9 October: Silver Bullet

 

Knock, knock!

Who’s there?

Ahh.

Ahh who?

Ahh whooooo….werewolves of London!

The classics really are the best.

The movie I’ve chosen to sink my teeth into today for the Cinematic Void’s 31 Days of Voidoween may not be much of a classic, but it still holds a special place in my heart. Today’s topic is “Werewolf,” and we’re gonna look at the film adaptation of Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf -- 1985’s Silver Bullet.

Silver Bullet is one of those movies that I wish I could break through the screen and live in. First off, I’d be living in Stephen King country, the land of perpetual autumn. Second, I’d get to hang out with Marty Coslaw (Corey Haim) and his gasoline-powered wheelchair that was built by his cool Uncle Red (Gary Busey). Third, I’d get to flirt with Marty’s sister and film’s narrator, Jane (Megan Follows). Umm...I’d also be the 14-year-old I was when the movie came out and not the 50-year-old I am now which makes the flirting with Jane thing seem not as creepy as it sounds.

And, most importantly, there’d be werewolves! Not the best looking werewolves ever committed to film, but werewolves nonetheless. Ahh-ooooo!

Silver Bullet played a lot on TV in the late 80s and early 90s. I seem to remember always catching it on a Saturday afternoon. It’s got a great mid-80s horror vibe with its nice combination of comedy moments and spooky moments. The performances of Haim and Follows as brother and sister are wonderful and heartfelt. Throw Gary Busey being Gary Busey into the mix, and you get a movie that always makes me smile.

Do yourself a favor and pick up King’s original book. The Berni Wrightson illustrations are especially fine and really tie the room together, so to speak. I can remember my mom (bless her heart) buying it for me when I was a kid. I spent a lot of time looking at those pictures and wondering if the pastor at my church had a similar secret he was hiding from the world.

On a non-werewolf-related topic, track down the audio version of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s erotic vampire tale, Carmilla. Megan Follows does a bang-up job narrating Le Fanu’s Gothic Victorian story.