I've always had a soft spot for Silver Bullet ever since I first saw it on cable way back when and not for the reasons people might think. The film is based on Stephen King's illustrated novelette, "Cycle of the Werewolf" and was also adapted with a screenplay by the author. He does some liberal re-writing from the source book, but by and large it's fairly faithful to the original book, with the biggest change being a compacted time frame the story is told in (the book took place over the course of a whole year).
The story focuses on the small town of Tarker's Mills, and specifically on siblings Marty (played by Corey Haim) and Jane (played by Megan Follows). They have a rocky relationship due to her constantly having to help her brother, who is paralyzed from the waist down. He tries to be good for her and tries to make up for it when his best friend Brady (played by Joe Wright) pulls a prank on her at the town picnic. Frequently hanging out with Marty is their Uncle Red (played by Gary Busey, damn near stealing the show) who in every sense except chronologically is more like another one of the kids rather than one of the adults. He makes souped up wheelchairs for Marty to zip around in, including a rather impressive one nicknamed The Silver Bullet (get it?).
Their quiet lives are rocked though when a string of mysterious deaths have the entire townsfolk gripped with fear. Many locals think there is a maniac on the loose. But Marty floats another theory, maybe it's a real monster, like a werewolf, which is laughed off by the others. When the town carnival and fireworks show is cancelled due to town curfew, Uncle Red purchases some fireworks for Marty to set off himself later that night, with the promise that Marty sticks close to the house. After everyone is asleep, Marty takes off to go set off the fireworks. While setting off the fireworks, he comes face to face with the werewolf. Thinking quick, Marty manages to fire a rocket right in the werewolf's eye, giving him time to get away. The next day, he tells his sister what happened and to his astonishment she believes him, or at least mostly believes him. Along with a begrudging Uncle Red, the three band together to find out who the werewolf is and stop them.
The main thing I liked about this film is the three main characters. It's a dynamic you don't often see in horror movies and adds a lot of heart to the film, which helps it overcome some of it's cheesier moments. And the movie does have some cheesy moments, including some less than perfect special effects and lines such as one character asking another if they're "going to make lemonade in their pants." It's moments like that where one has to wonder if Stephen King was poking fun at some of his own cliches. The cliches are readily found here too, such as religious leaders that are no help and the town sheriff to whom the idea of calling for backup is a completely foreign concept (this particular trope also showed up in The Dead Zone and Misery as well so I'm three for three on that one so far.)
Silver Bullet is as actually fairly tame stuff as far as horror films go. It's a pretty silly monster movie and one that I think would be okay for older preteens to watch who aren't ready for the more tense stuff. I think they'd get a kick out of it, seeing someone their age fighting monsters. In fact, now that I think about it, this would make a nice double feature with The Lost Boys, another movie with Corey Haim fighting monsters (vampires to be precise) alongside that other Corey, Feldman that is. But more on that one later...
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