Quicksilver Highway

'Quicksilver Highway' is the collaboration of two of the world's most talented literary horror writers, Stephen King and Clive Barker. It is a rather short anthology of two terrifyingly twisted tales, with an inset story featuring Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future). But do they terrify the average film-goer? A wandering storyteller, Aaron Quicksilver (Lloyd), narrates the tales in two strikingly different locations: Stephen King's 'Chattery Teeth' along a deserted stretch of desert highway and Clive Barker's 'The Body Politic' within the carnivalesque setting of a funfair.

The more interesting of the two tales is 'Chattery Teeth', which tells of a psychopathic hitchhiker who falls prey to a relentless and dangerously-sharp set of chattering teeth owned by the travelling salesman driving the car. 'Chattery Teeth' is taken from a short story written by King and first published in 'Cemetery Dance' magazine in the nineties. Similar to the stories found in 'Creepshow' and 'Creepshow 2', it is a bizarre and disturbing story with a twist in the tail (think 'Twilight Zone' and the 'Ray Bradbury Theater').

The lesser of the two is Barker's 'The Body Politic'. Here, a hand comes alive, goes completely out of control, and eventually attacks its owner. The story is taken from Clive Barker's 'Books of Blood: Vol 4' and is actually quite an entertaining and intelligent story ... in print. However, attempting to re-create this story on film just doesn't work. The effects are nothing short of laughable, which inevitably ruins a good tale.

'Quicksilver Highway' is directed by Mick Garris, who has collaborated with Stephen King on more than one occasion (see 'Sleepwalkers', 'The Stand', 'The Shining' (TV), and the forthcoming 'Riding the Bullet' and 'Desperation'). He is also the man behind some of the 'Twilight Zone' episodes and 'Freddy's Nightmares', the latter explaining his less than efficient effort with 'Quicksilver Highway'.

Nevertheless, the cast is well chosen - Matt Frewer (The Stand), John Landis (dir. 'An American Werewolf in London'), Bill Nunn (Kiss the Girls), and Clive Barker - and although the movie does have its tedious and ridiculous moments (check out Lloyd's fetishistic leather garb), it is watchable. Fans of 'Tales from the Crypt' and 'Tales from the Darkside' will certainly want to give this film a look-see.

Matthew J Lee-Williams, Review.

What drove the needs for this movie is anybody's guess. They're based on boring stories from King and Barker. Christopher Lloyd does nothing as the sinister Quicksilver and generally the whole thing is a bore. Yes, there are a few chilling moments but basically I wouldn't waste your time.

At the time of this writing I'm a bit confused because the version I saw gave the "hand" story first followed by the "teeth" story, but comments here and on Amazon say the movie presents the two stories the other way around. And it should be noted that I haven't read the original stories; I judge the movie as a stand-alone form of entertainment.

So, imagine what would happen if your hands stopped responding to commands from your brain and began doing whatever *they* wanted to do. And what if your hands plotted a revolution requiring an army of hands from other people. If you happened to see the modern "Addams Family" remake then you can extrapolate: picture a bunch of "Thing" hands running around free. I thought the army, and how they got that way, were very funny. OK, there is a rather serious horror story going on in the background, and Matt Frewer does some excellent hand-acting.

As for the second story, well, I can't say much without giving too much away. But I was blown away by my favorite character, the wind-up teeth. I have a small collection of similar wind-ups, similar in that they walk or play instruments, but I never saw anything like these teeth. I felt totally torn between the seriousness of a hitchhiker-horror story and the humor of a wind-up character. Enjoy, just for fun.

It`s misleading to describe QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY as a TV movie because it feels like two episodes of an anthology show like THE TWILIGHT ZONE stuck together . By that I mean Mr Quicksilver relates the stories at two different locations , a desert(ed ) highway and a funfair . Is there any reason for this apart from the denounements ?

As for the stories themselves CHATTERING TEETH is probably the better but only when it`s being played straight devoid of its silly supernatural tones. Giving a ride to a hitch hiker who seems to border on the psycotic , yeah a good premise that ends up being ignored which seems to have been a problem with Stephen King stories for many years

I did read Clive Barker`s THE BODY POLITIC many years ago . It`s an imaginative story and one which I couldn`t help admiring Barker`s writing skills . However it`s one of those fantasy tales that is unfilmable since a revolution involving hands will come across as totally bizarre and unintentionally funny when realized on screen . So I`ve got to disagree with the chap who said THE BODY POLITIC is both tongue in cheek and misunderstood - No it`s not , it only comes across that way down to using a different meduim to what Barker envisaged

And also got to repeat my criticism that this " TVM " feels like a failed anthology series with two episodes stuck together

Stephen King may be the man behind Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Clairborne and the Green Mile. But he was also the man behind Thinner, Children of the Corn and one of the worst episodes of the X-Files ever. Clive Barker (you could say he is King's English counterpart) was the writer behind Hellraiser, Lord of Illusions. But he was also the man behind the novel Coldheart Canyon. Both writers have talent. But they have pitfalls too; we are all human.

And Quicksilver Highway isn't exactly their best.

Quicksilver Highway seems like a movie made out of two mediocre stories that came out of the minds of two great writers. Perhaps they were among their worst stories. If that was the case, they shouldn't have made it to television. The first one, the Clattering Teeth, isn't so bad. But it is unoriginal and dull. So dull you just want it to end. But it goes on and on. Eventually it becomes tiresome; since this movie was made for TV, you may find yourself going to the kitchen to look inside the refrigerator before it ends and the other one begins. The second story, the one written by Clive Barker, seems more like the work of Stephen King. Here we have a hand that gets life of its own and turn against its owner. Soon other hands join a revolution. The story could have consumed thirty minutes of your life. But it didn't stop when it should have. Just like the first story, it went on and on. Maybe you can forget about the hands walking around on their own and return to the kitchen. This film may help you gain weight but gets short when it comes to entertaining us.

Quicksilver Highway only has two stories. Not five or three like Creepshow I and II. After you watch this film, you feel like you have escaped out of a neverending nightmare. It is obvious that they wanted to stretch the stories long enough to make a film and not another episode of the Twilight Zone.

Perhaps it is a good idea to avoid this one at all cost.