Riding the Bullet Year: 2004 Director: Mick Garris Written by: Mick Garris Based on: Story by Stephen King Threat: Ghost Weapon of Choice: Car IMDb page:

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Rish's Reviews
I used to be a huge Stephen King fan. I guess I still am. I read the story "Riding the Bullet" when it was first offered as an e-book back in . . . 2000 was it? Then, when I came home to visit for the holidays one year, tyranist gave me the audiobook version to listen to on my drive back. During the long stretch between Barstow and Los Angeles, I thought about the story, and how I would adapt it to film. It was an excellent idea, with a great beginning and middle, and an ending that absolutely did not work. Well, for at least an hour, I thought about how, if possible, I could make it work. How could you create an effective ending to the tale that didn't feel like the gigantic copout the story did?
Well, I couldn't really do it. The best I could come up with was a "It Was All A Dream" ending topped off with a visual reminder to the character and audience that it hadn't been a dream. And that's pretty much what King did. I gave up my ruminations about adapting it as a film.
So, years passed, and eventually Mick Garris, no stranger to King adaptations, made a movie version. It premiered on cable television, if I recall, then got a video release that made no stir, not even in the Horror community. But I thought I'd give it a chance.
It was no big deal, really. Riding the Bullet tells the tale of death-obsessed college student Alan Parker, who gets a message that his mother has had a stroke and may be dying. Unable to wait, he hitchhikes home to visit his mother in the hospital. He ruminates about their time together, and when he finally gets a ride, it turns out to be the opposite of the famous ghostly hitchhiker urban legend.
The film stars Jonathan Jackson, a vaguely familiar-looking young actor. Barbara Hershey plays his mother. And Erika Christensen plays the girlfriend (why do I hate her so much?). Also, we get appearances from David Arquette as the villain of the piece, Cliff Robertson, Matt Frewer, and Nicky Katt. KNB did the effects.
A lot has been expanded upon from the short story. The basic premise is there, and faithfully followed (down to seemingly minor details), but the tone, in my not-at-all-humble opinion, is very different. The film is comprised of mostly new material, talking about 1969, hippies, weed, the free love movement, and Rock & Roll. Did I mention weed? While the King story was pretty much a boy thinking about his mother while she lay in a hospital bed a hundred miles away.
Mick Garris did try to express the inner turmoil of Alan and make a statement about mortality and the cares of youth, beyond just being a scary story. The stylistic choice of having a doppelganger give Alan's thoughts was very clever. The scenes that are recreated from the short story seem to work the best and resonate the most. Cliff Robertson in his small part is very good--the best part of the flick. The rest, however, left me unimpressed.
The film opens with the great (and somewhat creepy) "Time of the Season" by The Zombies. The whole film is cold. It was shot on a real location at night in what has to be twenty degree weather. There was a cute story-within-a-story and movie-within-the-movie. And a lot of fantasy, dream, hallucination sequences (TONS of these). Too many, actually, because after a certain point, I didn't believe anything Alan saw anymore. Frankly, it was as overdone as black meatloaf.
I don't know why I didn't enjoy this one more. It just felt pretty pointless, in the end. I really don't get it. Garris did a pretty admirable job when it came to nostaligia and creating a tribute to (what I only assume was) his youth. As a film, though, it's only somewhat-satisfying, and never nears being scary. Casting David Arquette as a sadistic ghost does not seem like the smartest move possible. He's just not a threatening guy, and always comes across in film as more goofy than anything else. And as for finding a solution to the problem of King's short story, well . . . perhaps that's one of those questions no one can answer.
Like what the ending of "The Long Walk" means.
I'd Recommend It To: Real King completists only.
Posted: January 24, 2006

Total Skulls: 22

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie		Riding the Bullet
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?