Skip to main content

Silver Bullet (1985) - Daniel Attias


I hate werewolves. This movie is no exception. The special effects are basic and trite in this adaptation of Stephen King's short story. What's the best part of the movie? Gary Busey of course.

This movie is about Marty (Corey Haim), a young kid that loves fireworks, poker, wrestling, and hanging out with his uncle (Busey). Did I mention that Marty is in a gas powered wheelchair. Strange things have been happening in Marty's small town. People have been dying left and right. There are murmurs of a werewolf, but that is crazy right? Werewolves don't exist! That is until Marty comes in contact with the creature. Now he has to warn everyone before it is too late.

The special effects in the movie are not the best. The transformation scenes are ridiculous and the werewolf himself isn't the scariest looking thing. He is a huge, hairy, humanoid with a blood lust. The eyes are really cool and he is a huge bulking mass of terror. However, he just fails to really connect with me. I can't see the creature as scary. Especially when that werewolf isn't just ripping people to shreds. He is actually using weapons. The werewolf using the baseball bat to kill someone was really stupid.

I wasn't expecting this movie to be fantastic and it doesn't really need to be. It's a Stephen King movie. That should be reason enough. The nostalgia factor sets in when your watching it and you find yourself entranced. You can't switch it off. Everything from the cameos of Terry O'Quinn and Everett McGill, to the cheesy lines spewed by Gary Busey or Corey Haim, keeps you watching. This isn't a good werewolf movie, but this is an awesome eighties flick.

What is it, Bobby? You gonna make lemonade in your pants? 

 S!D
  • The film has been panned for not having enough to do with its setting. The movie is set in 1970's New England. However, no one speaks in an accent or mentions anything about the area. You can also see 80's cars driving around in the background. This is a minor gripe to me, but to others it is a big deal. 
  • In the scene right after Marty shoots the werewolf in the eye and rides back to his house, you can very obviously see his legs moving when he climbs from his window to his bed, even though he is supposed to be paralyzed from the waist down.
  • The narrator of the movie claimed that the full moon in 1976 fell on October 31. This incorrect as the moon was just past half on October 31, 1976. They also said that the moon had not set yet and that it was already 3:00 AM. Moon set October 31, 1976 was at 1:42 AM.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t...
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »

Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Tim Burton

Tim Burton's take on the old Sleepy Hollow tale is really interesting. He adds his own flair of course. He delves very deeply into the original story by Washington Irving. The casting is usual for Burton. Johnny Depp of course in your lead. Helena Bonham Carter, thrown in for some flavor. The score is done by Danny Elfman. It's literally just the Ichabod Crane story run through the Tim Burton machine. But in a good way. Sleepy Hollow has a problem with a guy, running around, taking people's heads. Like, a lot of people. The town sends word for assistance and the nervous  Constable Ichabod Crane reports. He starts to unravel clues that take him down an incredibly strange path. With the Horseman still murdering patrons, Crane tries finding who's next before they lose their head.  I've always been a big fan of the Disney cartoon,  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad . This movie is a far cry from Bing Crosby and quaint animations....
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »

Le Manoir du Diable (1896) - George Melies

According to Wikipedia in August of 2011, Le Manoir du diable by Georges Melies is the first horror movie. Well, actually its a short film (about three minuets or so) but film was really hard to come by in that time so this counts as a film to me. The plot of the film is basic, you have your hero being tormented by demonic things in a crazy castle room... However, that plot isn't what brought the crowds. The thing that drove the popularity of these films was the fact that you were seeing motion on screen. I suggest going and seeing Hugo. That film is spectacular. It answered so many questions that I had. It really sets the scene and the tone. The film has strong christian overtones and actually ends with Christianity prevailing over the "tides of darkness". I provided a link at the bottom of this review for anyone that would like to see this pioneer in Horror Film. The movie uses very, very early "movie magic" that is an abundance of smoke and m...
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »