[KING'S CORNER] Riding the Bullet (2004)

Riding the Bullet - 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: Jonathan Jackson, David Arquette, Barbara Hershey, Cliff Robertson, Erika Christensen

Written by: Mick Garris

Produced by: Mick Garris, Brad Krevoy, David Lancaster, Greg Malcolm, Joel T Smith, Vicki Sotheran

Cinematography by: Robert C. New

Original Score by: Nicholas Pike

Synopsis:

A troubled Maine art student hitchhikes to see his mother in the hospital and encounters a sinister driver.

Thoughts:

The dead hitchhiker trope is one that stretches back as far as the 1600’s when the tale of an unassuming driver picking up a passenger from beyond the grave was mentioned in the writings of the Swedish priest, Joen Petri Klint. Over the years there have been many variations of this story. The supernatural entity can come with a warning or to right a wrong they experienced at the end of their life. Stephen King played around with this idea in 'Creepshow 2' with his story outline in the segment called 'The Hitch-hiker' (which he has a cameo appearance in). It is a pretty straightforward story of relentless revenge where a hitchhiker keeps returning to haunt the woman who ran over him and left him for dead. He explored it further though and with more depth in his novella, 'Riding The Bullet'. 

The story was a landmark moment for King as it was his first to make its debut on the internet via Simon & Schuster in 2000 with over 400,000 copies of it being downloaded within the first 24 hours of its release. It was then added to the anthology collection, 'Everything’s Eventual' in 2002. It was one of the first stories that King wrote after his near fatal roadside accident in 1999 and in the introduction to 'Everything’s Eventual' he wrote about the experience saying, “writing took me away from the worst of that pain; it was (and continues to be) the best pain-killer in my limited arsenal. The story I wanted to tell was simplicity itself; little more than a campfire ghost-story, really. It was The Hitchhiker Who Got Picked Up By A Dead Man.” The story follows a college student who hitchhikes on a 120 mile journey to visit his mother in the hospital after hearing that she has had a stroke. On the way there he is picked up by a dead man who offers him a choice, either he lives or his mother lives. 

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The writer/director of the film, Mick Garris (a man who is very familiar with all things Stephen King having adapted six of his stories) first read the story at a time when his wife’s mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and some years prior to this his father and brother had passed away. The ideas of mortality, guilt and isolation in the story appealed to him, leading him to ask King if he could take a crack at adapting the story into a feature length film. He shopped the script around in the early 2000’s but found it difficult to get picked up as it went against the grain of the torture based horror that topped the box office at the time. Eventually he secured some independent finances and the film went into production in late 2003. 

Throughout this adaptation it is clear that it is a very personal work for Garris as the theme of mortality looms large over the entire film. As The Zombies song 'Time of the Season' plays over a montage of home movie footage at the beginning of the film we see the Parker family deal with the death of the patriarch of the household. From here we are introduced to our main character Alan Parker (played by Jonathan Jackson). In the scene he is at a life art class and decides to draw an image of the grim reaper next to the model in his drawing to the criticism of his teacher. He is very much a character who can’t escape death and in the wake of the news of his mother’s illness this takes a tighter grip on his psyche causing him to think more about it on his journey home. The exploration of this theme is when the film is at its strongest as Garris writes and directs it in a way to show how relentless and inescapable it is while escalating how impactful it is in Alan’s life as he gets closer to home.

Garris also makes a number of changes to the source material to flesh it out for a feature length adaptation. The biggest change is the period setting by changing it to take place in October 1969, months after the notorious Manson murders that marked the end of the counterculture movement of that era of the twentieth century. It is a time where a lot of things were in the balance in terms of war and social upheaval when defining choices by those who had the power to make decisions that could have major consequences. This ties in nicely with the major decision Alan must make when he hitches a ride with the mysterious driver George Staub (played by David Arquette). This change works incredibly well in the film adding a subconscious weight to whether Alan will give his life for his mother’s life. Garris also captures this period well with an excellent soundtrack as the production design (particularly with the vehicle design which features a 1960 Plymouth Fury which isn’t too dissimilar from the titular vehicle in the Stephen King novel Christine). 

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Although there is a decent sized cast in the film, it ultimately boils down to the central performances of the characters of Alan and George who we spend most of the film with. There is some solid support from the likes of Barbara Hershey, Erika Christensen and Cliff Robertson but Jonathan Jackson and David Arquette take centre stage in the film. As Alan, Jackson has a soulful quality due to the shroud of death that has wrapped itself around his life leaving him somewhat aimless in his relationships and other aspects of his life. His slack nature however dissipates when he has to make his ultimate choice which adds so much tension to the latter half of the film. On the other side of proceedings, David Arquette certainly swings for the fences with his portrayal as the messenger from beyond the grave. He modulates his performance quite well from being initially grounded before amping it up as he terrorises Alan, pushing him into choosing between himself and his mother. 

For all of these positives the film doesn’t quite remain consistent tonally. Whilst it does explore heady themes of mortality and guilt in a sombre way, they sometimes clash with some of Garris’ arch inclinations. For example one moment you see Alan speaking with the spirit of his dead father (played by Barry W. Levy) in the middle of an isolated road (which is fantastically shot throughout) and the next moment you have Alan’s vision of being thrown off the titular bullet rollercoaster by the Grim Reaper (played by Simon Webb). It detracts from the mood of the film and softens the impact of the thematic choices. The humour that revolves around Alan’s visions of a worst case scenario future work well at breaking the more sombre elements of the film but feel somewhat overused and another moment that sticks out for all the wrong reasons is the exploration of George’s backstory which is inventive but doesn’t feel cohesive to the rest of the film. 

Despite these faults, the film comes together with its epilogue which for me is one of the best representations of the emotional side of King’s work on screen as Alan reflects on his mother’s life and where his life has taken him. It has a beautiful melancholic quality through the narration Garris has written and the gentle way in which he guides the camera in these moments. Alan’s life didn’t turn out perfect but it was a life lived and one that he came to accept in the wake of his mother’s death, failed marriage and never being able to make a career of being an artist. It leaves a lasting impression how thoughtful and moving these final moments are. 

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'Riding the Bullet' is a story that was written out of King’s physical and emotional suffering from his near fatal accident and what Mick Garris does well with this adaptation is to take his own sense of personal loss and instill it to this story, making for an interesting symbiosis of source material and adaptation. It is one of the stronger collaborations between the two creatives (in spite of some tonal issues) but its heart is in the right place and it manages to make for an emotionally impactful piece of work. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Joseph McElroy