Hitcher-Hiker is a suspenseful, gritty, at times violent and nastily sleazy road movie. The late 1970s film sees Franco Nero, a hard-drinking journalist living off his wife's money, picking up an unbalanced David Hess (Last House On The Left, House On The Edge of the Park) for a nicely twisting and turning film with a decidedly nihilistic tone. From Powerhouse- as either a UHD or Blu-Ray- is a recent release of the film, taking in a new commentary track, and a good selection of new/ archive extras.

Hitch-Hike (Autostop Rosso Sangue, Death Drive, The Naked Prey) is an Italian production from the year 1977. Filmed on the dusty and barren backroads of Italy, which are sold as California. 

It was written & directed Melfi, Basilicata born Pasquale Festa Campanile.  Between the early 60s and early 80s, he had forty-one features to his name. These go from 18th-century Rome-set comedy White Voices (1964), and WWI-set comedy-drama The Girl & The General(1967). Through slapstick sex comedy How To Lose A Wife And Find A Lover (1978), onto 1920s set crime-drama Uno Scandalo Perbene (1984).

We open up by being introduced to our lead couple. Boozed-up, misogynistic, lazy Italian journalist Walter Mancini(Nero), and his constantly being belittled/sexually assaulted wife Eve (Corinne Cléry) are driving across the states,  towing a caravan behind them.

On their journey, they come across Adam Konitz(Hess), who claims he has broken down. So they agree to give him a lift, but just as they are leaving, the camera pans back to show the car's real owner with a bullet in his head. They get underway with the dirtily chucking Konitz- banter is passed back and forth, but then he steps over the line sexually proposing to Eve. Walter stamps on the brakes- and the pair are out fighting on the dusty road, but just as it seems Walter is winning the fight, Konitz pulls a gun, and we find out the suitcase he carries is full of stolen money.

As the film unfolds, cops are bloodily gunned down, drunken & unbalanced banter ensues, car & vehicle cases occur, and Konitz intensifies his mental/physical torment of Mancini’s.

The film features a few moments of gory death and an alarming/prolonged sexual assault, which certainly stand as the most troubling things here.

All three actors are believable in their roles- Hess, as always, carries an air of sleazy disquiet, being very unpredictable and often unhinged. Cléry shifts from being belittled, to a woman on the edge, to being truly traumatised. But I think Franco is the most impressive here- going all the way from cocky/boozed up to broken/ emotionally drained.

The film has a runtime of one hour and forty-four minutes, and there is really no dip in either the tight-as-drum tension or the effective twists in the plot. The film features an excellent Ennio Morricone score, which moves between taut guitar strums, woozy female vocalising, and a few moments of moody jazziness.

I first saw Hitcher-Hiker some twenty years back, finding it then a damn compelling/ on the edge of your seat thriller, with some wonderful twists. And today I feel the same, but with a new appreciation of the skilful directing, top-class acting, and clever script writing.

On this new release, we get two presentations of the film: Hitch-Hike, the English-language version; and Autostop Rosso Sangue, the Italian-language version. Both of these are given a 4k scan- which is wonderfully crisp- with great colour definition throughout.

On the extras side of things, we get a decent selection.  On the new side, we have a commentary track with  Italian genre film experts Eugenio Ercolani and Marcus Stiglegger. They start off discussing why the film is an anomaly for several reasons. We get a brief bio of director Pasquale Festa Campanile, who was Oscar-nominated. They talk about how Franco's character is despicable, and it’s surprising he took on the role, as at this point, he was at the height of his popularity across the world. They discuss how the makers were trying to make the roads look like they were in America, even placing American traffic signs, but it still looks like it’s in Europe.  They discuss how David Hess's performance was more subtle than his appearances in other films. They talk about the film’s bleak worldview, with three very different approaches to acting from our leads. They talk about Franco’s character having an almost Incel mindset. Later on, they discuss the film's writers and what they add to the film's makeup. They talk about David Hess’s career and declare the film's ending didn’t make sense/ is very mean-spirited. All in all, a track worth playing.

Otherwise, on the new side, we have: Adventures in Abruzzo(25.03) interview with assistant director Neri Parenti. The Novelist’s Revenge (28.11) Eugenio Ercolan discusses the film, and where it fits in the director's oeuvre. The Coldest of Dishes( one hour and thirty-seven seconds) a documentary looking at the Italian rape and revenge genre by Eugenio Ercolan. This takes in interviews involved with making said films, as well as discussion from Ercolan. The documentary ok, though it does jump around back & forth between films, and some of the interviews don’t fully fit into the documentary's focus/criteria.

And on the archive/ updated side, we have the following: Road to Ruin(  one hour and twenty-seven minutes) updated documentary by filmmaker Federico Caddeo delving into the production, release, and reception of Hitch-Hike, featuring extensive interviews with actors Franco Nero, Corinne Cléry and David Hess, and assistant director Neri Parenti.  The Devil Thumbs a Ride (17.38) a 2002 making-of documentary, featuring interviews with Nero, Cléry and Hess. Original theatrical trailers and an Image gallery featuring promotional and publicity material.

The finished release comes with an eighty-page book with a new essay by Mikel J Koven, an archival interview with author and film historian Andrea Pergolari on the subject of Pasquale Festa Campanile’s wider career, extracts from archival interviews with co-writer Ottavio Jemma, composer Ennio Morricone, and actors Franco Nero, Corinne Cléry, and David Hess, and film credits.

It’s truly wonderful to see Hitcher-Hiker back in print once again, as it most certainly is one of the great exploitation thrillers of the 70s- with a perfect cast, a perfectly suspenseful unfold, with moments of troubling sleaze & violence. This Powerhouse release features a lovely 4 K scan, and a good selection of worthy extras.