Silver Bullet (1985) · 9:28pm Jan 15th, 2019
Hey there reader wanna be as popular as me? Of course you don't. Aim higher for God's sake. That said there are two pieces of wisdom I want to pass on to you. That's right, a guy who in any writing contest is a permanent resident in the cellar (actually I don't mind it down here because typically I just send in rough drafts and at least I didn't get first place) has writing advice.
First, if you really like your story go with it. Believe in it and work on the damn thing. Other people can have their opinions and hey they're entitled to them. You however, are not required to listen to them and in a lot of cases, until you're ready to listen to someone shouldn't listen to them. In fact most of the time it's counterproductive to listen to criticism until you get to a point with the story where you want to hear what someone else thinks.
In some cases it may be that you don't care/aren't interested even at that point and that's fine. It's your story and you're doing it the way you want to do it. Even if it winds up being a total train wreck as far as everyone else is concerned; if you like it that's cool. Who knows, you might actually be right.
Now, all of that said be honest with yourself. If the joke isn't landing, the pacing is off, the tone, grammar/punctuation or just whatever isn't right get help. If something that you can't put your finger on is off putting to you get help. Ask someone or two who might be able to point you in the right direction. As long as it's constructive try and make it work.
That said, always remember it's your story. You don't have to take the advice or the suggestions of anyone (especially those who offer it unsolicited). If at the end of the day you can walk away from what you've done with your head held high then who really cares what anybody else thinks? Admittedly, I may keep my head a little lower if I were a drunk by the railroad track and a werewolf is running about.
You know, I think if I ever find myself in a Stephen King story I think I want to be the guy who lives in the big city. Not to much happens to that guy usually. I mean these small towns have all the weird stuff happen to them. Giant bats, inter-dimensional spiders, indian burial mounds that bring back the dead and so on. Tarker's Mill is no exception.
Silver Bullet is kind of a funny movie from the start. After an opening death scene we get some narration about the town and how everybody gets along, that it's a tightly knit community and so on. Pretty much immediately after that we have people arguing with one another and a suicide attempt. Folks continue to squabble through out the movie which leads me to believe this is more of a tongue-in-cheek sort of film rather than a straight up horror film.
This movie centers around a young paraplegic boy named Marty (Corey Haim) even though the narration is from his sister Jane (Megan Follows). One summer during their youth their town suffers from a mysterious and brutal deaths at the hands of what they believe is a psychopath. This is sort of true if by psychopath you mean lunatic and if by lunatic you mean werewolf.
The strongest aspect of this movie is the performances. Haim, Follows, Busey, etc. all deliver credible performances. Some of the locals are memorable as well. While I may kid about the setting the town even fits the bill. What really holds this movie back is the pacing and editing.
I'm not saying that this movie should have been a three hour epic but, time passes really fast here. In fact it passes so fast that we go from May to October and short of a couple of sweater vests and a verbal cue there really isn't any way you can tell. Because of this, when the Marty character starts talking about the monster or werewolves and when uncle Red acts with exasperation it feels like maybe a week or two have passed by the beginning to the end of the movie and his , "This again," take on things doesn't really work.
There's also editing involving a dream sequence that basically tells the audience who the bad guy is way before any of the characters know. It's a silly sequence that should have been removed. If they had the identity of the werewolf and the reveal would have been more effective. We could have also used some of that time building up a little more tension and possibly fleshing out characters.
Now here's the thing. I don't dislike the movie. It's an imperfect little werewolf film that is actually pretty entertaining. The problem is that it could have been a lot better of an overall movie too. It's certainly worth a watch if you haven't seen it before and has enough good actors in it that raise the material higher than typical for the genre.
The stats:
Dead Bodies: 7
Breasts: 0
Decapitation
Board to the gut
Rocket to the eye
Bullet to the eye
Werewolf-in-the-mist hide and seek
baseball bat to the head
gratuitous King religion spiel
wheelchair fu
drunk fu
arguing fu
bat fu
gun fu
Shout Outs:
Gary Busey as Uncle Red for being the lovably drunk uncle who is "...a little to old to be playing The Hardy Boys Meet a Werewolf."
Corey Haim as Marty who is a nice kid and does all the nice kid things you'd expect without being too irritating which is hard for a child actor to do.
Ish Jones Jr. and Pearl Jones as Mr. and Mrs. Thayer for the exchange: Pearl, " What are you gonna do make lemonade in your pants?" Mr. Thayer, "I ain't scared!"
Everett McGill as Reverend Lowe for proving he's more than just a landlord in a gimp suit (People Under the Stairs).
Terry O'Quinn as sheriff Joe Haller for his usual steady performance.
Heck yes, man. Write on.
I wondered if it was going to end up with this! I could probably enjoy watching wheelchair combat with a werewolf.
My favorite werewolf movie. We learn that the only things that can truly kill a werewolf are silver and Gary Busey.
I read the book back when it was called Cycle of the Werewolf. Thanks for an illustrated book, Stephen King!
Also, what’s more scary? A werewolf? Or Gary Busey?
4997624
It’s less combat and more “I have a gun, you don’t.”
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4997688
I was actually gonna say something about The Busey. I would put my money on him as opposed to the silver bullets for sheer stopping power. I still quake in my boots to remember him advertising the “AMAZON FIRE TV STICK!!!”
...Which we bought one of.
4997697
Nuuuuu don’t give in to fear tactics! Though if Busey told me to buy one or he’d show up in person... yeah, I’d give in.
4997624
Well if worse comes to worse you could always watch Crippled Masters. One guy with no legs and another guy with no arms use their martial arts skills to fight bad guys!
4997653
Gary Busey is a national treasure! I can't think of too many other people I'd want to take into a werewolf fight but you know if you give Gary Busey a fire poker and he can work wonders.
4997688
I'd venture to say ... Gary Busey as a werewolf would be the scariest. I'd probably Feel A Rectal Transmission if that happened.
4998260
If Gary Busey were a werewolf, all other creatures of the night would be terrified of him. It’s a shame he doesn’t really have any memorable quotes to spout at his werewolf brethren.
I read the book and watched the movie as well. It was a fun movie to watch.
4998334
He does make a great face though. You've gotta give him that!
4999134
I couldn't agree more!
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https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GaryBuseyOct07.jpg
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