John Ryder may have wanted Jim to stop him, but you’re going to have a hard time stopping any fan from picking up the upcoming 4K Blu-ray of The Hitcher. Surprisingly, the movie has never been available on a Region 1 Blu-ray, but thankfully Warner Bros. is gassing up for exactly that.
As per The Digital Bits, Warner Bros. will release The Hitcher – which stars Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh – on October 22nd.
Here is the official write-up: “In this 1986 cult classic, director Robert Harmon thrills the viewer with the story of young Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell), who stops on the highway to pick up a hitchhiker, not knowing that by doing so, he opens the door to terrible evil. The mysterious hitcher, unforgettably portrayed by Rutger Hauer, is a relentless slaughterer, preying on those who invite him into their lives. Somewhat dismissed at the time of its original release, The Hitcher developed a rabid fan following in the ensuing years, now properly recognized as one of the most memorable and terrifying thrillers of the 1980s.”
As far as special features go, fans of The Hitcher might be disappointed that they’ll only be getting an audio commentary with director Robert Harmon and writer Eric Red, a video interview with Harmon and the theatrical trailer. If you want more content – and we mean a lot more content – you might be better off with Second Sight’s set, which comes out on September 30th and features not only new extras but a 200-page book, a copy of the screenplay and more. OK, all of that is pretty incredible, but at least Warner Bros.’ version has the original artwork! For fans who go way back with the movie, that’s a major get.
Regardless of the lack of special features, this release of The Hitcher will offer the same 4K scan of the original camera negative as the one found on Second Sight’s. On the restoration itself, director Harmon said, “Stunned by how great it looks… beautiful work!! Really, this movie has no business looking this good considering how ancient the elements are.”
The Hitcher is beloved by a wealth of genre fans, myself included, so this is no doubt a pre-order. I would also pick Rutger Hauer’s performance as one of the best in any horror movie.
Will you be picking up this 4K release of The Hitcher? What are your memories of first seeing it?
He feels the need – the need to please! Tom Cruise pulled another all-star stunt over the weekend, making a surprise appearance at a screening of Top Gun: Maverick. As if that wasn’t cool enough, the showing itself was backed by a live orchestra performing the movie’s score.
With nearly 3,000 people in attendance, Tom Cruise’s surprise spot was an insanely huge hit within the famed Royal Albert Hall in London. During his introduction, Cruise expressed excitement at the rarity and history that the live music added to Top Gun: Maverick, noting its usage during the silent era.
While live musical accompaniments to modern films (that’s talkies, ya see) have become more popular over the years and it’s not uncommon to find them during special occasions (many theaters, for example, do Harry Potter films around Christmas), Cruise said that this particular screening of the Top Gun sequel would allow him to fulfill a lifelong desire. “I’ve always wanted to experience a film like this with a live full symphony orchestra, synchronized picture, in front of a packed audience in the grandeur of a classic movie palace. Thank you all for being here, and thank you for making this dream come true.” He even sat at the theater’s pipe organ, no doubt taking cues from his old pal Nick Nightingale.
Cruise, ever the champion of cinema, also expressed his thanks to those behind the scenes of Top Gun: Maverick – both the film and the special screening. “The power of music and its use in cinema to deepen our experience of the story and our connection to the characters is absolutely magical. And the music you’re about to hear live tonight, I want to personally thank the extraordinary talents of Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer, Lady Gaga, OneRepublic, and the gentleman who’s here this evening who also produced the score, Lorne Balfe. I also want to thank tonight’s orchestra and all of your exceptional talents.”
Twitch’s evolution as a platform felt palpable throughout the streaming service’s annual three-day convention. From drag shows to discussions on diversity, most of the sights and sounds of TwitchCon 2024 affirmed the strides the platform has made in creating inclusive spaces for gamers. And Kotaku Senior Editor Alyssa…
Twitch’s evolution as a platform felt palpable throughout the streaming service’s annual three-day convention. From drag shows to discussions on diversity, most of the sights and sounds of TwitchCon 2024 affirmed the strides the platform has made in creating inclusive spaces for gamers. And Kotaku Senior Editor Alyssa…
Physical media seems to be making a comeback. A few years ago, studios were about ready to throw in the towel on DVD/ Blu-ray, with many companies no longer releasing all their movies in that format, preferring no fuss digital releases and streaming. But, movies on disc are making a comeback, with 4K Blu-ray leading the way, and companies like Arrow Video, Criterion, Shout Factory and more gaining a lot of fans among cinephiles for their amazing releases. Here at JoBlo, we’d like to know, from our readers, if physical media, particularly movies on 4K discs, are something they care about and invest a lot of their time and money in. Let us know by taking the poll below!
One day left in the weekend, puzzlers—make it count! Maybe with some lighter fare like The Wild Robot? Grab the kids and go, or just take yourself—nothing wrong with a little popcorn and animation to wrap up your weekend!
One day left in the weekend, puzzlers—make it count! Maybe with some lighter fare like The Wild Robot? Grab the kids and go, or just take yourself—nothing wrong with a little popcorn and animation to wrap up your weekend!
It was quite the week in gaming, from impossible-to-secure pre-orders of the newly announced PS5 Pro, to huge sales on major Capcom and Xbox games, to confirmation about which of your Dragon Age choices will carry over to Veilguard. As always, we covered them all, and now they’re in one spot here for you perusal.…
It was quite the week in gaming, from impossible-to-secure pre-orders of the newly announced PS5 Pro, to huge sales on major Capcom and Xbox games, to confirmation about which of your Dragon Age choices will carry over to Veilguard. As always, we covered them all, and now they’re in one spot here for you perusal.…
For years Samara Weaving has been one of the most fascinating actors in the horror genre. Every time she shows up, there’s an infectious energy that makes her pop off the screen. And she has a knack for picking cool projects. I love it when a movie has a gimmick that it takes through its entire running time. Weaving’s latest venture, Azrael, follows a society post-Rapture, where it’s been deemed a sin to speak. So the film is almost entirely barren of dialogue and really hinges on its performance from lead, Samara Weaving. I loved the film and you can check out my review. The story is a little stereotypical but its the execution that really impresses. The world-building is fantastic and is a great playground for Weaving’s Azrael to exist in.
I was lucky enough to talk to Samara about her role as Azrael, and what it was like to play an entirely mute character:
“It was weird, man. It was a real [weird]. That’s why I did it. You know, I read the script and I was like, “Oh, this is a challenge that’s not going to come around again. I really want to push myself because I’m psycho. Yes, I will go to Estonia in the cold, in the rain, in the snow, and do five weeks of night shoots. Great… But yeah, it was a trip, I think. Having your voice kind of stripped from you and just having to lean on physicality and facial expressions and really listening and looking at other actors and getting real weird with it. It was cool. It was great.”
And as someone who interviews a lot of actors, two things they tend to avoid are Night Shoots and Outdoor Filming. With Azrael taking place almost entirely outdoors and the majority happening at night, this was a nightmare for some actors. Yet Samara took it on like the champ she is, welcoming the challenge.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but that seems to be all [I’m doing] recently. It’s just “Ohh, is it all nice? And it’s all on location. Sign me up. That’s great.” I don’t know. Yes. It’s like brutal and it’s uncomfortable and peoples emotions are really high because people are tired, but there’s something…there’s like a sense of camaraderie. And you get the things that you’ve really been planning . You’re all there, cause you really love it and you care about it. You can’t be anything other than super humble and super willing. And you know, like you’re gonna be upside down on a tree for three days. Great. Let’s go, you know.”
Without any lines of dialogue, Samara’s prepwork was unlike any other film she’d done as she didn’t have to do any line memorization. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty else to prepare for, as the role was plenty physical. But without dialogue, meant the character’s background wouldn’t be handled in a typical way:
“A lot of the story was in the script, but there was a lot of like back story that I just kind of wanted to have, for my own sake. Because the challenge for me going into it was like: how do we keep audiences invested in this character? We need to find these emotional beats and make them really pivotal. Really poignant. Or else you’re just watching someone fight people for a long time, which is great. Also, if that’s what you’re into. But just to try and make it the audience being curious about what is happening and having the ambiguity of it all be like “of service to the story” and not a bad thing. So that was what I was concerned about. And the prep really for me…it was like doing stunt training and learning those fight sequences, but also just sitting with: OK, what is this characters arc and journey? Like I would any kind of script and just get weird and pretentious with it. But then it was kind of scary.”
Finally, I had to make sure to ask her about her new film Carolina Caroline with Kyle Gallner which just wrapped filming.
“Ohh it’s gonna be magical. It’s gonna be…he’s awesome. I’ve been wanting to work with him for ages and I’m so glad we got to find this and it’s going to be such we both come from. You know horror, but this is the total departure from that, but I.”
And if you’ve been around the site you’ll know we’re big fans of Strange Darling (I may or may not have seen it 5x), so I had to ask Samara about her experience with the film, and she responded, “Isn’t it good?” Hilariously enough, I was supposed to interview Kyle on the day of the premiere, but he had to drop out for undisclosed reasons (turns out, he was filming this film). Thankfully, Samara was able to give a little insight into that with a fun story about Kyle missing the premiere:
“Well, we were working in Kentucky [on Carolina Caroline] and he couldn’t make his premiere. And so we got the whole crew to go and see it at a local Kentucky theatre. And then we rented out like a little dive bar and we all just, like, had a mini premiere for him there. It was really fun.”
I had an absolute blast talking with Samara and wish you guys could see the actual video as she’s so charismatic and likable. And make sure to check out Azrael when it comes to theaters this Friday. And for you folks who avoid the theater, it will release to Shudder latest this year.
AZRAEL IS PLAYING EXCLUSIVELY IN THEATERS ON SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2024.
(@conductorben) 
