The first several minutes are creepy and intense. Early one rainy morning, a young driver named Jim Halsey makes the foolish decision to pick up a hitchhiker. That man, who says his name is John Ryder, turns out to be a psychopathic murderer.

The movie could go interesting places from there but doesn’t. The claustrophobic driver/passenger concept is abandoned for what becomes a grueling game of cat and mouse, marked by unlikely set-ups and a silly Bonnie-Clyde-like subplot.

my rating : 3 of 5

1986