Riding the Bullet is a 2004 horror film written, co-produced and directed by Mick Garris.

The film, which received a limited theatrical release, was not successful in theaters; it earned a domestic gross of $134,711.

[2] Set in 1969, Alan Parker is a young artist, studying at the University of Maine, where his professor believes he is obsessed with death.

At home, Alan later gets high off of cannabis in his bathtub and begins to contemplate suicide by cutting his wrists.

She surprises him with concert tickets to see John Lennon in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As he tries to hitchhike home to Lewiston, Maine, Alan remembers the funeral of his father, Julian, when he was 6 years old.

Sandra-Jessica Couturier played a Jury Member in The Dead Zone (2002) TV series.

Robin Nielson played Billy Goatee in The Dead Zone (2002 TV series).

Mick Garris wrote an adaptation of Riding the Bullet, a Stephen King short story, on spec and struggled to find a purchaser during the early 00s as it wasn't an overt "balls-to-the-wall horror movie" compared to other King adaptations.

[3] In January 2003, Garris estimated that Riding the Bullet could possibly be released that year, followed by Stephen King's Desperation in 2004.

[5] In November 2003, production began in Vancouver with Jonathan Jackson, David Arquette, Barbara Hershey, and Erika Christensen joining the cast and Garris set as director.

[6] Unlike the novella, Garris' adaptation takes place in 1969, the era that the filmmaker grew up in.

The site's critical consensus reads "Stephen King adaptation veteran director Mick Garris has lofty storytelling goals which ultimately flail and undercut the story's terror.