Have They Got Halloween in Canda?

That's a quote from the movie Riding the Bullet. It sums up the entire movie.

The main character is a lonely and depressed teenager angster. He is an aspiring artist. The art teacher is great. The art is exactly what you would expect from angsters, terrible with a touch of creepy.

I mean, who hasn't gotten drunk off Jack Daniels whilst sitting in your bath-tub on your birthday soaking in your own teenage angst self-pity and then contemplated suicide out of mere curiosity. Then had death visit in his dark robe and his sinister voice and syphilis face!

“Grit your teeth and cut...show them...they don't appreciate you...cut...cut...cut...cut” - No, seriously, that's straight from the movie. What a riot, I hate teenagers. At least his girlfriend has the balls to tell him that suicide is selfish and he's being a baby.

Did I mention that he has another version of himself that follows him around and tells him when he's being a dick? Well he does. And its a sure-fire way to work your angsterism out – create a physical manifestation of your partially-developed super-ego. Wonderful. Two versions of the same angster in the same place and time. Do physics, science, time-travel and Jean-Claude Van Damme allow such things? Blasphemy. Just one more person to call him a baby as far as I'm concerned.

The movie is a pilgrimage to the hospital where the main character's mother has had a stroke. He needs to choose between who dies, his mother or him. The best thing about the entire movie is the guy he finally rides with. This character is a riot and he's played by none other than David Arquette. We'll end on that positive note because the short story is excellent and the movie is passable. Hop along on Arquette's trip, its a fun one.

“Nobody lives forever but we all shine on.”