The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting (2003)
Review by Siko Mike
The Hitcher (review) has got to be one of the most action packed horror thrillers of the mid-80’s. Well, when a horror movie is this great then that usually means one thing, to make a sequel. Sometimes this can be a good thing like with Halloween 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Psycho 2 (review), and so forth. Then others can be also done horribly wrong such as the recent Lost Boys: The Tribe sequel (review). Well, I bet you guys can guess which one The Hitcher II falls into.
It has been 15 years and Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) is still haunted by the evil hitchhiker John Ryder (Rutger Hauer). Jim is now a cop living in Iowa with his girlfriend Maggie (Kari Wuhrer). After Jim shoots a child molester without probable cause, he is fired and insists on taking a road trip to meet up with his old friend Captain Estridge in Texas. On the way, Jim and Maggie see a mobile home on the side of the road and discover a motorcycle rider that needs a lift. Jim refuses to stop, but Maggie being the smart one that she is wants Jim to pick up this hitchhiker. After Jim tells Maggie no, Maggie steps down on the brake and unlocks the door so the young man can get in. They get to a gas station and Jim kicks hitchhiker Jack (Jake Busey) out of the car. Soon, Jack begins to sadistically murder everybody around them including Jim. This leaves Maggie on her own to battle the evil Jack along with the cops that believe that she is the murderer.
Where do I even begin with this crappy sequel? Well, I’m going to try to break this one down the best that I possibly can. Let’s begin with the story. Everything was fine with the first like 5-10 minutes before the “terror” began. After they pick up Jack then it basically became a rehash if you will of the much greater original. The screenplay by Molly Meeker, Charles R. Meeker, and Leslie Scharf got off to an alright start but slipped downhill fast. Everything that was great about the original is missing in this pointless sequelized mess. The characters were written so sloppy except for Jim Halsey that I seriously wanted John Ryder to return from beyond the grave to slaughter all these fuckers. Like I said, Jim Halsey was the only good character in this movie. His girlfriend Maggie on the other hand is the stupidest fucking bitch that I have ever seen. After knowing what happened to Jim, she wants him to pick up this nut job named Jack. What kinda girlfriend is this woman anyway? Then there is the new evil hitchhiker Jack. This is basically just a really bad interpretation of John Ryder.
I seriously wanted to slap this guy silly like a redheaded step child. I won’t even mention how horrible the cops were in this shit. The acting pretty much sucked as well. Kari Wuhrer as Maggie was absolutely dreadful beyond words and made the stupidest fucking decisions in the history of the horror genre. It’s pretty bad when I actually laughed and clapped every time she got hurt. C. Thomas Howell did a good job in his reprising role as Jim Halsey. You could believe the guy was paranoid and he was the only believable person in this film. Jake Busey sucked more than Paris Hilton on Penis Island with the role of Jack. I’m not saying that he is a horrible actor because he truly ain’t, but here he was just fucking annoying.
I know that he can play a good psycho because he did a good job in The Frighteners, but he was just a really bad rehash of Rutger Hauer in this movie. The direction by Louis Morneau was decent the first 5-10 minutes, but like the film went messy after that. The biggest complaint of all was killing off Jim Halsey within 15 minutes of the movie especially with him being the only good character out of the whole entire movie. There was one though that I liked better than the original and that was how the hitcher was killed in this movie.
Overall, The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting is a waste of time. It is a total rip off of the much greater original, but still a hell of a lot better than the 2007 remake (review). I only recommend a watch if you are under the influence of alcohol or just watch up until they pick up Jack. The rest is nothing new and will possibly kill your brain cells faster than any drug could possibly accomplish. Avoid unless you are looking to bash a movie. No wonder this piece of shit went straight to video!
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