Silver Bullet (1985)

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nSilver Bullet (1985)

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nDirector: Daniel Attias

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nCast: Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Everett McGill

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nSilver Bullet is a werewolf film that was released a fewnyears after the success of two far superior werewolf films, An AmericannWerewolf in London (1981) and The Howling (1981), the two films that all othernwerewolf films must look up to. And while Joe Dante’s The Howling is a niftynwerewolf flick with great effects by the always amazing Rob Bottin, I have tonsay that as far as I’m concerned, no werewolf movie out there has been able tonsurpass what John Landis and crew achieved in An American Werewolf in London;nthe challenge to beat An American Werewolf in London in terms of makeup effectsnwork is still up and running. The film is a great amalgamation of comedy, greatneffects, horrifying moments and a great story; it’s simply too good of a movie.nIt’s incredible that with the advancement of technology in the world of specialneffects, no computer generated images have been able to top the genius thatnmake up effects guru Rick Baker achieved in An American Werewolf in London; whichnis why the werewolves in Silver Bullet pale so brightly when compared tonBaker’s creations.  Still, a werewolfnmovie does not run on special effects alone, so how was Silver Bullet as anwhole, especially when we take in consideration that it’s a Stephen Kingnadaptation?
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nThe world of cinematic Stephen King adaptations is an unevennone. Some are amazing like The Shining (1980) and Pet Sematary (1989), whilenothers are mediocre, like Maximum Overdrive (1986) and The Lawnmower Mann(1992), to name just a few examples. Is Silver Bullet one of the good ones?nWell, it’s a strange sort of film in the sense that it seems to been aimed atnkids, but it’s a hard ‘R’ filled with lots of gore. It feels like it’s aimed atnkids because number one, it has a kid in the starring role in the form of anpre-teen Corey Haim, who plays Marty Coslaw, a kid bound to a wheelchair fornthe rest of his life. Marty knows there’s a werewolf prowling about killing hisnneighbors in grizzly ways, but of course, same as in every single horror filmnof the 80’s, nobody believes the kid. The film even feels like it’s a familynfilm, because at its core it’s about a kid’s relationship with his crazy, yetnlovable, drunkard uncle. The whole film is tinged with that gee-whiz 12 yearnold mentality that so many of Stephen King’s novels are known for. King lovesnto center his horror stories around children. He did it in Silver Bullet (1985),nIt (1990) and again in Dreamcatcher (2003). King connects horror withnchildhood, which makes sense. It’s at that age that we are most susceptible tonbeing scared; we know so little of the world. The problem with mixing childrennand horror on films is that your target audience becomes children, but then ifnyou’re making a horror movie for kids it can’t be too scary or you risk gettingnan ‘R’ rating and losing your target audience…and then the film becomes anmarketing nightmare. Who do you sell the movie to, kids or adults? This isnprobably the reason why Silver Bullet died a quick death at the boxnoffice.
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nI haven’t read The Cycle of the Werewolf, the novel on whichnSilver Bullet is based on, but I have seen the illustrations that accompany thennovel, namely, Bernie Wrightson’s amazing art work. The sad part is that thenwerewolves in the film pale in comparison even when compared to Wrightson’snillustrations! Who’s to blame for the underwhelming werewolves on this film?nWell, none other than Carlo Rambaldi, the Italian special effect guru bestnknown for creating E.T. for Spielberg’s E.T. The  Extraterrestrial (1982). He also created thencreatures seen in David Lynch’s Dune (1984). Rambaldi’s creature work hasnalways been a bit uneven, on some films it can be amazing, like for example thenAlien in Alien (1979), while on others not so great, like for example, his worknon King Kong Lives (1986) is actually laugh inducing! For some reason, this isnone of the films where his work was lackluster, the werewolf’s head looks asnbig as a refrigerator. If the filmmakers had employed the likes of StannWinston, Rick Baker or Rob Bottin, this film might have turned out a bit betternin terms of the werewolf effects.
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nWerewolf effects aside, it’s not the worst werewolf movienI’ve ever seen; that would be Wes Craven’s Cursed (2005). No, Silver Bullet isnactually watchable. Corey Haim and Gary Busey play likable characters who livenin their own little world. Busey’s Uncle Red is always saying one liners andnsilly jokes to keep Marty’s spirits up and Marty, even though he is disabled,nhasn’t given up on life and is actually very gung-ho about living it. The wholenfilm, like many of King’s stories takes place in small town U.S.A., with anwhole slew of townsfolk archetypes like the town asshole, the nice Sheriff whonis lenient with the people he’s known his whole life, the violent macho man,nthe old lady, the unfaithful wife, the natural leader, all these archetypesnthat tend to inhabit Kings stories. So you definitely feel like you arenwatching a Stephen King movie. In terms of themes, well, the film does have anthing or two to say about catholic priests who like to chase little boys.nUltimately, I think what hurts this movie the most is the lack of direction. Itnhas that television show feel to it, there’s nothing spectacular or eye catchingnabout the way it was filmed, the direction is actually very banal. This wasndirector Daniel Attias first and only cinematic effort, the rest of his careernhas been spent directing television, so I guess that explains a lot. Not one ofnKing’s worst adaptations, it certainly deserves a watch if you’re a werewolf ornStephen King fan.

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nRating: 3 out of 5
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