a review of the film I did in 2004.
Mark (Joe Balogh of BLACK DEMONS), a disturbed young man traveling the Virginia beach coastline, picks up hitchhiking women in his camper. He forces them to take on the role of his dead mother, and if they fail, he tortures and kills them. One day he picks Daniella (Jossie Bisset of MELROSE PLACE in a role she probably wishes to forget) and keeps her tied inside the camper until her boyfriend shows up and the real mayhem begins...
Lenzi's tight, solid script makes HITCHER IN THE DARK a real punch in the face. The plot is original and even generates suspense- especially in the scenes where Balogh nearly gets arrested by the police. The scene in which Balogh carves the word "pig" on a guy's chest is sadistic and recalls the similar scene from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. The scene where he's about to rape Bisset before her boyfriend's eyes reminds us of HITCH-HIKE. However, the main character in Lenzi's movie is not similar to David Hess. What we have here is a real looser, a weak person (not to mention impotent) who punishes women because of a childhood trauma that was caused by his mother. Childhood trauma was also a murderous motive in Lamberto Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK but it's a totally different case here- HITCHER IN THE DARK is wrongly categorized as a giallo. Some might accuse Lenzi of being misogynist with the high amount of violence against women and lines such as "You are just a whore like all the others". Exploitation cinema was never supposed to be politically correct though right? Just take a look at movies such as THE NEW YORK RIPPER (prime example of a misogynistic movie), SO SWEET... SO DEAD, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK and countless more. Apart from being obsessed with his mother (like Peter Bark in BURIAL GROUND), Balogh also happens to be the son of a rich guy who doesn't seem to care a lot for him. All he does is spoiling his son with money, without having any awareness about his murderous activities. Here lies Lenzi's social comment on rich people which adds more depth to the whole plot. Earlier in the film, two policemen set Balogh free when he tells them he's the son of a rich entrepreneur. Another social comment on high-class murderers beyond suspicion. Another strong point of the plot is the weird love/hate relationship between Balogh and Bisset. The scene of Balogh watching a funny trash movie at a drive-in while Bisset and her lover are suffering is also brilliant. The topless contest sequence reminded me of Lenzi's earlier WELCOME TO SPRING BREAK/NIGHTMARE BEACH, another "teenage horror" film. Even with producer Joe D'Amato's happy ending (which Lenzi hates), the plot is still great with it's strong violence, suspense and fast pacing.
Many fans have been trashing HITCHER IN THE DARK because of the acting. To set things straight, Joe Balogh is no David Hess but still manages to capture the role's feeling. Some of his performances could be more convincing but he is a passable lead. Bisset is very convincing as the helpless victim and it's a shame she refused to do the extra nude scenes that Lenzi wanted.
From the opening aerial shots of the camper, it's obvious that HITCHER IN THE DARK is a stylish film. Lenzi's direction is top-notch and so is Jerry Philips' (?) cinematography. Night exteriors are nicely lit and set the tone for the movie's overall sickness. Lenzi deserves credit for shooting half of the movie inside a camper and managing to make it so interesting. He does a great work with the camper interiors, no matter the limited space he is given. This is obviously not a big-budget film but it doesn't look cheap either.
The slow opening theme has a feeling of melancholy to it which is just suitable. The horror themes that follow are great pieces of unique inspiration. It should be mentioned that some of these music themes were previously used for Filmirage's KILLING BIRDS! (the soundtrack of KILLING BIRDS is out on a double feature CD with the score for CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT)
I just cannot understand why this movie never got the recognition it deserves. I think that this will happen after Lenzi dies, just like it happened with some of Lucio Fulci's works. In my opinion, HITCHER IN THE DARK is a hidden gem that depicts a psycho killer's dark deeds with style.
SOURCE: Shriek Show (US, DVD): The guys at Shriek Show managed to mess things up by adding black bars to a fullscreen master to make it look widescreen. This means that the movie is missing information at the top and bottom of the frame. Otherwise the image quality is great. Anyway, this disc is still a revelation for me because I had been searching for the film for years.
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Topic: Hitcher In The Dark / Paura nel buio (Umberto Lenzi, 1989) (Read 13400 times)