Receiving news his mother is dying, a college student decides to hitchhike out to go see her, but as he gets closer and closer to his goal he begins to feel a dangerous supernatural entity is playing games with him and vows to put an end to them before it's too late.This here actually wasn't that bad at times. the film is incredibly enjoyable and entertaining whenever there's something that occurs out on the road as a mind-game, as not only is something actually happening but the set-ups are unique and really enjoyable. Stumbling across the highway accident one is really good, as the supernatural payoff is highly entertaining among the believable chaos and panic at the scene, and the rabbit attack is a glorious one because of the film's sole use of animals amongst all the macabre imagery. Also interesting is the chase in the pick-up truck which starts off pretty tensely through the field before going into the junkyard, as well as the interplay in the car for the final ride as the word-play works wonders in the suspense of the situation followed by a couple great gore gags to keep it going. Likewise, the ending is pretty tense with the hospital race coming at the end of the last rather good car sequence on the road, and all of these fun scenes really start to pile up after awhile to make this quite enjoyable. Along with the general plot-line which is pretty unique and really creative, these here are what work for the film as this one here didn't have all that many flaws. One of the main ones here is that the film features a rather irritating trick of resorting for a flashback here at every opportunity, making for a very irritating habit of getting confusing when it shouldn't. The fact that it shows the family history as much as it does is one of the problems, but here it just throws useless scene after another detailing it, then it decides to throw in the flashbacks which barely makes it any better by going to a time that doesn't help revealing important information about the story or why anything is happening, and all they do is add to the confusion which is a really hard task to accomplish. What is also tough to understand is the motive for the main villain who initially appearing as a sort of Grim Reaper-like figure that spends half the running time talking away with the supposed victim and never tricks them into killing or any other vile activities as there were plenty of available times to do that to pad out the film's running time which really makes little sense here. Otherwise, the only other flaw here is the film's rather dreary pacing since it spends so much time driving around that this is locked in on a singular location for so much of the time that it feels repetitive quite easily which makes this one feel boring at certain points along the way. These are what hurt the film. Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity.

How these aging actors cannot see how silly they look....anyhoo...we yet get ANOTHER one of Stephen King's lame adaptations from a short story...a moral Tale of Death that is a fine premise however it plays out like Garris took a gaggle of Stephen King's short stories, wadded them up and pasted the pages together...it really is a mess...there are maybe a couple of interesting scares but thats it...the first problem with the movie is lead Jonathan Jackson who definitely represents the dark and brooding "suffering" effeminate male who speaks in an annoying drone that is quite common for the Male of the 2000's..Jackson is just awful as the lead and cannot garner any empathy or sympathy with his drony lackluster acting...I think this movie was probably aimed at the conflicted early 20 somethings...the generation who all got a trophy for existing...the best eye opening parts of this movie was the campy performance of art teacher Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer...very funny and I thought appropriate..and the GORGEOUS Catherine Devine just sitting there as a nude model...that was about the only two scenes that animated me other than snickering at Barbara Hershey-Stein's pie hole....

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.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

after reading some of these awful reviews, I have to conclude that you need to be in your 50s to enjoy this movie. well, I am, and I did! a lot.it was really beautifully shot, the story was interesting, and the acting was fine. Barbara Hershey has always been one of my favorite actresses, and I love the fact that her face is still HER face! the late '60s vibe was a little hit-or-miss (somebody above mentioned the plastic bong), but the music was perfect. if you like creepy movies that also make you think, you'll like this, although you might find the resolution a bit unsatisfying. if you just want to see zombies eat humans, you might not.