When watching a movie like HITCH HIKE TO HELL you have to
keep in mind several things. The first is that a movie like his is not art,
it’s not a hugely successful Hollywood film and it’s not the greatest thing
since sliced bread. Instead it is a piece of history, a lost or potentially
lost film that highlights a segment of the film industry that is only now being
remembered and noticed, the grindhouse.
The movie has the lowest of budget apparently and it shows
in the quality of the end result. Lights to bright, film to cheap and acting
that borders on high school level in some cases, the movie is not something one
would now pay $8-10 to see. And yet you will find those willing to pay the
costs of this disc to add it to their collections. And for fans of the genre it
is well worth it.
The story is simple and doesn’t take long to tell in the
scant 87 minutes the film last. Mild mannered Howard (Robert Gribbin) drives
the delivery truck for a dry cleaner. He’s a nice sort who sees girls hitch
hiking and kindly offers them a ride. As they converse he finds out that they
don’t love their home life or their mothers so he drives to a secluded area and
then rapes and kills them.
We later discover that all of this was brought on by his
sister leaving Howard and his mother behind, something that his mom found
devastating. Now she dotes on her boy, spending her every waking moment with
him when not at work.
The problems for Howard begin when his boss gets upset with
him. It seems during these moments of violence Howard blacks out and forgets to
finish his route. His boss tells him to get his act together or he could lose
his job.
The local police are at a dead end when it comes to
suspects. They have no clues and can only wait until the next body turns up for
more. In the meantime more and more hitch hiking girls are found dead and no
one knows how to stop this serial killer.
The movie claims that the girls are raped and murdered but
you’d never know it from watching. All we see is Howard killing and then
blacking out. I’m guessing that they felt it would add a more lurid touch to
say it took place. And there is no reason for Howard to rape given he’s trying
to punish the girls for leaving. But that’s a small matter for others to
discuss.
The film will more likely than not be remembered as the last
film directed by Irvin Berwick. His biggest claim to fame was the film THE
MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCA, an effective horror film that began his career. It
was short lived though with only 8 films directed by him. But he’s developed a
bit of a cult following over the years and this film will be one that fans have
longed for.
Of note is the fact that the head of the police in the film
is played by Russell Johnson of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND fame. Apparently that role
didn’t do much for his career if he ended up in films like this one. But it is
nice to see him once again.
Arrow Video has done a nice job with their release of this
film beginning with a 4k restoration using original film elements. Extras are
limited but one would expect that with a film like this. Still what Arrow
offers is pretty nice. They include a newly filmed appreciation of the film by
author Stephen Thrower, ROAD TO NOWHERE: HITCHHIKING CULTURE GOES TO HELL a
brand new video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas exploring the dark side of
hitch-hiking in the real world and on screen, the original theatrical trailer,
the original press book on BD-ROM, a reversible sleeve with original and newly
commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil and for the first pressing only a
collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by Heather Drain.
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