Riding the Bullet is a 2004 horror film, directed by Mick Garris. It is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella of the same name. This film is not the greatest ride.
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. David Arquette does a fine job of playing a weirdo. That's kinda like type casting.
The movie is not, for the most part, a horror movie, but it does manage to generate suspense. The last half hour feels way too much like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Mick Garris was the director and he's directed in television for so long that this big screen effort feels like a TV movie. With this film the parts are better than the whole.
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| Nice to meet you, Hector. I'm George. George Staub |
The acting and effects were convincing enough for what it is, but overall it was too uneven to really deliver either a decent horror or a good coming to terms movie. If you're a Stephen King fan you should probably check it out....otherwise it's nothing too special.
Trivia:
Based on a story of the same name by Stephen King that was written exclusively for the internet.
The old red car with the white top is supposed to be a 1958 Plymouth Fury - the same make and model as Christine.
In the short story, George Staub's car was a Ford Mustang. The filmmakers decided to go with a red and white Plymouth as a nod to Stephen King's Christine. However Christine was a 1958 Plymouth Fury and George's car was a 1960 Plymouth Fury.
When Alan asks his mother how his father died, she says he was hit by a car while walking along side the road (while on his way to get gas for his car). On June 19, 1999, Stephen King was struck (and almost killed) while walking along Route 5, in Lovell, Maine.
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| Shit, one more life or death seems pretty insignificant in the greater planetary sheme of things. |
