Hitch Hike to Hell, 1977.
Directed by Irvin Berwick.
Starring Robert Gribbin, Russell Johnson, John Harmon, Dorothy Bennett, Sheryl Lynn, Randy Echols.
SYNOPSIS:
A mentally disturbed delivery driver kidnaps, rapes and murders hitch hikers, especially those with mommy issues.
The most remarkable thing about Hitch Hike to Hell lies in its persistent ordinariness. That is to say, Hitch Hike to Hell is a sleazy 1970s exploitation movie that offers up very little from its basic premise and does exactly what it says in the title, as it were.
In it, Robert Gribbin plays Howard, a seemingly mild-mannered delivery driver who lives with his mother, knows everyone in town and generally is that character we have seen in several ‘good-boy-with-mommy-issues’ thrillers. What is slightly different here is that Howard’s mother is not a domineering control freak, religious zealot or in any way abusive; at least, she doesn’t appear to be because in the scenes in which we see her she is caring and loving towards Howard. That isn’t to say there couldn’t be more beneath the surface but we never get to hear of it or see it, such is the underdeveloped nature of pretty much every plot detail in the movie.
What we do get, though, is a little nugget of a backstory involving Howard’s older sister who ran away from home as a teenager and was never heard of again, which does cause Howard’s mother to react strangely whenever her daughter is mentioned. In the hands of another writer this could have been something to expand on but we never get more than the surface details.
But it is Howard’s reactions that count as he goes about his daily duties for a local laundry company delivering and collecting client’s laundry. Small towns produce hitch hikers – or they did back in the 1970s – and Howard tends to pick quite a few of them up, usually female and all of them having issues with their mothers which, as soon as that gets mentioned, sends Howard into a psychotic rage wherein he rapes and murders them by strangling them with a wire coathanger. Naturally, the local police jump to attention and try to stop the killer before the next victim turns up, and there is your story.
Much like the simplistic plot there is not a lot else to Hitch Hike to Hell that you wouldn’t have seen in dozens of other hitch hiker movies, and with the likes of 1986s The Hitcher pretty much defining the idea of getting into a stranger’s car and instantly regretting the decision (from the driver, in that case), there is no way a grimy little independent exploitation thriller from 1977 is going to get as high in the excitement stakes. The acting is, at best, passable and most of the graphic stuff is kept off-screen, with a few topless shots thrown in for titillation and to please the crowds in the grindhouse cinemas but compared to something like I Spit on Your Grave or Pasquale Festa Campanile’s Hitch-Hike – also from 1977 – this is very tame stuff.
And yet there is something here. Robert Gribbin may not be Anthony Perkins but he displays a likeability that makes you feel sorry for him whenever his boss is constantly reprimanding him – a sympathetic characteristic that is shared by his female colleague who is always going to bat for him – and there is an attempt to flesh him out by giving him a few quirks, such as his love for root beer. The film also never hurries or gets bogged down in anything needless, emanating a tone that doesn’t seem to suit the subject matter entirely but somehow makes it a lot more watchable than one of the harder rape/murder movies from the era.
Packed with some interesting extras, including a video essay detailing hitch hike movies and how they evolved, plus interviews with US genre movie expert Stephen Thrower and country singer Nancy Adams, who provided the title song, Hitch Hike to Hell comes in a 2K restoration but don’t get your hopes up as it still looks extremely grainy and full of pops, which all adds to the grindhouse feel but anyone hoping for a pristine print may be left disappointed. Nevertheless, it fills up 88 minutes rather inoffensively if you are prepared to humour yourself with its shortcomings, although it won’t be extreme enough for the hardcore grindhouse fans and probably won’t be polished or exciting enough for casual watchers, but the obvious and overriding message about accepting lifts from strangers is probably its biggest takeaway and the message does still just about get through.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
