The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Molly Meeker, Charles R. Meeker, and Leslie Scharf, based on characters created by Eric Red
Directed by Louis Morneau
Starring C. Thomas Howell, Kari Wuhrer, Jake Busey, Shaun Johnston, Marty Antonini

Released by: Universal
Rating: R
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Hunt it down and kill it

Maggie (Wuhrer) has decided that she is going to help her boyfriend, Jim (Howell) get over his past once and for all. It seems that Jim was haunted several years ago by a psychotic killer while he was helping someone move a car across the country (i.e., the original film). She figures that the lightning wouldn't strike twice, but she was wrong. While Jim sleeps on the trip, Maggie obviously didn't see the first movie so she picks up a hitchhiker...

Can I just say this? Jake Busey could not be intimidating if his life depended on it. There is absolutely no threat in this movie whatsoever. I mean, in all of Busey's jumping around and over-the-top stalking behavior, it always looks like a light breeze would blow him over with little or no effort. As such, Howell and Wuhrer don't have anything that they can do, but overact at the situation. There is a reason that this movie went straight to video...I mean other than Jake Busey: the production values and direction are simply laughable. Had this movie been released to cinemas, it probably would not have been seen by anyone at all. Hell, at this point, reviewers like myself may be the only people who have any reason at all to watch this trainwreck. They tried to make the movie feel more suspenseful by adding false moments of suspense at every turn. All it does is weaken the moments that are supposed to be really suspenseful.

The DVD has nothing on it, which is either a blessing or not, depending on how you look at it. I personally would have been interested to hear why they felt the need to create a sequel to the original in the first place, other than the fact Howell probably needed something to do. And considering how bad the film actually is, any making of featurette would have been highly entertaining, I'm sure.

So, this movie is horrible and the DVD is just the right treatment that it needed, but I would warn everyone to stay away lest your morbid curiosity be taken for interest by the studios and they go for a third flick.