By Signal Staff
A terrifying encounter with a sociopath comes to Buzz Classic Movies on Saturday night — appropriately enough, Halloween — with a streaming presentation of “The Hitch-Hiker.”
The 1953 classic has earned a 94% critics score based on 47 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 64% audience score on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter based on more than 1,000 ratings.
“Ray (Edmond O’Brien) and Gilbert’s (Frank Lovejoy) fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker (William Talman) they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law,” says the Rotten Tomatoes summary of the movie. “He’s killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they’re no longer useful, he’ll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker’s peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, make it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.”
“The drama itself is confined to one basic situation: captives at the gunpoint mercy of a trigger-happy killer. But, playing this conflict for all it is worth, the movie works up a good deal of sweaty suspense without using false theatrics,” read a staff review in Time Magazine.
“The Hitchhiker” streams at 8 p.m. Saturday on The Signal’s streaming channel, The Buzz, available at buzzscv.com as well as streaming platforms including Roku and Apple TV.
