The Direct to Video Connoisseur

I'm a huge fan of action, horror, sci-fi, and comedy, especially of the Direct to Video variety. In this blog I review some of my favorites and not so favorites, and encourage people to comment and add to the discussion. For announcements and updates, don't forget to Follow us on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. If you're the director, producer, distributor, etc. of a low-budget feature length film and you'd like to send me a copy to review, you can contact me at dtvconnoisseur[at]yahoo.com. I'd love to check out what you got. And check out my book, Chad in Accounting, over on Amazon.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003)

I'm a huge C. Thomas Howell guy. No one else who votes on the DTVC Hall of Fame is, so he's been frozen out, at least for now. I bought this movie on the cheap at BestBuy partly for C. Thomas Howell, and partly because The Hitcher with Rutger Hauer (a real DTVC Hall of Famer) was one mine and my friends' favorite movies growing up. No, I haven't seen the remake that came out recently, should I?

The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting takes place a while after the first one. C. Thomas Howell is having trouble getting over what happened, which is very understandable. Kari Wuher, his woman, thinks he should be getting over it faster, which doesn't really make any sense, because what Rutger did to him in the first movie was pretty traumatizing. Anyway, they decide to take a vacation to get away from it all. Howell is murdered by the new Hitcher, played by Jake Busey, and now Wuher must sub in for Howell and remake the first movie.


I didn't go into this movie with high expectations, and I still was let down. First, Howell was killed off early. I couldn't believe it. Why am I watching it then? Busey wasn't bad as the new Hitcher, but he also isn't Rutger Hauer. Part of the allure of the first movie was the advanced age of the killer--like he could almost be a twisted father figure to Howell. Maybe they should've gotten Jake's dad, Gary, instead, or even Dennis Hopper. Then we'd all be happy.

This isn't really a sequel, it's a cheap remake sans anyone worth watching. Jake Busey and Kari Wuher are great extra people to throw in, but I need someone big, like a Hopper, or a Hauer. I was expecting C. Thomas Howell, but the movie makers were arrogant enough to think they could pull this off without him. They were wrong. Dead Wrong.

Don't waste your time on this sack of asscrack. I'm not even talking about spending money on it, I'm saying don't waste the hour-and-a-half of your life. Don't see it for free. Watch something you've already seen before, like the episode of SportsCenter you just sat through. Or watch something you've never seen, like a soccer game, or a mini-marathon of Laguna Beach. Whatever you do, don't watch this.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299988/

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