At the same time, however, it added to fear of the movie, because in truth, that sort of single-minded, unstoppable, completely crazed stranger, is exactly what people fear most, the person who you piss off and will keep coming after you no matter what.  So all in all, I thought the movie was—different—but equally as good as the original and a good view for any avid horror movie watchers.      For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at imanzano@g-pop.net.