Silver Bullet (1985)
It started in May in a small town, and every month after that whenever the moon was full… it came back.
Back on track for a normal review again - only with some minor complication I’m sure. It’s still October, so I still have a free pass towards horror movies. Some complications for viewing popped up that did make an audible get pulled on what was getting watched, but how bad is that. Anywho, get ready to blast all the way back to 85 to catch a movie based on a short story by a guy I still haven’t read anything from despite having watched double digits or so of things based on his writing. Tonight, venture into an episode of ‘Ken likes lower-rated adaptation movies” as the full moon sneaks out behind the sky. Tonight, we watch Silver Bullet.
Terror strikes a small town. A local man is murdered by a creature at night by the railroad tracks. The town doesn’t think too much of it - he has a record for being a drunk, so it gets chalked up as a rail accident - because smooth decapitations are generally trains of course. Things become a lot more suspicious when it starts happening monthly, and it takes a while for folks to notice the correlation with the full moon. Tensions in the town start raising as things go on, and it’s just a matter of time before things go from bad to worse. Meanwhile, a kid in a wheelchair gets to go through normal life until he discovers the culprit of murder - a werewolf. The next trick is how does he get people to believe him, or deal with the problem himself? Slice of life through an unnatural tale - what else could one expect from a guy like Stephen King.
Actors do alright here. Admittedly, the movie is a bit dated, so one can color their expectations based on the age to some extent. That said, the kids do a pretty surprising job of being pretty good - and considering a good chunk involves at least one kid, that’s a good thing. There is some cheese in here, but it’s largely played off rather serious, and the premise is much more close to an understandable reality then something like the truck-based King horror flick, which helps. Inter-town tensions, distrust of law and each other, all coupled with youthful relationship (both family and a little bit of romance). Busey is probably the most dramatic thing in the movie (and also probably one of the highest chances of being considered too much). There’s a substantial amount of mileage here as long as a person can overlook some of the rougher spots.
Characters provide plenty to work with, even if they don’t all get a ton of backstory or anything. Sometimes it might just be the feeling of “opinionated semi-drunk 80’s father” who gets turned into food. Perhaps it’s just “woman with a illegitimate child thinking about ending herself when the dad wants nothing to do with the situation.” Yes, it’s a werewolf movie and people are getting murdered. No, not everyone gets to be the most in depth character or have a life-changing arc that’s punchline isn’t “because they got ate.” Surprisingly though (when looked upon as an 80s creature feature), there is a lot going for it here. I’m going to chalk that up to King’s writing, as from what I hear the guy can write up a storm. Of course, the villain has a classic “not fully in control” angle for some of the wolfing out, but even they get something to add to them a little.
Public safety announcement: public justice is dangerous.
Quality isn’t as crisp as modern standards, being only available in HD (or 480p if you watch it free on YouTube). Still, when you aren’t blowing a small pixel count up into quadruple it’s size, it does all look pretty good. It’s not overly grainy or out of focus or anything like that. Costumes are of the time period, so do have at least one part of the “doesn’t strike you as a costume” curse. It all looks good, and really the wheel chair and the werewolf are going to be the most elaborate costumes. The beastie looks decent enough - it’s not the most impressive practical werewolf I’ve ever seen, and at times the head especially can look a little stiff and puppeted, but it’s better than most the Sasquatch costumes I’ve seen in movies. Effects work is good enough that it doesn’t stand out as bad, although can be a bit of it’s time as well at moments. There’s plenty of deaths in the movie, but largely things aren’t graphic beyond old television standards of blood.
Audio is decent, balance is well done. Music doesn’t stick with me as it usual, but nothing too surprising there right? It does have a bit of a TV feel to it to me, not that it’s a bad thing, just kind of how I feel listening to the generally laid-back tunes going. There is some comedy in there, although for the most part I don’t know if all of it is intentional. There is also the question of some period-using language that some modern folks might get a little upsetty-spaghetti about. We could argue about deliveries, how some might be a little bit over-done. I wouldn’t call it bad though, and it’s not got the feeling of being phoned in at all - sometimes it’s just a little excited.
For the thinking folks, they’d probably have a good time with this. Most the movie is about the dynamics of the town as these horrible happenings go down. Sure, we dip into the whole “are monsters real” a little bit - but considering there is an actual werewolf in this, at least as far as the movie in concerned yes they are. Rising tensions and distrust lead to all manner of things someone could discuss, for just a small example mob mentality and distrust amongst neighbors. Of course when things start escalating more, you can get into the dangers of a bunch of scared, armed people and how that can play out. There is also a discussion to be had about the lead kid and handicaps probably, although props to the movie to not just play out the handicap as a joke the entire time - although I could see someone look at the Silver Bullet model two and think it’s making light of it to some extent. One could also probably find some stuff about religion in there - but with all the little things thrown in to the movie there is honestly probably a lot of commentary i haven’t even mentioned because I’m your resident “I’m not here to think” watcher.
The face of a new pair of pants.
Yeah some of the effects are noticeably fake. Some of the moments can be easily taken as intending to be a little comedic whether they are or not. Sure, some of the acting is dialed to 11 and some of the lines can feel a bit understated. Really though, it provides a lot more than you would think it would given it’s decent run time. I'm not entirely sure why it ends up being one of the lower-reviewed King flick - perhaps it’s just because werewolves? It’s a perfectly serviceable movie in my books, with plenty of well executed moments. If I had to guess, maybe it’s the slight tonal mismatch of “my summer as a kid” and “serial murdering werewolf in town” that gives off mixed messages for folks that would either focus on that family friendly growing up story or the blood thirsty body count story. Either way, it’s in my top three favorite King-based movies, so perhaps I’m just a bit jaded for that reason - it certainly isn’t nostalgia, as I didn’t get into horror movies until my late 20s at best.