Rating: R
Genre:
Thriller
Theatrical Release: 02/21/1986(USA)
Release Date: 06/08/1999
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DDS
Run Time: 98 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Graphic Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
Pretty boy actor
C. Thomas Howell stars in this dark, violent
suspense film about the strange psychological bond between a traveling serial killer and one of his intended victims. Driving cross-country from Chicago to San Diego,
Jim (
Howell) narrowly avoids an accident when he falls asleep at the wheel. He picks up a hitchhiker to help stay awake, but within five minutes, the erratic
John Ryder (
Rutger Hauer) has threatened not only
Jim's life, but also his manhood, brandishing a switchblade to the boy's crotch and ordering him to keep driving.
Jim manages to escape, but soon
Ryder begins a game of cat-and-mouse across the Texas highways, taunting the lad from the windows of passing cars, then leaving the corpses of his victims in their vehicles by the side of the road for
Jim to discover. A sympathetic face arrives in the form of
Nash (
Jennifer Jason Leigh), the waitress at an otherwise deserted truck stop in this bleak, abandoned landscape, but the local police soon arrive, intent on hanging
Jim out to dry for the string of grisly murders. The stakes continue to mount in
Ryder's little game until
Jim finds himself embroiled in a statewide manhunt with
Nash at his side. Former cinematographer
Robert Harmon made his directorial debut with this popular
thriller; screenwriter
Eric Red, also making his debut, would go on to write similarly brooding genre fare including
Near Dark,
Bad Moon, and
Alien 3.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
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