the leading man is my tpye

Pretty Good

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Hitcher in the Dark (1989) * 1/2 (out of 4) Incredibly silly psychological thriller from the same man who brought us Eaten Alive, Cannibal Ferox, Nightmare City and countless giallos. This time out he tells the story of a young man (Joe Balogh) who is so in love with his mother that he drives around in his RV kidnapping women who look like her so that he can sexually assault them, kill them and then feed them to alligators. All of this changes when he kidnaps one girl (Josie Bissett) who he plans on settling down with, although she doesn't share the same feelings. This Italian/American production is a cross between Bill Lustig's Maniac and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo but needless to say it doesn't come close to any of those films. This movie is without question one of the dumbest and most boring thrillers I've ever seen and trust me when I say I've seen a lot. The biggest problem is Lenzi's direction, which is just downright horrible as he never brings any life to the film nor does he ever dig into this killer's mind even though that's what he's trying to do. There's no doubt Lenzi could create a good film earlier in his career but everything I've seen from after 1983 is pure junk and this film is included. There's some female nudity along the way but this too grows very tiresome. The only thing that keeps this sucker from getting a BOMB rating is the incredibly horrid dialogue, which Ed Wood would probably laugh at. The dialogue in this film is so bad that I couldn't help but laugh at loud during several scenes because it really seems like a two-year-old wrote it. Be sure to pay close attention to one scene where the girl's boyfriend, searching for her, sneaks into a RV, which belongs to a black man. This scene must be Lenzi paying tribute to the blaxploitation pictures of the 70s because of how bad and out of touch with reality it is.

I'm a big fan of Umberto Lenzi; he is the king of Italian 'Polizi' flicks and also made a handful of brilliant Giallo's, not to mention some decent stuff in other genres; but the man obviously didn't know when to quit as almost everything he made post-Cannibal ferox (Nightmare Beach excluded) is terrible, and Hitcher in the Dark is no exception...though it has to be said that it's better than the likes of Ghosthouse, Black Demons and House of Witchcraft. As the title suggests, the film is based around the common thriller of theme of hitchhikers, and the plot reminded me a lot of the solid seventies exploitation flick 'Hitch Hike to Hell'...mostly because they're essentially the same film (although the fact that this came out just a couple years after The Hitcher should be noted). We follow Mark: a disturbed young man who drives around in a camper van picking up young girls and killing them. It's not long before he comes across Daniela; a pretty young girl who Mark decides not to torture and kill immediately because of her resemblance to his mother...Yes, if Alfred Hitchcock taught us anything, it's that there's no such thing as a young psychopath who isn't obsessed with his mother, and clearly Umberto Lenzi subscribes to that view as well...which isn't much of a surprise. The fact that the film greatly lacks suspense doesn't do it much of a favour at all. The way that the plot is portrayed actually isn't that bad; but we're never made to care for the characters and it's always obvious where it's going (or at least it is to anyone who has seen more than a couple of films like this one) and the film never really manages to shock or surprise; two key elements of a thriller! The characters are all incredibly clichéd and positively wafer thin, which helps to make the film less interesting. Content with torturing his audience, Lenzi ensures that the film does not feature a great deal of blood or gore either, which often made me wonder why I was watching. Still, I can't completely condemn this film. Hitcher in the Dark is better than I was lead to believe it would be before seeing it; and at least I didn't fall asleep before the finish.

Deranged mama's boy Joe Balogh prowls the Virginia Beach area in his Winnebago,picking up women whom he thinks might take the place of his dead mother,then killing them when they come up short.He kidnaps a slim blonde(Josie Bissette),because of her resemblance to his dead mother."Hitcher in the Dark" is a cheesy and predictable Umberto Lenzi's thriller that manages to be slightly entertaining.There are some total lapses in logic and there is absolutely no suspense.The climax is incredibly awful and the script is weak.The movie is poorly done in typical Lenzi fashion with lots of false suspense and a total lack of believability in both the performances.However if you are a rabid fan of Italian horror films you can give it a look.4 out of 10.

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*A psycho and his Winnebago. So a nut travels up and down the Virginia Beach coastline looking for hitchhikers. Seems lonely boy has a fixation on his mother. Don't they all? He wants to mold the hitchhikers into his hot, saintly mother's image. Lurid mind games follow.This movie could have been good. The problem is the acting. Since most of the movie is spent having the psycho converse with his prey, it is imperative that the psycho be believable and, if at all possible, scary. He is none of that. In fact, he's awful. One of the worst acting performances ever. Since the camera is on him through most of the flick, he starts to wear you down with his lazy psycho routine. The hitchhiker he picks up, (Josie Bissett), was good. All of the other actors stunk. The music was also horrible. Late 80's synthesizer cheese.On the plus side, the movie did have an authentic, grimy feel to it. The filmmakers knew the right deranged words to put in the psycho's mouth. He just couldn't deliver them convincingly. There are some good exploitation scenes in his camper. Here's the psycho party mix: A girl, chloroform and an instant camera. It makes for a happy psycho. I did enjoy the completely unnecessary wet T-shirt contest as well."Hitcher in the Dark" may just be sordid enough to warrant a viewing. I can't say that I loved every second of it but it does have its seedy moments.