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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 21264
Released: April 19, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.77 |
| Used Price: $0.63 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Riding the Bullet is based on, the master of macabre, Stephen King’s first e-book and was directed by Mick Garris (The Stand). Alan embarks on a 100 mile hitch hike to see his mother in the hospital. Along the way he must confront his many demons – both living and dead – and in the end make the ultimate choice that will mean life or death for him and his mother! "A nifty standalone supernatural drama that features some truly terrifying scenarios, while also offering up a bit of well-placed humor and poignancy." – Horror.com
Description of Riding the Bullet (Widescreen Edition):
A vintage Stephen King concept unfolds in Riding the Bullet: a college kid, circa 1970, must hitchhike a very long (and very dark) hundred miles to visit his hospitalized mother. The ghosts waiting for him along the way are either real or of his own mind (which seems to be a dark place itself). As a King short story, this might have been a usefully frightening premise, but it's almost entirely literary; on screen, it boils down to a guy walking down a road at night. Jonathan Jackson is suitably tortured in the lead role (or roles--he frequently appears double on screen, arguing with himself), but the movie is stolen by David Arquette, rocking it up as a '50s greaser who died in a car crash years earlier. Barbara Hershey and Erika Christensen are wasted in support. There's a strain to make the Woodstock-era setting relevant, but this doesn't seem to have a great deal to do with the private demons of the protagonist. (And if you're going to set it in 1970, how hard is it to catch dialogue anachronisms?) Director Mick Garris is a longtime King conduit (The Stand), but this one is misconceived from the start. --Robert Horton
Riding the Bullet (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
The Bullet missed its target! 
2007-06-25 - I've never seen a horror movie with a plot like this before. It's absolutely original. The first half of the movie is engaging. Some frightening and suspenseful scenes happened while he's walking on the street at night. For example, the moment when he was chased into a car cemetery by two strangers.
The second half is boring and repetitive. The worst thing is it turned out they all came from his own imagination!
It's worth watching once.
Should You Take This Ride? 
2007-04-06 - Once again Mick Garris is at the helm of another Stephen King adaptation. Garris has made many King movies(if it's a mini series or tv movie, you can bet it was most likely Garris), and while his contributions aren't as memorable as efforts by other directors, Garris tries his damndest to stick as close to the source material as possible. Plus he is one of the most active and dedicated individuals in the horror scene, and for that I respect him quite a bit. But I can't honestly say he made a great movie here. Not bad, but nothing worth a second viewing. Much more plot has been added to the story in order to fill out the 90+ minute running time. A story like this(which if I recall was around 50 pages, give or take) should have been done as one of Garris' Masters Of Horror episodes rather than a full length movie. But when Garris is on, he's on. Alot of the dialogue is straight from the story. A big problem with this movie is Garris' repeated use of the daydream gimmick. You know those scenes in film when something happens to a character(usually horrific and outrageous), then the scene quickly flashes back to the character before the horrific event and you realize that it was all in the character's imagination? This movie is full of these. In fact, it may actually have set a record for uses of this movie trick. It seems to happen at least once every two minutes and quickly becomes silly and then downright annoying. Plus we add a bunch of hallucinations and the main character continuously talking to himself(two of the same actor onscreen at once) and it dulls the suspense and seems like a desperate attempt at being flashy. Plus, the film takes place in 1969, but every now and then we get a blast of very modern sounding music. Personally I can't stand anachronistic music in a film that's supposed to be taking place in a different time period. But even with all of my yapping and whining, Garris managed to pull off another passably entertaining and fairly accurate King adaptation. Just not a terrible memorable one.
Its not scary and its not brilliant
2006-09-04 - Its kind off like Stephen king meets Twilight Zone. Dont get me wrong both are brilliant but i appreciate King as more of an "Epic" 3 hour mini-series kind of storyteller and not the hitchcock short story kind of guy.
It really feels like you have just watched a short story from Twilight zone at the end of the day. The character development and storyline is just too limited to be worth the 2 hours.
If it was one of 3 stories on a ("twilight zone like") compilation and only an hour or so in length, it would have been 5 stars!
If you want an epic tale by King (like Rose Red, Storm of the centuary, the Shining) rather look for something else because this will dissapoint you.
(Please forgive me Mr. King)
good start to a giant turd -5 
2006-04-14 - i also love every adaptation of kings books even storm of the century & rose red was cheezy but had good acting & was semi scary. this started out really good & like the others. once he begins his journey its over from their, first you find out that he is a supper wimp that tries to act cool, a character that is saposed to not be the main charcter unless a comedy, he is afraid of even an old weak man. david arquete cant act his way out of nut sack, so theirs no saprise that this is his worst movie ever. they try to play every sceen with at lease 3 ways that the situation could happen in his head but dosent come true, that is a great use of showing horror or scary elements that dont happen but thats the whole movie, no one really dies except he has a vision of his dad blowing his head off but just shows the wall splatter, but hese already dead before the movie starts & his mother at the end but she died of lung cancer, he dosent even really get hurt although he gets fakly attacked several times. the end of the movie will possibly make you throw up its so bad, they try to monolague the rest of his life that ends making him look even more pathetic than he was throught the movie, which is a lot more trust me or watch for your self. i have no idea how this got an r rating due to no severed parts, light swearing, no nudity, & the only part that i could say is his dad blows his head off but ive sceen worst in pg-13. they must have begged to get the ratting because i wont watch those sad pathetic pg-13's unless just cause. im not sure what the rest of you saw giving this 4 & 5 stars. yall must love the cry wolf & all the pg-13 horror garbage, so if thats your style this movis is ripe for your picking.
Strange Things Can Happen On A Lonely Dark Country Road! 
2006-03-05 - Every 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.
