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You got to have loved the 80’s, when horror movies dominated the video stores
shelves and just about every Stephen King novel was brought to life on screen. Silver
Bullet is yet another one of those film adaptations taken from Stephen King novelette
“Cycle of the Werewolf".
The film is set in the small American town called Tarkers Mills during 'Spring 1976', a
railway worker named Arnie Westrum (James Gammon) who is drinking on the job, is
attacked and decapitated. The county coroner passes that the victim’s death was due
to him passing out on the tracks while under the influence of alcohol. The following
night another mysterious death occurs as a woman is viscously torn to shreds in her
bedroom. As the town congregates at the local bar, bitching about the actions of
Sheriff Joe Haller (Terry O'Quinn), a wheelchair bound 11 year old boy named Marty
(Corey Haim) is given a special gift by his alcoholic uncle Red (Gary Busey) on his
birthday, a custom made souped-up, wheelchair/motorcycle that Marty names Silver
Bullet. Like all teenage boys, Marty decides to sneak out of the house in the middle of
the night on his new wheels, tear up and down the highway popping wheelies to a
small bridge. While setting off some fireworks, Marty is soon confronted by the
bloodthirsty beast which Marty quickly shoots in the eye with a rocket before dropping
the clutch and fanging the guts out of Silver Bullet back home. Marty confines in his
older sister Jane (Megan Follows) and tells her what happened that night on the
bridge, but most of all asks her to keep a eye out for someone who suffers from an eye
injury. Turns out that Pastor Lester Lowe (Everett McGill), strangely has his left eye
bandaged and is trying to steer away the town folk - who are on a vigilante frenzy
demanding “private justice” - by not causing any more bloodshed after the recent
attack/death of a teenager boy Brady Kincaid (Joe Wright). Soon both siblings find
themselves in a deadly game of cat and mouse, while trying to prove to Red that
Pastor Lowe is in fact the killer and he is not to be trusted by any means.
With all of Stephen King’s novels, King fans will never agree that any of the films are
as entertaining as his novels. Filmmaker Daniel Attias has probably produced one of the
creepiest Stephen King films, Silver Bullet does have it’s fair share of scares and gore.
But what makes Silver Bullet so special is that the characters in the story, which are
not based around the same old cliché like many other horror films, where you always
have a bunch of healthy teenagers being hunted down and killed. With Silver Bullet its
focused on the total opposite allowing the viewer to see it from a different
perspective, but most of all many of the characters are from your typical everyday
dysfunctional family.
If you grew up in the early 80’s, then you will definitely know child superstar Corey
Haim as he debuted in the film Firstborn (1984) and later on landing the role in Lucas
(1986) which he got to star alongside actor Charlie Sheen. Which film critic Roger
Ebert had to say "He creates one of the most three-dimensional, complicated,
interesting characters of any age in any recent movie. If he can continue to act this
well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into
an important actor. He is that good". It wasn’t long until Haim had strings of offers
which landed him another role in the cult classic vampire film The Lost Boys (1987)
which Haim was introduced to another child superstar/friend Corey Feldman. Haim’s
role in Silver Bullet was sensational, but no where near as remarkable as his role in
Lucas.
The special effects are nowadays considered to be cheesy, especially the werewolf
costume. But when it comes to the werewolf transformations, special effects artist by
Carlos Rambaldi did a tremendous job by adding in a lot of detail. You can expect quite
a few violent and gory scenes, but not as spectacular as films Joe Dante's The Howling
(1981), or like John Landis, An American Werewolf in London (1981).
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Even though the video transfer might have a few scattered specks throughout or the
odd flicker every now and then it’s a very well presented film in a decent anamorphic
widescreen transfer.
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The audio here is rather basic, as Madman's Silver Bullet only comes in a Dolby Digital
2.0 surround sound. The audio is very crisp and clean from the beginning to the very
end, though i only wish this release had a DD 5.1 option. Apart from that the audio is
pretty solid and very enjoyable to listen to.
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In the DVD extra department you are presented with absolutely nothing at all. Not even
a trailer or a gallery section - either though I find them annoying and pointless. It
would have been good to perhaps of had a audio commentary or some behind-the-
scenes footage. Sadly in all the Silver Bullet releases world-wide I have yet to come
across a DVD that isn’t a barebones release.
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For all you King film fans out there, Madman Entertainment have finally released Silver
Bullet directly to DVD. Now is the time to stop re-watching your old chewed up VHS
tape and now go for the DVD. And while your purchasing this title, you may want to
check out another recent released King film by Madman called Cat’s Eye. Both films go
good back to back, especially if you wanting to settle in for the night with the family
or a loved one.
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