Word to the wise: Never pick up a hitchhiker with a Polaroid camera. We all know what happened with Ed Neal and those damn kids in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Now, along comes Mark Hammil as a 'Roid-sportin', fingernail-bitin' maniac (giving all fingernail-chewing Polaroid owners a bad name in the process) in this five-year-old thriller from Cannon.

Most flicks -- Cannon or otherwise -- that languish on a shelf long are usually there for a good reason. Cases in point, CAPTAIN AMERICA and THE FANTASTIC FOUR. 'Nuff said. Not so with MIDNIGHT RIDE.

Sylvia Graska plays the estranged wife of tough-guy cop Michael Dudikoff (AMERICAN NINJAs, AVENGING FORCE, RIVER OF DEATH). We know he's tough, 'cause he tears off his walking cast in order to track the missus down. She's in a world of trouble after picking up Hammil, apparently trying not to touch those STAR WARS checks before the kids hit college.

Along the way, Lu-u-u-u-k-e digs out a glass eye (which he licks -- ew!), takes candid photos, practices electroshock therapy without a license, and ties Dudikoff to the hood of a speeding taxi (in the flick's "price of admission" sequence).

Hammil is the flick, and not just 'cause it's fun to see him slumming in this sorta Euro-trash. His maniacism bubbles just below the surface and when it pops out he really steals the show. No wonder he excelled as villains on THE FLASH and BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.