01
Duel
Why this pick
Its stripped-down highway pursuit turns an ordinary drive into an escalating nightmare, with the same lonely-road tension and near-mythic, relentless threat.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1986 1h 37m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Hitcher
ActionHorrorThriller
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Hitcher, try these.
01
02
Road Games
Why this pick
An Australian outback thriller built around long-haul isolation, mounting suspicion, and a dangerous roadside predator; it shares The Hitcher’s sun-blasted unease and cat-and-mouse momentum.
03
Breakdown
Why this pick
A stranded motorist is pushed into a hostile, unfamiliar landscape in a lean, urgent chase thriller that sustains the same helplessness and desperate forward drive.
04
Joy Ride
Why this pick
This keeps the road-trip setting and anonymous-threat dread, turning a small provocation into a tense pursuit with an unseen adversary who controls the rules.
05
The Hitch-Hiker
Why this pick
A stark noir nightmare about motorists trapped with a murderous hitchhiker, distinguished by barren locations, psychological pressure, and an unnervingly calm predator.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Jim Halsey, a young man delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego, spots a man hitchhiking in the West Texas desert and gives him a ride. The hitcher, John Ryder, is brooding and evasive; when Jim passes a stranded car, however, Ryder forces his leg down on the accelerator. Ryder calmly states he murdered the driver and intends to do the same to Jim. Terrified, Jim asks what Ryder wants. He replies, "I want you to stop me." Ryder strokes Jim's face with a knife while telling him to say, "I want to die." When Jim realizes that Ryder never put on his seat belt and the car's passenger door is ajar, he shoves him out of the door.
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Rutger Hauer
John Ryder
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Nash
John M. Jackson
Sergeant Starr
Billy Green Bush
Trooper Donner
Jack Thibeau
Trooper Prestone
Gene Davis
Trooper Dodge
Henry Darrow
Trooper Hancock
Tony Epper
Trooper Conners