Riding The Bullet - Not King’s finest ‘on-screen’ hour

Okay, so most of Stephen King’s books which have made the transition to film have been a little dubious to say the least. However, they always seem to be at least watchable. This one isn’t.

It’s about a student who learns his mother has had a stroke. Therefore he decides to hitchhike home to see her in hospital. Ignoring the fact that he doesn’t seem to have any mode of transport or finances to take public transport, he sets off.

What follows is one random scene after the next. It’s like the whole film is just his encounters along the way. Yes, some are well done and quite creepy or unsettling. However, there is simply no story here. He meets one weird character. He leaves them. Rinse and repeat.

Like I say, it has its creepy moments. Plus the acting is decent enough. There just isn’t a story here at all. The young man starts at university. He ends up by his mother’s side. Along the way are a few instances of weirdness. If you get bored (and I sure did), you can even skip chapters on the DVD. Each chapter is basically one weird/random encounter with a stranger. Therefore you can effectively skip the entire middle part of the film (while he’s on the road) and still not miss anything and understand it completely.

Definitely one to avoid. Stick to Pet Sematery.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)