Silver Bullet

“Is the picture any good?” asked Stephen King in his foreword to the published screenplay (which was packaged along with its 1983 source material, Cycle of the Werewolf). “Man,” he answered, “I just can’t tell …. I think it’s either very good indeed or a complete bust.” Go with the latter opinion, Steve. This dreadful, borderline campy movie, about a werewolf on the prowl in a sedate town, is long on gore and short on logic, although solid performances by Corey Haim (before he became insufferable), Megan Follows, and Gary Busey (before he became insane) make it bearable. Carlo Rambaldi’s surprisingly cheap-looking werewolves (probably a rush job) can’t compete to the snarling beasts in Berni Wrightson’s illustrations for the original book. And whose dumb idea was it to turn the kid’s wheelchair into a fancy gizmo that the movie is named after? Um, oh yeah, that would’ve been King’s dumb idea. Not all of the films he had something to do with were any good (see also Pet Sematary). This was Daniel Attias’ first and last film as a feature director; he has, however, directed tons of TV over the years, everything from Miami Vice to Buffy to The Sopranos to True Blood.