In 1969 a young artist named Alan Parker, who has visions of his own death, attempts to hitchhike home to see his mother when she is hospitalized by a stroke. On the way he meets an old farmer, an army deserter, and what is apparently the ghost of a man who died two years before and is now gathering souls for the Grim Reaper. This spirit gives Alan the choice of dying himself or choosing someone else to die instead, all of this being instigated by his refusing to ride a roller coaster called The Bullet when he was young, and where he first began seeing premonitions. To be able to get to his sick mother's side Alan must outwit the Angel of Death.
Inspired by a novella by Stephen King, this falls down the rabbit hole of being just a little too faithful to the work of that author. King has a gift of writing the mindscapes of his characters that can be very disturbing, but in a book there is always a hint whether or not what is being read is happening in reality or in the vastly layered mind. However, in film only audible or visual markers can let the viewer know when those periods stop or start, and here there are no such markers. Episodes of the mind are literally indistinguishable from reality, and this makes this movie really choppy and confusing to follow. It is so convoluted, in fact, that it literally wears the audience out and makes them lose interest about halfway through. I would not recommend this for anyone who has trouble telling fantasy from fact, and definitely not for imaginative children that it might excessively frighten. The only bright spot in the entire thing comes early on with the appearance of veteran actor Cliff Robertson as the old farmer that picks Alan up for one of his early rides, and who is mourning the death of his wife while also suffering from health issues. But the majority of this is a mess in film context. There are better things you can do with your time.
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