THE HITCHHIKERS

A 1976 road trip goes deeply awry when a vacationing husband and wife cross paths with a young couple on the lam.

Having recently had a stillborn baby following three miscarriages, Seattleites Tom and Alice Bell pack up their Winnebago and head through Canada as part of their healing process. But their plans go horribly askew when, at a campsite, they meet a young Canadian couple who say their names are the hippyish Ocean and Blue, and offer to give them a ride. In reality, they’re Jenny Perron and Simon Gray, and they’re on the run from law enforcement, having left a bloody scene behind in Jenny’s home north of Vancouver, British Columbia. Alice discovers the ruse early on through a radio newscast and then a newspaper article. Unfortunately, it’s not early enough to avoid Simon’s enraged response when their true story is exposed. What follows is a road trip across the Canadian highways and backroads riven by violence, frustration, and terror. The narrative is studded with mid-’70s cultural references including humor writer Erma Bombeck, TV series Happy Days, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor “heading for another divorce,” eight-track tapes, Hamburger Helper, Jell-O, SpaghettiOs, and Pop Rocks. But the tale is even more palpably marked by the messes that Simon and Jenny leave wherever they go, with Alice and Tom perpetually in tow. In a nod to the historical timeframe, the more Alice tries to manage the erratic situation—Tom having been waylaid by a beating from Simon—the more she and Tom both realize her stay-at-home role may no longer be viable. As always, true to her modus operandi, Stevens keeps the ultimate twists firmly up her sleeve until the final pages.

Stevens maintains the speed and frights in this on-the-road psychological thriller.