Werewolfs and Stephen King; sounds like a combination that can't miss! While "Silver Bullet" does have it's moments it's still a few yards shy of being a bona-fide genre favorite.
The opening is magnificent; here's where the film's narration actually works. A grotesque opening sequence sets the tone perfectly and we're into one of those typical Stephen King small towns where great horror lies just beneath the picture pretty surface of the idyllic small town.
Well, everybody knows the story here; a werewolf is terrorizing the town.
While Corey Haim was a likable performer in his younger years, the decision to rest the film on the shoulders of two kids does diminish the film's scary potential. The set-pieces here are pretty good though, with that scene on the bridge with Haim lighting fireworks on the bridge; I remember that scene from when I was a kid.
"Silver Bullet", while displaying striking individual scenes gets somewhat bogged down when focusing on the kids here, giving them silly dialogue and rather campy scenes. Plus that narration gets very corny and irritating after the initial scene.
Gary Busey, always a likable actor, gives a one-note performance here as Haim's well meaning, but rather child-like alcoholic, uncle. That said, quality actors on board here with Everett McGill stealing the show as the town priest.
But all in all, "Silver Bullet" is a classic in the werewolf genre. I still prefer, say "The Howling" to this one, but I remembered it scared me silly when I was a kid and that fog bound search midway through is still atmospheric and somewhat scary. It's a no-brainer for horror buffs.
