Riding The Bullet Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
The dead travel fast
A young man hitchhiking back home to visit his mother is picked up by a mysterious stranger. As the ride goes on, the young man uncovers a terrible secret about the stranger, and is given a choice by the stranger. A choice that can mean life or death.
| Jonathan Jackson | Alan Parker |
| David Arquette | George Staub |
| Cliff Robertson | Farmer |
| Barbara Hershey | Jean Parker |
| Erika Christensen | Jessica Hadley |
| Barry W. Levy | Julian Parker |
| Jackson Warris | Six-Year-Old Alan |
| Jeffrey Ballard | 12-Year-Old Alan |
| Peter LaCroix | Mature Alan |
| Chris Gauthier | Hector Passmore |
| Robin Nielsen | Archie Howard |
| Matt Frewer | Mr. Clarkson |
| Simon Webb | Grim Reaper |
| Keith Dallas | Orderly |
| Danielle Dunn-Morris | Mrs. Janey McCurdy |
| Mick Garris |
5.10 out of 10 (1937 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Differently made, but for better or worse?
posted on 15 Aug 2009I enjoy reading novels written by Stephen King, as well as watching movies adapted from these novels. I haven't read the book where this story was taken from, so my review is not based on comparing the novel to the movie.
Adapted from one of the short stories from King's "Everything's Eventual", "Riding the Bullet" takes place in 1969, revolving around Alan Parker, a man who refers to himself as the `Price of Darkness' (since he is obsessed with Death) because he leads a boring life. After surviving a suicide attempt, Alan receives a call, informing him that his mother has had a stroke and is in the hospital. Alan sacrifices his John Lennon concert to take a trip to see his mother. What follows are the strange incidents that Alan himself during his trip, including getting strange visions, being hunted, meeting eerie people, and later having to make a life or death choice.
This is a very different adaptation compared to Stephen King's previous works. It tries to portray a dark humor, while at the same time, trying to maintain its suspense. In a way, I liked the way in which the movie was told, switching back to flashbacks, and providing a surreal look to the movie. However, I feel like the Mick Garris (who directed King's other stories like `The Stand' and the TV series of `The Shining' and is also currently directing King's `Desperation') didn't have much to add in the movie. For example, the first few scenes of the movie where he gets the John Lennon tickets and his first car ride with the weird hippie was totally unnecessary to the storyline of the movie. Just by adding that wasted 10-20 minutes of the movie. The story picked up only when the old man picks Alan up. Jonathan Jackson acted well as Alan, and the rest of the cast acted amply. But the main credit goes to David Arquette. He really acted his role outstandingly as the creepy George Staub.
Overall, Mike Garris has tried to create a different look to King's story, which might not attract everyone. Even though it is different, and not that great, I feel it was a fair attempt to try and create something dissimilar than his previous works. Suffice to say, "Riding the Bullet" is just too unusual to be placed in the horror/black humor/suspense genre, and therefore, fails to be remembered as a great movie.
Not riding high
posted on 11 Aug 2009A 70's hippie hitch hikes a 100 miles to see his dying mother that he has issues with and along the way must confront demons, some real some that exist only in his head.
David Arquette did a good job as a bad guy demon, but the movie has a series of flashbacks that mislead the story and offer nothing to the end. It gets annoying trying to figure out what is actually happening and what is just the main character fantasizing. It grows tiresome.
Weird and Boring Movie
posted on 13 Jul 2009Yesterday I was visiting my brother-in-law and we decided to rent this DVD to watch with a group of friends, based on the name of Stephen King highlighted on the cover of the DVD. The story is about a morbid young man, who tries to suicide on the day of his birthday just because his girlfriend had broken with him. When he leaves the hospital, he is informed that his mother had a stroke, and he hitchhikes with weird persons during the night in lonely roads trying to visit her. One of the drivers is death, who asks him to choose who should die: himself or his mother. In this moment, he realizes how important is to live, and changes his attitude and behavior regarding life. Maybe Stephen King's book is good, I have never read it, but this adaptation is a crap. We were a group of nine friends, five slept in the middle of the film. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Montado na Bala" ("Riding the Bullet")
Riding the bullet
posted on 02 Jul 2009This movie started getting semi interesting when David Arquette came on. Sadly, that was almost an hour in and he couldn't save it. I was so bored I kept falling asleep and it wasn't the casts fault, the movie was simply not interesting enough to keep my attention.
Not King's Best work
posted on 07 Jun 2009The movie was at best average. The entire movie in my opinion was entirely too disorganized. I was disappointed because King's movies are generally mildly entertaining. I would suggest against seeing this. Nothing in this was remotely scary in my opinion. I thought it was more of a comedy than a horror. The person I think that is intended to portray Death looks like you would find his costume at a local Halloween store. I wouldn't suggest seeing it. Also the entire movie is based off the main character's deep seated fear of a pathetic roller coaster, named the Bullet. David Arquette is a joke in any movie he plays in. I should of known not to see it since he was in it. Anyways, his character was also pathetic and more annoying than scary. Jonathan Jackson's character randomly has flashbacks that are supposed to give insight I think but were more confusing than anything else.
Very good
posted on 26 May 2009One can look at this movie in two ways: as a movie on its own or as an adaptation from a Stephen King novel. If you look at Riding the Bullet as a stand-alone movie, it's nice. However, if you look at this movie as an adaptation, it's amazing. It has everything Stephen King wrote in his short story (published in Everything's Eventual - should you want to read it) and more. Every extra bit in the movie breathes Stephen King, his thought patterns, his sense of humour. Most adaptations are basically so bad, you wish you hadn't spent time on it. This one isn't. In fact, it might just be the second-best adaptation (after the mini series The Stand).As a stand-alone movie: 8 As a book adaptation: 10+
Decent
posted on 05 Apr 2009Most Stephen King fans will approve of this adaptation. There isn't much to be said about it really. I mean, RIDING THE BULLET, IMO, was one of my least fave King short stories to begin with, and this followed the story pretty much to the letter.
The acting from the main charcters was ok, the dialouge was your average made-for-tv fare. There were a few chills, and overall was entertaining.
Definitly see it if you're a KING fan. For movie fans in general, if there's nothing else you really want to see, then go ahead, just don't expect MISERY or DEAD ZONE.
SAME OLD!
posted on 28 Mar 2009Whos to say that nobodyfaced there fears or even drawn out a conclusion to where lifes really takes them.lets face it we all grasp at the fact that we would wanna accomplish things in our life so we can be proud of that.
this movie goes in that direction,mick garris directs a soft approach of where life takes us and the choices we make.the only problem is the movie was slated as a horror movie but really its wasnt spooky.
dont get me wrong it was interesting and kept my presence to see how the characters develop but like only one can tell a story.i wish they brought in erika christensen more and explain more into his life.
overall a subpar flick that really is not what you think it will be about.
i give this movie a 3/5 subparpysche flick that doesnt dwell in the characters like its supposed to.
Highly underrated effort
posted on 27 Feb 2009"Riding the Bullet" is a rather interesting and unique supernatural horror film.**SPOILERS**Obsessed with the morbid, college student Alan Parker, (Jonathan Jackson) scares his girlfriend Jessica Hadley, (Erika Christensen) with a failed suicide attempt. Trying to boost his spirits, she gives him concert tickets only to receive news that his mother, Jean Parker, (Barbara Hershey) is in the hospital and dying. Wrestling with his conscience, he finally decides to go see her and tries to hitchhike his way out there. As his encounters on the road start playing with his mind, he begins to feel that a really dangerous supernatural entity, George Staub, (David Arquette) is following and playing games with him. As he gets closer and closer to his goal, the more macabre the games become until he realizes the intent behind them and vows to put an end to them before it's too late.The Good News: This here actually wasn't that bad at times. In general, whenever there's something that occurs out on the road as a mind-game, the film is incredibly enjoyable and entertaining. Not only is this because something entertaining is actually happening that is making the film more interesting, but also because the set-ups are unique and really enjoyable. Stumbling across the highway accident one is really good, as the chaos and panic at the scene is believable and the supernatural payoff is highly entertaining. The rabbit attack is a glorious one because of the film's sole use of animals amongst all the macabre imagery. Also good is the chase in the pick-up truck, which starts off pretty tensely through the field before going into the junkyard which is pretty good as well. The interplay in the car for the final ride is really great, as the word-play works wonders, being fantastic in the set-up of the suspense of the situation followed by a couple great gore gags to keep it going. The ending is pretty tense with the hospital race coming at the end of the rather good last car sequence on the road, and it's a really fun sequence that ends the film on a fun note, paying off everything nicely. The film also doe the inner monologue section as well as the road adventures, offering the chance for some nice one-liners without making the obvious ones said out-loud. It's a really great technique that has some really clever uses and is done with great style, especially making the wordplay in the car that much more intense and creepy when it's going off about the danger in the situation and actually using some logic to point it out. The good part here is the general plot-line, which is pretty unique and really creative, as it's not one that comes along all that often and actually feels original at times. These here are what work for the film.The Bad News: This one here didn't have all that many flaws. One of the main ones here is that the film features a rather irritating trick of resorting for a flashback here at every opportunity it can, making for a very irritating habit of getting confusing when it shouldn't. The fact that it shows the family history as much as it does is one of the problems, but here it just throws useless scene after another detailing it, then it decides to be even worse and throw in a really aggravating idea as the flashbacks barely makes it any better. All they do is add to the confusion in the movie by going to a time that doesn't help out when they first use it but ends up helping overall and that is a really hard task to accomplish without being too hard to understand, and it does that here. What is also tough to understand is the main motive for the villain. Initially appearing as a sort of grim reaper-like figure, it spends half the running time talking away with the supposed victim and never tricks them into killing, merely just to pad out the film's running time as these two areas in general have plenty of things available to do that. These are what hurt the film.The Final Verdict: With some really nice moments and a couple of maddening flaws, this one is better than expected if slightly flawed. Give it a shot if you're into Stephen King films, a fan of the creative cast or think that this one might be interesting, otherwise this one here should be met with caution.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity
Great Story, Terrible Adaptation
posted on 05 Feb 2009If anyone has read the short story "Riding The Bullet", they know this movie has strayed far from it's original path. All the stuff were Alan runs from George, he's suicidal, and he has mental problems is added in just for the movie. I know they had to add some stuff seeing that "Riding The Bullet" was to short to make into a full length motion picture, but you can't just add stuff that completely changes the story. You have to stay true to the original source. It's cool to add stuff like the girlfriend, or the scene were you see what happened to George via big screen, but you can't make the main character see the reaper and crap like that. The only reason I gave this a 6 is because of Arquette's performance, and because I loved the story and am a little bias because of that fact.
Well, it could have been worse.
posted on 19 Jan 2009Riding the Bullet (Mick Garris, 2004)
"Riding the Bullet" was, shall we say, not one of King's better stories. And Mick Garris, while he's done some good King adaptations in the past (The Stand), has also been responsible for some real howlers (The Shining). Combine the two and, well, you get something that's going to have folks shifting over to Iron Chef America during commercials, and not hurrying back.
Jonathan Jackson, who's made very little impression in anything he's been in to date (Tuck Everlasting, The Deep End of the Ocean, etc.) stars over a pretty mighty cast, including David Arquette (Scream), Barbara Hershey (The Last Temptation of Christ, The Entity), and Erika Christensen (the only thing that made Soderbergh's defamation of Traffic at all worth the rental fee), just to name a few. True to form, what sticks with the viewer after the credits roll is not Jonathan Jackson, but David Arquette, who proves to be yet another actor who can capably ride the line between humor and psychosis. Arquette, though, doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, leaving the viewer with pretty much nothing until then.
You'd be better off re-renting Garris' adaptation of The Stand. **
Don't Hitchhike
posted on 11 Dec 2008Alan Parker, (Jonathan Jackson) plans on seeing the Beatles perform in Canada in 1969 with a few of his buddies and then has bad news about his mother having a stroke and being in a hospital in Maine. Alan Parker is a college student who likes to draw pictures, but he is always thinking about death and in many ways wants to die. Alan has no car and so he decides to hitchhike a ride to the town where his mother is in the hospital. However, there is constant flashbacks to Alan's early childhood and he meets up with some very strange people who want to give him a ride. Cliff Robertson, (Farmer) offers Alan a ride and the old farmer acts very strangely and has a very bad smell in his car. This is another way out Steven King film which is not really as good as some of his other Horror films.
Strange Things Can Happen On A Lonely Dark Country Road!
posted on 18 Nov 2008Every once in a while they manage to film a really good Ghost Story and they have done it with this movie. The viewer is introduced to Allan, a College kids back in the 1970's who is hitchiking to Lewiston in Maine to visit his ill mother. Allan is confronted by the ghosts of his past and present during his long lonely walk to the hospital. This movie is dark, eerie and very atmospheric and this is one film which I would have liked to have watched on the big screen. The extra feature included in this DVD is Allan's sketch book which is alone makes this movie worth watching. Bravo to all concerned with the making of this film.
Pretty good
posted on 11 Oct 2008I thought this was a good movie overall. Is it going to win any Academy Awards? No. But, it was still entertaining. I haven't read the e-book, so I was unsure as to what was going to happen in the film. While the movie did get slow at parts, it kept me wondering what was going to happen. It's not a scary movie, more weird and creepy than anything else. Recommended for those that have enjoyed other Stephen King films such as "The Night Flier"
Forgive them for they know not what they see?
posted on 14 Sep 2008Arguably this is the most outrageously stupid rating on the IMDb site! Seems to me, one in every four or five reviewers has the perception to SEE this film as it really is. I would say unequivocally this is the best interpretation of a Stephen King novel to date - Hell, King even admitted that much himself! It is a multi-layered work (both the book and the film) and that is where it has lost so many viewers. This was never about horror, things that go bump in the night etc - it's about CHOICES. It is not until the last six minutes of the film...that the essence of what has gone before is crystallized. The final scene, during the very end credits in fact, wherein Arquette is told to take a hike, is what this is all about.Superb little turn by Cliff Robertson and the always watchable Barbara Hershey delivers another very good performance here. probably the flashbacks and the "Sliding Door" sequences were "lost" on some reviewers who were simply wondering when the first vampire was going to turn up! As for the insensitive and clueless reviewer who describes the "Bullet" as a "pathetic old roller-coaster" I am led to presume your life has unraveled thus far with little compassion and understanding, let alone sentimentality.Magic IS out there but you must find IT I'm afraid.
DEATH BECOMES HIM
posted on 10 Aug 2008RIDING THE BULLET was written by Stephen King after his tragic near-death experience, and the preoccupation with death and the tenuousness of life are evidenced in this somewhat creepy but ultimately vacuous movie. Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, The Tommyknockers) gives us some occasionally frightening vistas to view, but the horror seems vague and unfocused. Jonathan Jackson tries gamely in his challenging role but he doesn't have the passion to convey his fear of death; Barbara Hershey is marvelous as his mother, but she's not given enough screen time; David Arquette is on target as the embodiment of death who gives Jackson his final ride; and Cliff Robertson brings grace to his role as a dying man Jackson meets along the way.
Ultimately, RIDING THE BULLET becomes more of a psychological treatise on death and not the horror film it could have been.
Wandering
posted on 18 Jun 2008Every time I watch this adaptation of a Stephen King story about a college student hitchhiking home to see his ill mother, my mind starts to wander and I either doze off or change the channel and then switch back occasionally to see if anything has happened. Nothing ever does, and I have watched this flick several times. The only remotely interesting character is the delectable Erika Christensen as the young guy's gal pal, but she is outta there before the halfway mark. I wish she had been the one going home to see mom. Unfortunately, it is a bland male actor named Jonathan Jackson, and while he's OK, he does not exactly set the world on fire here. David Arquette wildly overacts as one of the people who picks up the hitchhiking Jackson. Cliff Robertson is another, and he is only marginally better than Arquette. Barbara Hershey is the mom. The title refers to an old wooden roller coaster, for those who don't know. Set back in time, there are some badly executed moments involving the period in question.
Not your mom's King
posted on 17 Aug 2009I normallly can find nothing wrong with Stephen King or his books, and normally my only complaint about the movies is that they are not long enough to have all the good parts of the book in it; the blood, (It), the suspense, (The Shining), or the laughs, (Creepshow), but this one was not anywhere near his normal stuff. The short story, found in 'Everything's Eventual', was not one of his best. In fact, the whole book was quite dissapointing. It read like something that was forced out because he had a deadline to meet, and no original ideas to go with. When I read the story, I figured it was just left over residue from his car accident, that his story telling skills hadn't quite made it back to the rest of him yet. Then I watched the movie. It wasn't so bad that I considered it a waste of the two hours it took me to watch it. It kept my attention and didn't put me to sleep, which is a lot better then some of the movies I own, ('Evicted' and 'Jack Frost' for example), so for that I give kudo's. However, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the movie looked like something that was made for Mystery Science Theater 3000. It had poor visual quality, parts of it were choppy, and overall, I was dissapointed in it. It definately wasn't one of his best, but it kept my attention, so it wasn't one of the worst.