As fans of horror films and anyone who's watched television in the last week knows, Friday marks the opening of The Hitcher. It's a Gen Y update of the 1986 C. Thomas Howell/Rutger Hauer flick that scared a generation of drivers off picking up hitchhikers and eating French fries. But it's nothing compared to the real life story of the screenwriter (of the original and, along with two other credited writers, the remake), Eric Red.

According to a harrowing 2006 LA Weekly cover story subtly titled "Death Race 2000," Red was involved in a horrific auto accident and seeming suicide attempt in Santa Monica that left one person dead and several others injured in 2000.

The Weekly's Paul Cullum described the accident as follows:

According to witness statements, [Red's] Jeep struck his car a second time, gradually picking up speed, until it jackknifed the Honda into oncoming traffic ... and suddenly it was going an estimated 35-40 miles per hour the wrong way across Wilshire, witnesses told police. It jumped the curb and obliterated a bus stop, scooping up 26-year-old Santa Monica City College English student David Roos, who was running for the safety of Q's Billiards, located at 11835 Wilshire, immediately behind him. Taking out an outdoor patio of tables and scattering bodies...

Red, who also wrote the scripts for Near Dark and Blue Steel, then emerged from the car: "Still holding his car keys in his left hand, and bleeding from a small cut on his right eyebrow, Red walked a ways from the vehicle, just in time for Cassady Jeremias, one of Kenny Hughes's friends in the car ahead of him, to see him pick up a sharp stick and begin ramming it into his chest. Interviewed recently, she remembers thinking, 'Well, who's this joker—he's not going to kill himself with a stick jabbing himself in the chest?' Undaunted, Red picked up a broken glass off the floor, approximately two inches thick, and slashed once at his neck, cutting it deeply."

Yow! After receiving medical attention, Red was sent to UCLA psychiatric ward and claimed he had a medical condition that caused fainting spells. He spent the next several years in and out of court dealing with civil suits and bankruptcy hearings but not, as he continued to request, a jury trial where he could explain the accident was a byproduct of his fainting. According to Cullum, Red wanted to appeal his way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the families of his victims tried—and failed—to reopen the criminal case against him and Red sued his own attorneys for legal-malpractice.

But that's all in the past, right? Red's got two scripts in various stages of production (one directed by Speed director Jan de Bont). Roger Moore the Orlando Sentinel's movie blogger, recently called Red "not an utter hack" and says he's "actually looking forward" to the new Hitcher. Ain't It Cool News's Harry Knowles watched the trailer and squealed, "they're definitely blowing shit up real good and given the laxed attitudes about gross stuff that the MPAA currently has, I'm betting the truck ripping scene will be real good."

The new film, directed by Dave Meyers, the auteur behind some of Britney Spears's and Creed's best videos (hello, "Lucky"? "With Arms Wide Open" much?) stars.... Well, no one as famous as C. Thomas Howell. (Not even as famous as C. Thomas Howell in his current incarnation.) The trailer sure looks terrifying, what with its gory scenes of intense bodily harm caused by cars and trucks.

But, you know, it's just a movie. Right?