GL84 Receiving news his mother is dying, a college student decides to hitchhike out to go see her, but as he gets closer and closer to his goal he begins to feel a dangerous supernatural entity is playing games with him and vows to put an end to them before it's too late.This here actually wasn't that bad at times. the film is incredibly enjoyable and entertaining whenever there's something that occurs out on the road as a mind-game, as not only is something actually happening but the set-ups are unique and really enjoyable. Stumbling across the highway accident one is really good, as the supernatural payoff is highly entertaining among the believable chaos and panic at the scene, and the rabbit attack is a glorious one because of the film's sole use of animals amongst all the macabre imagery. Also interesting is the chase in the pick-up truck which starts off pretty tensely through the field before going into the junkyard, as well as the interplay in the car for the final ride as the word-play works wonders in the suspense of the situation followed by a couple great gore gags to keep it going. Likewise, the ending is pretty tense with the hospital race coming at the end of the last rather good car sequence on the road, and all of these fun scenes really start to pile up after awhile to make this quite enjoyable. Along with the general plot-line which is pretty unique and really creative, these here are what work for the film as 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, 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 throw in the flashbacks which barely makes it any better by going to a time that doesn't help revealing important information about the story or why anything is happening, and all they do is add to the confusion which is a really hard task to accomplish. What is also tough to understand is the motive for the main villain who initially appearing as a sort of Grim Reaper-like figure that spends half the running time talking away with the supposed victim and never tricks them into killing or any other vile activities as there were plenty of available times to do that to pad out the film's running time which really makes little sense here. Otherwise, the only other flaw here is the film's rather dreary pacing since it spends so much time driving around that this is locked in on a singular location for so much of the time that it feels repetitive quite easily which makes this one feel boring at certain points along the way. These are what hurt the film. Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity.

Kevin Bannigan 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.

SnoopyStyle It's 1969. Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) is an art student at the University of Maine obsessed with death. His girlfriend Jessica (Christensen) throws him a surprise birthday party and finds him attempting a suicide by slicing his wrist in the bath tub. He decides to go to a John Lennon concert in Toronto with his friends. Then he gets a call that his mother Jean (Barbara Hershey) had a stroke and is in the hospital. He hitchhikes and encounters strange events.The constant imaginary edits keeps faking out the story. It disrupts any flow to the movie. It's a mess. Jonathan Jackson lacks the charisma to lead a movie. He is unable to draw me into the story and provides next to no energy. The movie limps along without much drive as Alan deals with one character after another. It's like a random collection of horror stories from the road. It's probably one of the worst Stephen King adaptations I have ever seen.

Paul Andrews Riding the Bullet is set during 1969 & starts as college art student Jessica Hadley (Erika Christensen) tells her fellow art student boyfriend Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) that she is splitting up with him, it's his birthday as well. That night Jessica reveals that it was just a ploy to set-up a surprise party but Alan gets some bad news as he learns that his mother Jean (Barbara Hershey) has had a stroke & is in hospital, Alan decides to hike all the way to Lewiston & be with his sick mother. Alan manages to get several rides as he gets closer to Lewiston but finally ends up in the red Plymouth Fury of George Staub (David Arquette) whom Alan becomes to believe is dead, George offers him a deal in which he has to make a choice whether his mother or himself dies that very night...This American, German & Canadian co-production was written, co-produced & directed by Mick Garris & was based on the internet publish story Riding the Bullet by Stephen King, any horror film fan worth anything will know that generally speaking Stephen King books don't make particularly good films although it seems his name sells so I guess people will continue to make make crappy films based on his usually great work. I have not read Riding the Bullet nor had I even heard of it before seeing this adaptation so I cannot compare the two but I get the impression that the novel might have worked better. I am not really sure what Riding the Bullet is meant to be, is it a horror? Is it a drama? Is it a sentimental coming of age story? Is it just an oddball curiosity with no real deep meaning or ambition? Riding the Bullet is certainly a hard film to categorise & I am not quite sure who it is meant to appeal to, surely it's too tame & sedate for the horror crowd yet a little too out there & extreme for the low key melodrama fans. The script seems to handing out mixed messages all over the place, it never has central focus & the constant flashbacks, dreams, & fantasies that go through Alan's mind become annoying & are only there to add a bit of gore & a bit of dark humour. At 100 minutes long Riding the Bullet is watchable & if you can get into the sloppy narrative & like the character's then you may enjoy it, I didn't think it was terrible as it had a few moments here & there but overall the film feels shallow, unfocused & almost unfinished. A strange sort of road trip, dark comedy horror thriller that I didn't hate but didn't love either.Mick Garris seems to have a thing about Stephen King adaptations having worked on as either writer or director on the likes of Sleepwalkers (1992) & Quicksilver Highway (1997) as well as the television series The Stand (1994), The Shining (1997), Desperation (2006) & the recent Bag of Bones (2011). Riding the Bullet has a few gory moments, a Dog killing a cute Rabbit, a Crow eating some roadkill & then being pulped by an ambulance, a talking severed head, a ripped-off hand & a bit of blood splatter but nothing that scary or extreme. This is well made for what it is but the soap opera happy ending sentiment didn't do anything for me & left me feeling rather cold. There's an obvious nod to King's killer car novel Christine as the red Plymouth Fury turns up as the preferred car choice of the dead.With a supposed budget of about $5,000,000 this has good production values & looks the part, the special effects are pretty good too. Filmed in Canada. The acting is alright, the actor's bring a certain warmth & likability to the character's & that's the main reason I stuck with it.Riding the Bullet isn't typical Stephen King material, those used to top notch horror will be disappointed here & while I didn't hate Riding the Bullet I can't think of much to recommend it other than it's unusual & is watchable. Not awful but not particularly good either a film like this comes down to personal taste really.