Riding the Bullet 2004

In the autumn of 1969, Alan Parker, a University of Maine student, finds himself entwined in a tangled web of existential crises and emotional turmoil. His professor perceives an unhealthy fixation on mortality, which may be fueling his art. On October 30th, Alan’s birthday, he becomes convinced that his girlfriend, Jessica (name), is attempting to sever their bond. As the day draws to a close, Alan retreats to the solace of his bathtub, where the haze of cannabis clouds his judgment and suicidal thoughts begin to take hold.

It is then that the enigmatic figure of death, personified as the Grim Reaper, materializes before him, whispering sinister temptations in his ear. Murals on the wall, eerily depicting faces, seem to echo the Reaper’s morbid urging, further exacerbating Alan’s despair. Just as the darkness closes in, Jessica and a group of friends burst into the room, shattering the momentary silence with their surprise birthday party. The ensuing chaos culminates in an accidental self-inflicted wound.

As Alan awakens in a hospital bed, he is met with Jessica’s anger and concern, tempered by her professed love for him. In an effort to lift his spirits, she presents him with concert tickets to see John Lennon (name) perform live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The respite from his anguish is short-lived, as the Grim Reaper continues to haunt his every waking moment.

The next day, upon being released from the hospital, Alan is confronted by Jessica’s revelation that he has built a psychological barrier around himself, effectively shielding her from his true emotions. This epiphany coincides with a phone call informing him of his mother, Jean, having suffered a stroke. With a heavy heart, Alan makes plans to return home to Lewiston, Maine, gifting the concert tickets to his roommates.

As he embarks on the journey back to his hometown, memories of his father’s funeral, where he was just six years old, resurface. Alan envisions the demise of his mother and, ultimately, himself, with a grief-stricken Jessica mourning at his grave. His odyssey is interrupted by Ferris, an army deserter, who offers him a ride in his Volkswagen van.

Their perilous drive nearly ends in catastrophe when they narrowly avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle, spinning out and careening into a ditch. Shaken but alive, Alan exits the wreckage. The experience serves as a catalyst for his descent into a realm of vivid hallucinations, where the boundaries between life and death begin to blur.

In this surreal landscape, he encounters visions of the living and the dead. A billboard for “Ride The Bullet,” a rollercoaster at Thrill Village, sets off a chain reaction of memories, including a long-forgotten visit with his mother, where they ultimately chickened out of riding the attraction together. His journey takes him through a cemetery, where he comes across the grave of George Staub, whose epitaph bears witness to his passing just two years prior.

As Alan’s perception of reality begins to blur, a spectral doppelganger emerges from the earth, its presence eerily reminiscent of his own mortal coil. The apparition’s warning is clear: a place has been reserved for Alan, but only if he heeds the warning signs. His otherworldly companion remains by his side as they are whisked away in a car driven by George Staub, a man whose peculiar scent - redolent of formaldehyde - sends shivers down Alan’s spine.

As they navigate the winding roads, Alan’s ghostly double cues him to remember a cryptic phrase from a dusty tome: “The dead travel fast.” Though Alan remains silent about his discovery, he is unable to conceal his unease as George probes his thoughts on Thrill Village and its infamous “Bullet” ride. In a moment of desperation, Alan fabricates a tale of having braved the attraction, but George’s knowing gaze pierces through his ruse.

As the conversation deepens, George reveals his own morbid fate: decapitation in a gruesome car crash following a botched attempt to pass a truck on a narrow road. The weight of this revelation is compounded by George’s macabre proposition: Alan must choose which person to take with him to the afterlife - his mother or himself. Failure to make a choice will result in both being taken, leaving Alan torn asunder by fear and indecision.

In a flash of panicked desperation, Alan selects his mother for the afterlife, only to be summarily ejected from George’s vehicle like so much trash. Awakening back in the cemetery, Alan scrambles to hitch a new ride, eventually arriving at the hospital just as his mother lies dying from a heart attack while watching television.

As Alan navigates the twilight of his life, he finds himself divorced from Jessica and struggling to make ends meet as an artist. The years have taken their toll, but Alan’s creative spark remains, fueled by his hobbyist passion for painting. A visit to Thrill Village brings him full circle, where he finally musters the courage to confront his fears and ride “The Bullet,” a haunting reminder that some secrets are better left unspoken.