HITCH-HIKE

Directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile
Written by Aldo Crudo
Cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo & Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Music by Ennio Morricone
Cast: Franco Nero, Corinne Clery & David Hess

1978/104 mins/Color/Dolby Digital Mono
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/Italy/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Anchor Bay DVD

Reporter Walter Mancini (Franco Nero) and his lovely wife Eve (Corinne Clery) are driving across Southern states. But this couple isn't your average love affair. Mancini is a drunk, violent, egostical person while Eve tries desperatly to relive their past love.

Things take a dramatic turn when they pick up an hitch-hiker, Adam (David Hess). The radio reports that four men have robbed a bank with $2 million in cash. Guess who one of the robbers is? From there its humiliation, rape and mayhem that the couple will have to go through to try to make it alive and keep their "loving" relationship going.

Pasquale Festa Campanile's movie starts out as a road movie but becomes a high tension thriller when the couple make the fatal mistake of picking up the David Hess character who's doing pretty much the same role as in THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. The delicious Corinne Clery (of THE STORY OF O and MOONRAKER) gives a very good performance as the wife who suffers pretty much through all the film. But the highlight here is the amazing performance from Franco Nero who steals the show. As we get to the amazing ending, we discover that he's much worse then any of the bastards we meet through the film. We also get another very atmospheric score from legendary composer Ennio Morricone.

Barely released in theaters in North America, its with much surprise that Anchor Bay have released this lost classic on DVD. The movie is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. There's some grain but nothing alarming, the movie looks surprsingly good with rich and nicely saturated colors. Unlike the UK edition which got a remastered 5.1 Dolby Digital track, all we get here is a Dolby Digital Mono English dubbed. Its nothing spectacular but does a nicely job. It would have been nice if the original Italian track would have been included.

We get a interesting 17 minutes featurette, "The Devil Thumbs A Ride" which was produced by Anchor Bay and Blue Underground. It features interviews with the leads who go into all the details about the film. Corinne Clery still looks amazing today. We also get a trailer full of spoilers so watch it only after seeing the film. The disc features some ugly static menus with music, 25 chapter stops, an inlay card with the original poster on one side and comes in a keep case. And finally, what's up with that awful cover? Another nice surprise from Anchor Bay.

( Original title: Autostop Rosso Sangue )

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2006. ©