The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting is a 2003 American direct-to-DVD road thriller film directed by Louis Morneau and starring C. Thomas Howell, returning as Jim Halsey, Kari Wuhrer as his girlfriend Maggie, and Jake Busey as psychotic hitchhiker Jack. It is the sequel to the 1986 film The Hitcher. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on July 15, 2003. Plot Fifteen years after the events of The Hitcher, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) now works as a police officer. He has recently been suspended for using excessive force on a kidnapping suspect, and decides to visit retired Captain Esteridge in Texas to talk about his lingering mental issues. Jim's girlfriend, Maggie (Kari Wuhrer), who has a crop dusting business, is unaware of Jim's past and pleads to come along. Arriving in Texas, the couple pick up a car that Estridge has left for them, and set off to his house. The drive on the lonely road triggers Jim's PTSD, and when they see an RV that has been run off the road, blood dripping through the door, Jim refuses to stop and help. A motorcycle speeds past them and crashes. Maggie insists they take the driver on board. The Hitcher (Jake Busey) is insistent on making small talk and joking with them, but Jim is overwhelmed and evicts him from the car. Jim and Maggie are eventually pulled over by a cop, but have been also followed by the Hitcher, who has hijacked an 18-wheeler truck and killed its driver. The Hitcher shoots the cop and tries to grab Jim and Maggie but is thrown off the car when they escape. The couple arrive at the Esteridge residence late at night, but the Captain and his wife have been killed by the Hitcher. Jim and Maggie are caught in a shootout between the Hitcher, who is in the hayloft of the barn, and the local police, who have arrived on the scene. Jim pushes Maggie out of harm's way and is shot by the Hitcher. As he dies, he tells her to kill the Hitcher. Maggie escapes in her car. Maggie falls asleep in the desert. When she wakes up, she is knocked unconscious and put inside an abandoned water tower on the verge of collapsing. The Hitcher taunts her and then leaves. Maggie escapes and uses his 18-wheeler to get away. She arrives at