Mark Reviews Silver Bullet.

SILVER BULLET 1985. Dino De Laurentiis 95 mins.
d Danial Attias p Dino De Laurentiis s/p Stephen King c Armando Nannuzzi
s/e Jeff Jarvis l/p GaryBusey, Everett McGill, Cory Haim, Megan Follows

It really was against my better judgement when I decided to purchase this obscure Stephen King werewolf movie from my local Oxfam. This is, afterall, a film that manages to conform to all the guidelines I made in the introduction to this blog with regards to spotting a bad film. 1- Its practically unheard of by all but the most dedicated King nuts, most of whome would concede that this is not exactly The Shining (1980), 2- it has a pretty low IMDB score, meaning nearly everyone thinks its a bit shit, and 3- it stars Cory Haim. The Lost Boys (1987) also stars Cory Haim, and thats an 80's teen horror classic. However, experience has taught me that any film staring someone with the first name Cory that isnt either Stand By Me (1986) or The Lost Boys should be avoided like a 10ft sex offender .

I chose Silver Bullet because I saw it at a Halloween party when I was about 12, and really enjoyed it, so I thought that it must at the very least be tolerable. I also thought A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was totally awesome when I was that age, so I shall be less trusting of the opinions held by my former self in the future.

Silver Bullet is predictactable, derivitive, dumb and occasionally laughable with its amateurish werewolf effects that one can barely believe came after American Werewolf in London (1981). Rarely in modern horror have men in costumes looked so much like men in costumes. One set piece in particular, which sees the local townsfolk go searching vigilante style in the woods for the individual responsible for the spate of murders in the area looks almost worthy of Ed Wood. The set is filled with so much dry ice ("there is something under the fog"!) that it comes across like a lycanthrope version of Stars in their Eyes, but with a monster considerably less frightening than Matthew Kelly.

Anyway, normally I would go into loads of detail around now about plot, characters, interesting themes etc. However, in this case I have decided to give your eyes a rest as I am falling asleep thinking about it. All I'll say is that Gary Busey gives a far better performance than the film deserves as Haim's drunken uncle Red, and that some of the gore sequences are pretty bloody and rapidly edited, lending some moments a visceral quality that might explain my adolescent affection for this cinematic shit sack.

Verdict 38%