Based on Stephen King’s novella “Cycle of the Werewolf”, Silver Bullet is a werewolf movie that comes through but not where you thought it might. I’d compare this flick to a dame who verbally prides herself on her headjob techniques but when you slip your pants down, she rims your ass instead. SURPRISE!

What kept me watching this sucka wasn’t the wolf shenanigans or the plasma spills but the well-written relationships. Who knew? I was surprisingly taken in by the drama and the characters. The brother/sister dynamic between Marty (Haim) and Jane (Follows) rang true and engaged me on a light emotional level. Sure, the dialogue was corny at times (who calls somebody a “booger”) but it worked for the roles. It also helped that both actors were very credible and on the money with their parts. The same can be said about uncle Red’s boozing, fun-loving show (played by the always entertaining Gary Busey). Not only does Busey spit out all the koolest comeback lines, but he also puts on a performance that I found extremely endearing. I also dug the fact that his role was always up for grabs. I never knew if the hombre was going to check out or not and that upped the tension I felt in regards to the blonde bastard.

Story-wise, the flick has a gripping premise, an easy flow and offered me a couple of neato moments. I loved the chilling bridge encounter between Marty and Reverend Lowe (McGill). That part had me chewing my poodle to the bone (poor doggie). I also appreciated the exciting car chase that went down, some of the less cheesy wolf kills (like that chick who misses her suicide…what a mess!) and the exciting conclusion. A few words on the finale: GOOD FREAKIN' SHITE BATMAN! Although a tad too short for my liking, the final confrontation grabbed my throat and squeezed hard. You just can’t go wrong with slow motion up the wazoo and Gary Busey relentlessly getting tossed into all kinds of walls by a wolf suit. Fun times!

Unfortunately, this bullet did lose some of its zest when it came to its horror elements. In lazy genre fashion, most of the werewolf kills are telegraphed and some generic players (what wuz up with that wrestling loving nut…what a jerk!) are solely introduced to get ripped into pieces. The director also doesn’t always interpret the potentially gnarly fear scenarios to full satisfaction. For example, the fog sequence with the werewolf carnage was clumsily executed and didn’t put out what it should have...horror-wise. Come on! You have a bunch of dudes with guns, a fog and a sicko wolf man! HAVE A BLAST RIGHT? WRONG! What was up with that whole werewolf and bat gag? Was that intentionally funny? If so, what a BAD move! If NOT…well…what a bad move! That scene needed HORROR...not chuckles.

Then, we have the special effects that are unimpressive, to say the least. Obvious severed plastic heads aside, Oscar winner Caro Rambaldi (who did E.T) should also be ashamed of himself for that stinky “dude in a cheap wolf suit” get-up! Shit, the wolf costume in “Big Wolf on Campus” looked better than this! And that suit sucked ass! Taking into account that this movie was made in 1985 and that the great "American Werewolf in London" was shot in 1981, there’s no valid excuse for the stinky off-the-wall effects. Did all the money go into nose candy for Mr. Busey instead of the prosthetics? COME ON, MAN! He can buy his own shit! We’re making a movie here!

Distributor: Paramount Home Video

IMAGE: The 2.35:1 (16x9 enhanced) widescreen image is pretty sharp with only a pinch of grain on occasion. I’ve personally never seen the flick look this good.

SOUND: The mono tracks (English and French) don’t serve the film very well, with some of the dialogue hard to comprehend and the score sounding even cheaper than it is.

Stephen King wrote the screenplay to this adaptation.

Today, Megan Follows is all growns up. She has two children, a boy and a girl.

Ironically, Corey Haim appeared in an episode of "Big Wolf on Campus". Even more ironically...so did I! ;)

The original concept for “Cycle of the Werewolf” was for it to be an illustrated calendar. King decided to expand the tale to a novella instead. Bernie Wrightson, the artist who did "Creepshow" contributed a series of illustrations to the novella.