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.
