Riding the Bullet

I was quite impressed with this film. It obviously wasn't a big-budget or big-marketing film. On my TV, the guide rated this as one-star. But I liked the story, I'm a Stephen King nut, and I enjoy watching films that aren't very well known. Basically, I didn't expect much so I was pleasantly surprised to find a decent movie that had wonderful atmosphere, as well as a strong performance from David Arquette. The movie is a bit random, and yes, it is filled with some cheap, cliché' scares. Basically, this is an exciting horror film that also contains plenty of late 60's music and lifestyle. While it's not perfect, it offers some excellent atmosphere and deserves at least one watch. Definitely recommended for a good Halloween movie.

Sunday, August 1st 2004 was the World Premiere of Stephen King's Riding The Bullet, which was hosted by DIRECTOR MICK GARRIS.

The story is set back in 1969. Alan (Jonathan Jackson) is a college student who learns that his mother (Barbara Hershey) has been hospitalized after a stroke. He must hitchhike across the state over the course of one night to be with her. Along the way he confronts his past, his future, his demons and fears - and a terrifying personification of death.

This film is brilliantly shot and the cast is fantastic!!! This film works so well because it has everything a TRUE Stephen King fan would be proud of. Excellent character development with thorough storyline added with a dash of fear and terror.

The movie is 100 min.

MickGarris, director of Riding The Bullet, is no stranger to adapting the work of Stephen King for the screen, having previously tackled TV versions of Quicksilver Highway, The Stand, and The Shining, and the big screen adaptation of Sleepwalkers. Of all the directors that have turned King's blockbuster books into movies, Garris seems to be the one of those best able to capture King's literary style on film. This is great news for fans of King's work, but not so great for me; I've always struggled with his books, finding them something of a chore to work through. Naturally, this is also how I felt about Garris's adaptation of Riding The Bullet.

Troubled teen Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) is hitch-hiking to see his mother in hospital. On the way, he encounters many strange people and before his journey is through, he is forced to confront his demons and make some life-changing decisions.

I must stress that this is not a horror film; there are spooky moments, but these are not necessarily supernatural, and are more likely the result of the lead character's fertile imagination. To me, the film was more about not wasting the gift of life, dealing with guilt, and the importance of making good choices.

Garris attempts some particularly strange visual gimmickry during the telling of this tale, but I personally found his quirky directorial style to be annoying, and a truly awful performance from David Arquette certainly didn't help matters; only one or two genuinely creepy moments manage to stop this from being a complete waste of time. It is ironic that, for a film about 'making good choices', the makers of this movie sure seem to have made some bad ones.

This is not one of the worse adaptations of Stephen King's work, but it's another one that makes the successful ones (De Palma's "Carrie," Reiner's "Stand by Me," and Kubrick's "The Shining" come immediately to mind) seem all the more remarkable. Jonathan Jackson does a fine job of playing a self-absorbed and death-fixated jerk. David Arquette does a fine job of playing a weirdo, which I know comes as a shock, but this one is threatening. It's nice to see Barbara Hershey and Cliff Robertson working, but the film is an incoherent, drug-trippy, red-herring-loaded road movie in which each succeeding segment and flashback builds to a huge.... mind-numbing yawn. If you fast-forward to long segments you may miss some details but in the end, you won't care.

Not being a big King fan, I don't think I could've asked for more. I've seen IT, I've struggled through the long run of "The Stand", but it is this film which stands out more than any of the other adaptations of Stephen King's work.

A chilling narrative of a man traveling across country in the 70s, Riding the Bullet succeeds where many other movies have failed by presenting a personal conflict, that is, one which exists within the main character's mind.

I don't think I could've asked for a much better acting job from any of the cast, either.

8/10.