Top Ten List of Fun Facts From Dave Meyers’ ‘The Hitcher’ (2007)

Released on January 19, 2007, Dave Meyers’ remake of The Hitcher turns 15 in 2022. To celebrate, we have compiled a list of fun facts about the film.

I remember stumbling across The Hitcher DVD in my sister’s movie book. I had seen all her other thrillers and horrors and decided to give it a shot. After all, it has Brook from One Tree Hill in it. Ever since, it has been a movie that has stuck with me, specifically the scene where characters Grace and Jim stumble across a family that has fallen victim to The Hitcher’s sick, twisted ways. It’s a heartbreaking scene for me, to say the least, and I’m the type of person who’s usually only affected by an animal getting harmed in a film. The Hitcher is a thriller that keeps you on your toes the entire time you’re watching.

Synopsis:

Grace (Sophia Bush) and Jim (Zachary Knighton) are a pair of college students on their way to spend spring break with some friends, blissfully unaware of the horror that awaits them. A kind gesture of offering a ride to a hitchhiker (Sean Bean) turns deadly as they fight for their innocence and life. Also staring Neal McDonough as Lt. Esteridge.

Ten Fun Facts About The Hitcher (2007)

1) Sean Bean spent little time with his young co-stars so as to distance their relationship and make himself seem more unknown and menacing. He believed this would drive the chemistry in a more realistic fashion.

2) The movie that Grace is watching in the hotel near the end is The Birds (1963).

3) Jessica Biel turned down the role of Grace Andrews while Britney Spears was considered for the same role.

4) The car Jim drives is an Oldsmobile 442.

5) The song that plays at the beginning of the movie, “Move Along” by the All American Rejects, is also in the TV show Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton are both known for, One Tree Hill.

6) In the German dub of the movie, Sophia Bush gets dubbed by voice actress Giuliana Jakobeit. Jakobeit is also the German voice for Peyton Sawyer, Sophia Bush’s on-screen best friend in One Tree Hill.

7) Director cameo from Dave Meyers: Photo on the driver’s license of the real John Ryder.

8) Rutger Hauer, who played the character of John Ryder in the original, was offered a cameo, but declined for artistic reasons. Hauer has since said in the press that he has yet to watch the remake.

9) Despite being credited, Eric Red did not work on the screenplay.

10) As soon as Grace and Jim push the hitchhiker out of the car, the camera flips to show him outside the vehicle, and you can see Grace leaning out and shutting the door. But when it shows them back in the car, she is still in the back seat. Then the shot moves her to the front as she shuts the door, although she already did.

Remember, PopHorror fans….

Never pick up strangers.