Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

Want more recommendations for your family?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for entertainment inspiration

Parents' Guide to

The Hitcher (1986)

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Spare and engrossing original road slaughterfest.

Movie R 1986 97 minutes
The Hitcher (1986) Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 15+

Based on 3 parent reviews

MissOdriscoll
MissOdriscoll Adult
September 6, 2020
age 13+
Honestly, The Hitcher will always be my favourite movie. Everything about this movie is impressive. The idea of picking up a stranger is scary but only to have that stranger turn your world upside down all for fun is a brilliant concept. I'm nineteen now and first watched it when I was thirteen with my dad. Unlike horror movies today, this one captures the psychological unexpectedness that doesn't come from many films today. Indeed a must-watch.
RutgerHauerFan
RutgerHauerFan Adult
November 16, 2018
age 15+

Amazing film but too violent for little ones

This is an amazing eighties thriller. You can almost taste the atmosphere in this movie. The story goes like this, a young man named Jim is taking a drive away car from Chicago to San Diego through the desert. He stops to pick up a mysterious hitchhiker who turns out to be a cold blooded murderer who kills several people. The killer (Rutger Hauer) is enigmatic, cold and intelligent -this is the best movie Mr Hauer has ever made. It's violent though I wouldn't recommend this for any kids under about 14-15.

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In THE HITCHER, California-bound youth Jim Halsy (C. Thomas Howell) picks up rain-drenched stranger John Ryder (Rutger Hauer) on a lonely road. Almost at once, Ryder announces himself as a maniac who has just cut up the last motorist who gave him a ride; now he's going to do the same to Jim. After Jim summons the courage to eject Ryder from his car, he suddenly finds himself encountering the mad hitchhiker again on the road. Ryder is ambushing and killing other drivers, taking their vehicles and tracking Jim. He manages to frame Jim for the murders, and soon the long Texas highways are crisscrossed by gun-toting, menacing lawmen ready to take Jim -- dead or alive. The only person who believes in Jim's innocence is Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a waitress at the diner he stops at to call the police for help. Soon she and Jim are both fugitives -- with Ryder still on their tail.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (5 ):

With its vicious, motivation-free violence, this elemental thriller isn't as bad as other exploitation movies trading on rampant sex and brutality. It gives scant background information about characters and relies on minimal dialogue; it doesn't even use background music to set the mood for most of the mayhem. The result is that your imagination fills in a lot of details, and the script turns out to be a lot more cunning than the many teen-oriented 1980s slasher-horror formula flicks that preceded this one.

The Hitcher maintains a disturbing theme: that the terrorized, guiltless Jim, in the course of his relationship with Ryder, learns bloodlust, too. Parents can relate that to the innumerable villains who have told heroes things like "We're very much the same, you and I," in their respective comic books.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the cruel game the script plays, hinting at some kind of willing give-and-take in the hunter-prey relationship between psychopathic killer John Ryder and frightened, innocent young Jim - the only character who seems able to combat him. In that sense, this R-rated movie parallels the strange, almost father-son relationship in what is typically considered a wholesome family classic -- Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island -- in which another murderous John (Silver) is the mentor and benefactor (yet the deadly enemy) of a boy named Jim (Hawkins). Those names can't be just coincidental. Ask teens what they think of the two stories, and the parallels. If nothing else, you'll get them reading Treasure Island with fresh eyes. If you've seen the 2007 remake, you can also compare the two films. Which one is more effective? Why?

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate