When it comes to some of the internet’s more irritable nuances, there are few more reliable hotbeds than r/horror; the subreddit is rife with clickbait titles, reactionary bait, “unpopular” opinions, “hot” takes, and a general disregard for the sentiment of the community, which can be either a virtue or a vice depending on the subject.
One post recently managed to capture the best and the worst of all of the above by bringing a discussion of The Hitcher to the table. The film, widely panned by critics upon its release in 1986, including some palpably venomous words from Roger Ebert, found new life years later as a cult classic, and while it didn’t quite receive the reappraisal that John Carpenter’s The Thing did, one user has argued that it’s more than deserving of such recognition.
Dubbed an “unrecognized masterpiece” by the original poster, The Hitcher stars Rutger Hauer as John Ryder, a hitchhiker who hunts motorist Jim Halsey across West Texas in hopes of satisfying his bloodlust.
Several users were on board with the “masterpiece” part of the argument, but weren’t sold on it being unrecognized; the reappraisals, after all, didn’t just appear out of thin air.
Another user chimed in by pointing out that Ebert, whose horror movie opinions are agreed to have always been one of two extremes, is the very loud exception that proves the rule.
Others took the opportunity to heap praise on Hauer’s performance, which is widely agreed to be the focal point of the film’s resurgence.
There’s no harm in showing some love to a movie that missed out on its fair share of it, but the internet would be wise to remember that not everything they discover, is a discovery. And for those of you that have been prompted to give The Hitcher a whirl for the first time, be sure to steer clear of its sequel and remake; let’s just say there’s only room for one reappraisal for the Hitcher name.