[KING'S CORNER] Quicksilver Highway (1997)

Quicksilver Highway - King's Corner Review

Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.

Director: Mick Garris

Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Raphael Sbarge, Missy Crider, Silas Weir Mitchell, Veronica Cartwright

Written by: Mick Garris

Produced by: Ron Mitchell, Mick Garris

Cinematography by: Shelley Johnson

Original Score by: Mark Mothersbaugh

Synopsis:

Travelling showman Aaron Quicksilver tells horror tales: a psychotic hitchhiker falls prey to a relentless dangerously-sharp set of chattering teeth, and a human hand that comes alive.

Thoughts:

Within the realm of horror and beyond, Stephen King has always been a vocal advocate for his peers, either in both the literary world and on film. He helped boost the success of 'The Evil Dead' in 1982 by calling it "the most ferociously original horror film of the year" before it even had a distributor which director Sam Raimi says was key to drawing an audience to it. Even now you’d be hard pressed to not find a quote from him on the sleeve of any up and coming horror writer’s novel and the most famous example of this was on the cover of Clive Barker’s 'Books of Blood' collection when it was first published in the United States. The quote read, "I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker." Barker has said on numerous occasions that he credits King for helping to launch his career outside of the UK. One of the few occasions in which their work crossed paths was in the 1997 TV movie 'Quicksilver Highway' which adapted Barker’s story 'The Body Politic' and King’s story 'Chattery Teeth'. 

'Chattery Teeth' was first published in 'Cemetery Dance' magazine in 1992. King had been a fan of the magazine so he submitted this story to them in order to raise their profile. It was later added to his short story collection 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes' in 1993. The story follows a salesman called Bill Hogan who stops at a convenience store/truck stop whilst driving through the Nevada desert. There he comes across an oddity in the form of a set of windup teeth. Curiosity gets the better of him so he purchases them, but on the way out he is approached by a hitchhiker looking for a ride. He reluctantly accepts but gets more than he bargained for during the drive. 

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The story's journey to television began in early 1997 when producer Donna Dubrow approached Mick Garris about developing an anthology television series that would focus on “urban ghost stories”. He would write the pilot and her husband at the time, John McTiernan would direct the first episode. Garris took this idea and added that each episode should take place in a different part of the country and be framed by a storyteller who would act like a weird mashup of Rod Serling and the Crypt Keeper. The pilot episode was to be an adaptation of 'Chattery Teeth' which Garris pitched to Fox. They weren’t interested in making an anthology show but they offered to make it as a TV movie. Garris agreed and wrote an adaptation of Clive Barker’s 'The Body Politic' to serve as the second part of the movie. 

The decision to make this a two story anthology isn’t necessarily a bad idea but the manner in which it is implemented in this movie feels very blunt and makes it feel like they are two episodes of a television show taped together to act as a back door pilot for a television series. This lack of flow or cohesion in the context of this being a movie can be quite jarring when viewing it as a whole. For the purpose of this article I’m mainly going to focus on the 'Chattery Teeth' segment but if I ever do a “Barker’s Basement” series of articles for Fright Club I’ll come back to look at 'The Body Politic'. 

The film begins on an isolated desert road where a recently married couple, Kerry (Raphael Sbarge) and Olivia Parker (Missy Crider) find themselves broken down and in need of a spare tyre for their car. Kerry decides to walk to the nearest town to get help leaving Olivia all alone. The day turns to night and Olivia is left worried sick with the sound of howling coyotes outside as her only company. In the distance there are the headlights of a vehicle. It is no ordinary vehicle though. It is a 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that is dragging an Airstream trailer. Behind the wheel is the enigmatic storyteller Aaron Quicksilver (played by Christopher Lloyd). 

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He emerges from his vehicle pale skinned with a bowl haircut wearing a duster that makes him look strangely like Danny Elfman. The second you see him you know that he is going to be a highlight of the film and Lloyd certainly delivers on this promise. He performs the role with an eccentric grandiose that is a trademark in many of his over the top performances and here it gives his character a sense of mystery and danger that makes him all the more intriguing. When he invites Olivia into his Airstream for better shelter there is almost a TARDIS effect where it appears to be a lot bigger on the inside with its refined decor. It adds so much to his character without having to say anything. When he tells her, “I travel the roads of America seeking its heart” before monologuing about mining to find its black heart, you can see Lloyd relishing this great material from Garris as he really sinks his teeth into it. It almost makes you wish he was the focus throughout the entire film but sadly this is not the case here. 

From here he begins to tell her the story of 'Chattery Teeth' where Garris sticks fairly close to the source material and only deviates away from it due to the restrictions of network television. It retains most of the same dialogue and Garris really captures King’s descriptive language of the setting through the look of the story with the storm raging outside. The main problem within this segment stems from the lead performance. 

Raphael Sbarge plays the role of the protagonist Bill Hogan here who is trying to get through the storm to be home for his son’s birthday. It’s a nice touch how characters from the wraparound are placed in these segments playing up on the idea of someone hearing a story being placed in a character’s shoes. Unfortunately Sbarge gives a bland performance that comes across as flat. A prime example of this is during the van crash which undercuts any tension Garris builds with his presentation of the scene as Sbarge seems to rhyme off his lines with no intent behind them. The hitchhiker Bryan Adams (no not that one) is played by Silas Weir Mitchell and he overeggs it with his sense of threat and menace. It clashes with Sbarge’s efforts but it is fitting for a story that on the page has a similar tone to something like 'The Monkey'. Veronica Cartwright and Bill Bolender round out the cast of this segment with two small but impactful performances as the squabbling couple Myra and Scooter. 

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We then come to the titular chattering teeth of this story which are an oversized set of teeth with legs. They look so goofy and nothing about them would suggest they are threatening and in the case of this adaptation that remains to be the case as they fly through the air in a comical fashion, biting at random parts of Bryan killing him. There isn’t a spec of blood in the scene compared to the source material where they rip off his nose and chomp into his testicles in a visceral manner which leaves this feeling like a pared down version of the story as it doesn’t deliver on the promise of what the titular object is really capable of. 

The overwhelming issue with 'Quicksilver Highway' is its structure. It certainly works fine as a backdoor pilot for an anthology series but as a movie it is very clunky. Christopher Lloyd’s performance as Aaron Quicksilver makes it worth watching but the stories he tells through the segments are so fantastical that they never truly tap into the idea of seeking the dark heart of America making this a misfire of an adaptation. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️½

-Joseph McElroy