The Hitcher

The Hitcher

The Hitcher is a Thriller directed by Dave Meyers and written by Eric Red (and Jake Wade Wall) which was released in January 2007. The film is a remake of the 1986 The Hitcher in which the characters that originally survive are killed in this remake. The film stars Sophia Bush, Sean Bean and Neal McDonough. The budget for this film was $10,000,000, $4,000,000 more than the original film.

An important aspect of the film is the change in the fate of the characters based on the original. In the 1986 film the character Grace is killed by the antagonist whereas in this film the roles are reversed and Jim is put in the place of Grace and is killed. This is significant as it shows two things. The first being that although the film is a remake and follows the same story line it still goes out of it's way to update the film, leading on to my second point. The second being that it shows the development of female characters within films. In a lot of older films, women are seen as the victim in which the men have to save. However, from the role reversal it gives a more positive representation of women and that they aren't just in the film to be killed off in a brutal way. The film challenges the conventions of horror/thriller films by killing the man and making the women the hero.

The idea of women being stronger and more independent isn't just shown in that seen. Through out this film, Grace (Sophia Bush) knows how to handle herself and is a strong character. A scene in which this is shown is when she fights the antagonist in the hotel room. In this scene she is caught off guard and still manages to escape the villain by fighting him. She comes across as a tough character which is not normally seen within thriller films. Grace challenges the common stereotypes linked with women. Although the film follows the same story line, the fact that the roles are reversed makes it a stand alone film in my opinion, as it offers something different from the 1986 film.

The mise-en-scene in The Hitcher plays a vital role as it creates more tension and suspense. The majority of the film is set in the desert roads in New Mexico which means that their are very few people around to help the characters which is main problem encountered in the film. This adds elements of suspense because the characters are out in the open which means virtually anything can happen because their is no one around to stop it. The characters have no where to run and no where to hide which suggests to the audience that it is going to be very hard for the protagonists to escape the situation. A scene that shows the impact of the mise-en-scene in the film is when the antagonist kills an entire family in the middle of the day on the side of the road. This is significant because in a lot of thrillers the murders usually take place within hidden locations either locked away or somewhere excluded under the cover of the night sky. However, this film depicts a violent murder of a family in broad daylight where no one is around to save them. This shows to the audience that because of where the protagonists are, anything could happen.