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Late to the Party – The Hitcher (1986)

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hitcher

It’s Wednesday! Which means it’s time for another edition of Late to the Party, the article series in which our iHorror writers pass our much delayed reactions to classic horror movies on to you, the reader. We have opinions! This week, I watched the 1986 Rutger Hauer-led classic, The Hitcher.

The Hitcher was remade in 2007 starring Sean Bean, because all classics must suffer a modern remake (I guess). But really, as much as I love Sean Bean and his inability to survive basically every movie he’s in, I can’t deny the appeal of Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Hobo With a Shotgun). The man is hypnotically terrifying and he controls the scene every moment he’s on screen.

via IMDb

In the opening scene – and our introduction to Hauer’s character, John Ryder – he hitches a ride from young Jim (C. Thomas Howell, The Outsiders) in the pouring rain. As they drive off to begin their adventure, John’s unnerving nature and sinister intentions unfold.

As an aside: while I understand that this is a completely different film, a part of me was really hoping it would incorporate the “tears in the rain” monologue from Blade Runner, because it seemed perfectly fitting.

via IMDb

The Hitcher wastes no time in getting to the action – we’re running right out the gate with an increasingly threatening (yet nuanced) performance from Hauer, and young Jim quickly learns the error of his philanthropic ways. Shit gets real at an efficient 8 minutes in.

The film burns with a sun-scorched intensity. John’s obsession with Jim sizzles with every passing scene. I appreciate the fact that this mad focus is entirely out-of-the-blue; he completely dedicates his time to tracking down and killing The One Who Got Away.

via Giphy

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention young Jennifer Jason Leigh (who actually looks a lot like young Jessica Lange). Her character, Nash, is unfortunately swept up in the sordid love affair cat-and-mouse obsession.

One particularly climactic scene places her in an incredibly dangerous position, in which the ineffective police officers are of absolutely no help whatsoever – – honestly, who sends the stalking victim in to do hostage negotiations?? These cops are trigger-happy and terrible.

via IMDb

On a technical note, I was highly impressed with John Seale’s cinematography in The Hitcher. There’s a fantastic 360-degree long take during an early interrogation scene that was a wonderful surprise, and the ending long-shot is actually stunning.

If you watch the film (and you should), I implore you to consciously pay attention to how the scenes are framed and shot. Oscar winning cinematographer John Seale has a seriously impressive resume (which includes Mad Max: Fury Road) – the man knows what he’s doing and it elevates the film in a marvelous way.

via IMDb

For such an intense film, there’s actually very little on-screen gore. Most of the violence is off-screen, so we just see the aftermath with Jim’s reactions – which actually might be more brutal. Your imagination is an intensely creative thing, and the pure horror and raw emotion that we get from Howell’s performance is enough to fill in the horrible blanks.

Jim provides us with the very first line in the film: “My mother told me never to do this”. It’s a line that’s initially flippant and charming, but by the end of it all we’re left with a poignant moral to this whole incredible story. He should have listened to his mother.

 

For more Late to the Party reviews, check out the archives!

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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