Quicksilver Highway (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Mick Garris

Writers (WGA):

Clive Barker (short story "The Body Politic")
Stephen King (short story "Chattery Teeth")

Release Date:

13 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Two tales of terror, told by a travelling showman.

Plot Keywords:

Chattering Teeth | Hand | Hitchhiker | Car Accident | Dust Storm

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Christopher Lloyd	...	Aaron Quicksilver
Matt Frewer	...	Charlie / Dr. Charles George
Raphael Sbarge	...	Kerry Parker / Bill Hogan
Missy Crider	...	Olivia Harmon Parker / Lita Hogan
Silas Weir Mitchell	...	Bryan Adams
Bill Nunn	...	Len
Veronica Cartwright	...	Myra
Bill Bolender	...	Scooter
Amelia Heinle	...	Darlene
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clive Barker	...	Anesthesiologist
Cynthia Garris	...	Ellen George
Kevin Grevioux	...	Police Sergeant
Christopher Hart	...	Lefty
William Knight	...	Rhinoplasty Man
John Landis	...	Surgical Assistant
Shawn Nelson	...	Driver
Sherry O'Keefe	...	Harriet DaVinci
Dana Waters	...	Hand Chaser
Constance Zimmer	...	Female Patient

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | Australia:M | UK:15 (video premiere)

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Movie Connections:

References Scanners (1981)

Entertaining Stephen King Clive Barker telemovie

Back in 1997, writer-director Mick Garris filmed this, a pilot movie for a proposed anthology series starring Christopher Lloyd as a traveling storyteller. Each week he would tell a different story that related to an item he had stored in his trailer. In the pilot, Garris, enlisted the help of author friends Stephen King and Clive Barker both of whom he had worked with before to adapt a short story each. King's addition and the first up is "Chattery Teeth". The story, as it appeared in the 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes, concerned a traveling salesman who buys a pair of chattery teeth (you'll know the wind up toy when you see it) that wreak some havoc on a nasty hitchhiker that he later picks up. Its pure EC Comics fun, plain and simple. Barker's segment has a bit more meat to its bones. Based on "The Body Politic" from his Books Of Blood collections, the tale of a doctor who finds one day that his hands are in revolt against the rest of his body is in many ways a strong tale. The script is tight and the theory of one's body being in revolt is a creepy one indeed. While the denouement is a bit cheesy, the buildup is worth it.