Silver Bullet is
a 1985 horror film. Directed by Dan Attias and starring Corey Haim (The Lost
Boys), Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon), Everett McGill (The People Under the Stairs)
and Terry O’Quinn (The Stepfather, Lost). The film is Stephen King’s adaptation
of his own novella “The Cycle of the Werewolf”.
The film is set
in Tarker Mills, a sleepy new England town. Marty (Haim) is a 10 year old boy
in a wheelchair with only his crazy Uncle Red (Busey) for amusement. Suddenly
the town is gripped by a series of gruesome murders perpetrated by a suspected
werewolf. When Sheriff Haller (O’Quinn) fails to uncover the true identity of
the beast, and a group of vigilante locals also come up short, Marty and his
sister Jane take it upon themselves to solve the mystery. Despite being happy to
supply Marty with illegal fireworks and a high powered wheelchair-cum-motorbike
(the titular Silver Bullet), uncle red is initially reluctant to believe the bizarre
story and help the children. However, after being confronted with hard evidence
that the beast walks among them, the three of them devise a plan to end the
curse and save the town.
Silver Bullet
isn’t one of the better King adaptations, which seems to be an ironic side
effect when he adapts his own books, but by no means the worst either. It
boasts a really strong cast that holds the film together, particularly the
chemistry between Haim and Busey and the movie is a lot of fun, despite not
featuring too much of the werewolf (perhaps for the best considering the
special effects). There’s a lot of outrageous dialogue, mostly referring to
“the cripple”, which hugely dates the film but the sight of Corey Haim (playing
a disabled 10 year old) ripping up and down the country lanes on his motorbike is
really something to behold.
It’s a shame
most of the gore from the book doesn’t really make it into the film but I
suppose they were aiming for somewhat of a family friendly horror film. All the
subplots are set up well but they do seem to have trouble drawing them
together, perhaps another symptom of the book being set over the course of a
year. The only thing that really irritated me about the film was the
inexplicable voice over by Marty’s sister. There’s no context for the movie
being a flashback and the technique is used so infrequently that it makes no
sense.
As a werewolf
movie, Silver Bullet doesn’t really hit the mark. But as a Stephen King movie,
it feels thoroughly authentic and is filled with so much 80s cheese and
fantastic performances, you’ll probably forget it’s meant to be a werewolf
film. If nothing else, fans of Gary Busey will leave satisfied.
*** 3 Stars
Have you seen
Silver Bullet? How does it rank among King adaptations?
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