Decades of Horror Decades of Horror The Classic Era Featured Gruesome Podcasts The Classic Era

THE HITCH-HIKER (1953) – Episode 102 – Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

“My folks were tough. When I was born, they took one look at this puss of mine and told me to get lost.” You might have asked, “How tough were they?” But he didn’t wait for the question before giving his answer. Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Whitney Collazo, Chad Hunt, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Joseph Perry, and Jeff Mohr – as they discuss this terrifying, and dare we say, “horror-adjacent” film noir directed by Ida Lupino, The Hitch-Hiker (1953).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 102 – The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel!
Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content!
https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT
Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL
which will now include video episodes of The Classic Era!
Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website.
Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.
https://classicscifichannel.com/

Two fishermen pick up a psychotic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.

IMDb

The Hitch-Hiker is Whitney’s pick and a great pick it is. Her reasoning? She wanted to explore the relationship between film noir and horror, it is based on true events (really!), and she wanted to learn more about Ida Lupino. She also loves the aesthetic of the landscape and the characters. Daphne loves the look and feel of The Hitch-Hiker calling it a great, beautiful movie. A videotape from Sinister Cinema was Joseph’s introduction to the film as he made a side trip into films noir during the early 1990s, and he likes The Hitch-Hiker quite a bit. Jeff is a big fan of noir films and loves The Hitch-Hiker for the tension built by the filmmakers. His personal find in this movie is character actor José Torvay. You may want to check this episode out on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel.

Your Classic Era Grue-Crew is universally impressed with Ida Lupino’s direction, Nicholas Musuraca’s cinematography, the script, and the cast’s performances. Whether or not you think The Hitch-Hiker is horror (or at least horror-adjacent), its nail-biting tension can’t be denied. As of this writing, The Hitch-Hiker is available to stream on Amazon Prime and on physical media as a Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next on their very flexible schedule is one chosen by Jeff, The Most Dangerous Game (1932).

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!

Jeff Mohr
Jeff lives smack dab in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa and is a long-time horror fan. His first remembered encounters with the genre were The Wizard of Oz, Tarzan gorilla chases, and watching the first broadcast of The Twilight Zone episode, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." While he now qualifies as an old fart, he strives to be an Old Boy. Paraphrasing Robert Bloch, he has the heart of a small boy. He keeps it in a jar on his desk. Jeff has written for Horrornews.net and SQ Horror Magazine. He currently writes for Gruesome Magazine and is a co-host of the Decades of Horror podcasts - The Classic Era, 1970s, and 1980s - and the Gruesome Magazine Podcast.