Stephen King’s ‘Silver Bullet’ is either the worst movie ever made from a Stephen King story or the funniest,” says Roger Ebert. opened his review for Dan Attias’ 1985 film. Ebert treated this horror adaptation as a genre parody that took King’s talent for small-town horror and turned it into something unintentionally hilarious. This may seem odd if you haven’t seen “Silver Bullet,” because King’s short story — titled “The Werewolf Cycle” — opens with a series of vicious murders and how a traumatized Marty Coslaw is shaped by these grisly events. How wrong does an adaptation have to be to turn such a dark storyline into a hilarious comedy? It turns out that Attias’ film was troubled from the start, with Don Coscarelli quit as director after producer ignored King’s meticulous notes during production.
Behind-the-scenes conflicts aside, “Silver Bullet” is a disconcerting take on King’s intriguing werewolf horror, as it plays into every monster movie cliché while ignoring narrative coherence. But that didn’t stop Ebert from giving it three stars out of four (!), because the film managed to make him laugh on several occasions:
“I know there’s a case to be made for how bad ‘Silver Bullet’ is. I agree. It’s bad. But it’s not consistently bad. It’s bad in its own incredibly vapid, petulant way – so bad, I think every laugh was lovingly, hand-crafted. […] If you are tired of horror films in general and Stephen King in particular, this film is for you. If you have impeccable taste and high artistic standards, why did you read this far in the first place? »
This seems fair. The problems plaguing “Silver Bullet” are obvious, but is it really as funny as Ebert claims?
Silver Bullet’s cheesy tone and costumes can be very funny at times
Spoilers for “Silver Bullet” to come.
The key to enjoying “Silver Bullet” is to throw serious expectations (or any expectations) out the window. The film’s tonal incoherence takes on the feel of a fever dream as the killings begin, where we see a child being mauled by an invisible menace because he was flying a kite at night. There’s a tinge of the absurd to these objectively grim events, especially when we’re introduced to Red, a raging alcoholic (Gary Busey), whose improvised dialogue is the main source of the film’s unintentional humor. Red is Marty’s (Corey Haim) overly reactive uncle, and he spends his time berating his 10-year-old nephew and saying things like “Saint Palomino, bald and bald!” Most of the film’s dialogue is of the same style, alternating between slightly cheesy dialogue and whatever Red chooses to shout when you least expect it.
The werewolf effects, which ideally should have been the main draw, also leave a lot to be desired. The unpredictable threat gimmick works pretty well early on, where Attias chooses to frame the werewolf in the shadows or uses extreme violence (like an unexpected decapitation) to lay the groundwork for fear. But all that is squandered as soon as we see the monster, as the werewolf costume is ridiculously unserious, especially when we see the creature beating up a man with a baseball bat. The same sequences seem tenser in the novella, as King finds a compelling way to weave in visual cues and suggestions to liven up an over-the-top premise.
“Silver Bullet” can be quite hilarious if you don’t read too much into its glaring flaws. To this end, it is time to revisit this underrated King adaptation, which can be streamed for free.
