For as long as I can remember, Silver Bullet has thrilled me and terrified me. While it has lost a great deal of its power over the years, Silver Bullet is still an effective thriller and still manages to send a shiver up my spine. The movie opens quite abruptly as Arnie, a drunken railroad attendant, is stalked and then beheaded by the film's monster. (The very small role of Arnie is played by James Gammon, better known as Lou Brown to all of you who have seen Major League.) Through a narrator's dialogue, we learn that Arnie's death didn't seem all that surprising to the rest of the community and was written off as a simple accident.

The aforementioned narrator happens to be Jane Coslaw (Megan Follows), brother of wheelchair bound Marty Coslaw (Corey Haim), our film's hero. From the start, director Daniel Attias establishes a very believable love/hate relationship between the brother and sister. Jane loves her brother dearly, but is always saddled with watching him. This leads to a lot of misplaced anger against Marty. As for Marty, he's very good natured and doesn't let his inability to walk get him down. On top of that, Marty has an amazing amount of good luck (as we shall see later in the film). We get a good feel for all this character development during the local town festival. Jane is sent off to find Marty, who is spending time with his best friend, Brady. The latter is hanging from a tree limb and holding a garter snake, which he uses to scare and humiliate Jane. Marty apologizes for his friend's actions but it just adds fuel to the fire.

Jane storms off and takes refuge in some bushes and overhears an argument between a man and woman. Apparently the woman (Stella... insert "A Streetcar Named Desire" joke here.) is pregnant and the man refuses to take responsibility for the child ("It's your oven but it's not my bun!"). This little scene shows us the darker side of Tarker's Mills. As my good friend Todd mentions in his review, every small town has a dark secret and Tarker's Mills is no exception. Later that night, Marty wheels into his sister's room and they make amends. Meanwhile across town, Stella ("You're putting me through hella!") is gulping down multiple red pills. Her suicide attempt is thwarted when the werewolf pays a visit to her home. The furry man-beast climbs to the second floor and bursts through a window into Stella's bedroom. Stella is then clawed to death as she tries to fend off her fanged attacker.

The next evening, we meet Marty's Uncle Red (portrayed by the always entertaining Gary Busey). After telling a few jokes (The infamous "Jackass Joke" being one of them) and losing a few hands of poker to Marty (more hints at Marty's "bullshit luck"), Red argues with his sister, Nan (I guess their parents like three-letter names a lot). Red believes that Marty is being patronized far too often by Nan, and knows that there's more to Marty than just his handicap. Nan fires back by calling Red an irresponsible drunk who has no right to tell her how to raise her son. Yikes! Please keep all hits above the belt! Afterwards, we get our next werewolf attack. This time the lycanthrope impales a drunken hillbilly on a splintered floorboard. (This shows that the werewolf loves to leap/smash through stuff when it makes an entrance.)

After this murder, the townsfolk finally start staying indoors once the daylight is waning. However, one evening Brady Kincaid stays out until dark to fly his kite in a park. This leads up to an undeniably powerful and creepy moment in the film. As night falls, we find ourselves in a local tavern where a fight is brewing. Things calm down quickly once Herb Kincaid walks in the door and asks if anyone's seen his son Brady. The next scene is of Sheriff Haller walking away from a dimly lit gazebo with Brady's blood spattered kite in his hand. As he goes to sit on a park bench, the Sheriff mutters a Holy Mary. Once Herb arrives on the scene, he runs to the gazebo and lets out a series of horrified screams of anguish after pulling the sheet off his son's corpse. This shows some great skill on Daniel Attias' part. He doesn't show a mangled corpse or any gore at all. He sets up the scene so well that the audience's imagination fills in the blanks.

The next scene is at Brady's funeral, and this is where our first hint at the werewolf's identity is ("The face of the beast is always made known. And the time of the beast always passes."). After the funeral, Red takes Marty home and they discuss the murders. Marty deduces that the killer may be a monster, "like a werewolf or something." (I tell you, this kid is Sherlock Holmes!) Once night falls over Tarker's Mills again, the drunks and hicks at the local bar rally for some "private justice." Sheriff Haller tries to stop them, but the mob is roused by a speech from Herb Kincaid. The army of hillbillies descends upon the forests of Tarker's Mills armed with hunting dogs and a variety of guns. Yep, nothing keeps a small town safer than an army of liquored-up, gun-toting rednecks!

One group of locals finds their way into a foggy clearing; suddenly they hear some growling noises nearby and freeze. While they argue as to where the noise is coming from, the werewolf makes its move and starts taking out the rednecks. Most of them escape, but a few are killed in action. Now this part of the movie is the weak link in Silver Bullet. Daniel Attias manages to build some tension, but the payoff is a let down. The werewolf attacks in the fog aren't pulled off very convincingly and this proves to be an awkward section in the film. Also, I'd like to address one of the kills that people complain about. As one of the characters is fleeing the woods (a local tavern owner whom is armed with a baseball bat), the werewolf knocks him down. You see the man's arm rise above the fog as he clubs the werewolf a few times... then suddenly the werewolf has the bat and begins clubbing its attacker.

I think this illustrates that the werewolf still has a bit of a human side (albeit sadistic) and was enjoying its little murder spree. In fact, if you've ever seen The Howling, the lycanthrope is supposed to be a physical metaphor of the human id. The id is the part of the human psyche that controls all of your wants and desires (and other animalistic instincts); its always in a state of flux with the superego (your source of logical thinking). When one becomes a werewolf, the id is supposedly in full control. (And that concludes your lesson in psychology today.) After the locals' failed attempt at "private justice," Sheriff Haller puts a curfew in place (which is long overdue methinks).

A few days(?) later, Marty and his family are on their way to a carnival (complete with a fireworks display!). Once they get there, they find that its closed so they head back home. Later on, Uncle Red cheers Marty up with a new gift... the "Silver Bullet." This contraption is a motorcycle/wheelchair hybrid, and Marty breaks every traffic law he can during his test drive (much to Uncle Red's chagrin. Later that evening, as Red is about to depart, he gives Marty a bag full of (probably illegal) fireworks. Marty waits until everyone is asleep and then climbs out his bedroom window and down to his moto-wheelchair below (hot damn that takes a lot of upper body strength!). Marty then heads out to a secluded bridge and begins his colorful celebration. During Marty's personal fireworks display, the camera pans along the bank of the river. At first we only see the reflection of the colorful sparks on the water and then... BAM! There's the werewolf's reflection!

This is a truly chilling scene as we see the werewolf silently stalk Marty who's completely oblivious to everything. We even get a closeup of the creature's malevolent eyes and it still gets to me after all these years. (However, I am much braver now and I no longer look away from the TV screen or cover my eyes to avoid the werewolf's malevolent glare!). As Marty continues setting off his fireworks, the werewolf creeps closer and closer to the bridge. Finally, as Marty's about to fire his grand finale, a bottle rocket, the werewolf makes its move and charges at the crippled youth. Marty lights the wick on the rocket and aims it at the approaching monster. The rocket fires and hits the lycanthrope in its left eye, giving Marty plenty of time to escape (as well as a distinguishing feature to find the creature's human identity).

The next day Marty explains his story to Janie, who then spends all day searching for a one-eyed person while collecting empty bottles and cans for a charity drive. Up until this point, the identity of the werewolf is barely kept a secret. We get plenty of hints beforehand (hell, we're practically beaten over the head with who it is) but if you still haven't figured it out at this point then read on! Janie brings her collected bottles and cans to the local church, which is where we find that THE REVEREND LOWE HAS A BANDAGE OVER HIS LEFT EYE! GASP! Janie goes into the garage (since when do churches have a garage?) and starts unloading the cans and bottles. She ends up falling into a pile of cans after being startled by a mouse, and notices something in the pile... a baseball bat called the PEACEMAKER. Oddly enough the baseball bat looks like it's chewed up.

Coupled with the sight of Reverend Lowe's bandaged eye, Jane is rendered nearly catatonic. She quickly leaves the church and runs home to tell Marty what she saw. So now that they know who the werewolf is... what can they do about it? They can't tell their parents or other adults because quite frankly, who would believe them? Marty then decides to write several letters to Reverend Lowe, telling the priest to commit suicide. After a few days, the kids let Uncle Red in on their scheme. Although Red is as immature as an adult can get, he fails to believe Marty's story and berates him for sending those letters to Reverend Lowe. Things change soon enough though after Lowe tries to run Marty off the road with is car in a chilling chase scene. Marty survives the attack and manages to inadvertently obtain proof that something just isn't right about the local clergyman.

Uncle Red goes to the police station and tells the seemingly impossible story to Sheriff Haller. Despite his disbelief, Haller swings by the church late at night to investigate. As he searches the garage (again, have you ever heard of a church with a garage?!) he's struck down by Lowe who begins transforming into his animalistic alter ego. The sheriff is then clubbed to death by the lycanthropic priest. The next day the kids discuss the sudden disappearance of Sheriff Haller with their uncle. They decide to have Red take their silver necklace's and have them made into a silver bullet. (It's also interesting to note that they speculate on a few things. Such as "how did Lowe become a werewolf" and maybe he transforms every night; as the moon gets fuller, the Reverend gets "wolfier.") Young Marty believes that Lowe will come for him on the night of a full moon: "Not just because I know who he is, but because I hurt him."

The next time the moon is full is on Halloween night. Red stays home with the kids while Nan and (her husband) Bob go on vacation (a ploy created by Red so he and the kids will be home alone in case anything does happen). After a quick cut it's now extremely late at night/early in the morning (about 3AM I believe). Everyone's asleep in the house and nothing's happened... yet! Red wakes up after being burnt by his cigarette and drops the gun (which luckily doesn't fire). He's tired and cranky and starts arguing with the kids: "Go to bed, it's not coming tonight." "The moon isn't down yet," Jane responds. Red then starts exchanging a few harsh words with Marty. While they argue, Jane nonchalantly turns her head and sees the werewolf peeking through the window. Her sudden screams startle Red and Marty; when the lights go out the fear is taken up a notch. Suddenly they hear a noise (seemingly) from within the house and prepare for the worst... and this is when the werewolf makes its big entrance.

The large furry beast smashes through the wall into the living room and battles it out with Uncle Red. And kudos to Carlo Rambaldi (whose previous special effects credits include Alien and E.T.), the facial features on the werewolf are amazing! During the scuffle, Red drops the gun and the silver bullet, which falls through a shallow heating grate in the floor! Can you feel the tension?! Naturally, Marty's "bullshit luck" saves the day as he manages to retrieve the bullet (while Jane gets the gun... wait a minute... I feel a song coming on.... Janie's got a gun... Janie's got a gun... werewolf's on the run... cause Janie has got a gun...). Just as Red is tossed into a mirror, Marty loads the gun and takes aim. Before the werewolf can get its claws on Marty, the disabled youth fires the weapon, taking out the creature's right eye. The beast reels and falls to the floor then slowly morphs back into Reverend Lowe. Everyone starts breathing a sigh of relief, thinking that everything is going to be just fine. But suddenly, Lowe's eyeless body leaps up as he lets out a loud moan/groan/roar; then he falls back, dead. I wonder how they're going to explain the eyeless, naked corpse of the local priest on their living room floor to the authorities (strip Russian roulette gone wrong perhaps?).

If you haven't yet seen Silvet Bullet you simply must! It's a very good film with a good blend of drama, thrills, and horror. Daniel Attias did a great job bringing Stephen King's screenplay (based on King's novelette, Cycle of the Werewolf) to film. Dan knows how to do drama and create very tense moments, but he fails when it comes to filming "action" scenes. As I mentioned earlier, the werewolf attack sequence in the foggy woods of Tarker's Mills was fairly awkward. Despite that though, he keeps the movie going at a good pace. Now that I think of it though... if you were to take out the werewolf element (or at least make the killer a human), this movie would be a perfect made for TV candidate! It's all of the horror elements that Dan Attias doesn't have a firm grasp on, but that's forgivable. The bulk of his career is all TV shows (ranging from Northern Exposure to Buffy the Vampire Slayer) which is why I think he's so good at directing the dramatic moments of Silver Bullet.

Moving on then, I'd like to point out a few more things, such as the werewolf itself. The wolfsuit designed by Carlo Rambaldi is decent (the animatronic wolf head is the show stealer) but in moments when you get a clear look at the creature, the suit doesn't look all that great. Luckily the werewolf is mostly shown in bits and pieces (a closeup of it's clawed hands here, a closeup of the eyes there). Then there's the film's music, courtesy of Jay Chattaway (who's done the music on many a Chuck Norris film). The best musical cues are heard every time the werewolf is around (kind of like in Jaws. You'd know the shark was around simply because you heard John William's theme playing.). The cast in Silver Bullet is an exceptional collection of actors and actresses. A very young Corey Haim pulls off a very convincing role as Marty, though you may see his legs move a bit from time to time. Megan Follows is also spectacular, pulling off her role as a bitchy sister quite well.

Everett McGill who played Reverend Lowe (and the werewolf too according to the end credits) has a commanding presence on the screen. His speech to Marty while on the old covered bridge was spectacularly diabolical (a portion of said speech can be found below)! Then there's Gary Busey as Uncle Red... what can I say? I love Gary and he did a great job as Red; so well in fact that I wish Gary Busey was my uncle! Lastly I would like to commend Kent Broadhurst who played Herb Kincaid. His reaction to his son's death was realistic and is guaranteed to send a shiver up your spine (especially if you have kids of your own). So there you have it! Silver Bullet is one of the best werewolf films you'll ever watch; not because of the effects or the gore, but because of the superb acting, character development, and storytelling. If you decide that you want to buy this movie, be sure to get the DVD! Though it's a barebones disc (coming from Paramount, that's no big surprise) the movie has never looked or sounded better!