uncle red feels like a virgin on prom night

For the inaugural post of what I think will be a short-lived blog, I am going to write about a little movie called “Silver Bullet” some of you may remember from your childhood. Seeing as how it came out in 1985, I was only three and did not see it until I was somewhat older. However, let me just say that it scared the shit out of me then. Today, I still think it is a great underappreciated flick. Having just watched it again for the umpteenth time, I think I have some insights I would like to share. Of course, I am really the only one who is going to appreciate it. But I am being selfish and doing this for myself, so I don’t really care. Let’s break down why this movie is so damn good and why you should get your hands on an old VHS copy of it, sit back and let some cheesy yet heartfelt 80’s horror wash over you.

Gary Busey: If you have been lucky enough to ever stumble upon a film in which Gary Busey “starred”, you will understand me when I say his manic and downright crazy energy is ever present in this film, perhaps more so than say “Predator 2″ or “Point Break”, of which he was both in. Busey is such a dynamic figure that you cannot help but smile when he shows up onscreen as Corey Haim’s drunk “Uncle Red”, a nickname which the movie does not provide an answer for. Uncle Red is one of those drunks who, while constantly swigging from a bottle of Wild Turkey, does not get sloppy or vulgar. He is in fact vulgar to begin with. The alcohol instead allows Red to connect to his nephew Marty (Haim), who is paralyzed from the waist down. His sister Nan, Marty’s mother, berates Red for drinking around Marty and providing a bad example. Nan is rather shrill. Red is hilarious. Busey gets off so many great lines in this movie that it’s quotability factor is increased by at least 20%.
Example:
“I’m too old to be playing ‘Hardy Boys meet Reverend Werewolf’”
“Holy jumped-up bald-headed Jesus Palomino!”
“I understand that my niece and nephew have been sending little love letters to the local minister suggesting he gargle with broken glass, or eat a rat-poison omelette!”

and so forth. It is impossible for me to fully convey the effort and insanity that Busey puts into delivering these lines. If you watch this movie for no other reason, watch it for Gary Busey.

Corey Haim: Haim was perhaps the lesser-known of the “two Coreys” (the other being the seriously underrated Corey Feldman), however if you decide you need to see one Haim film, make it this one. As his character Marty is paralyzed and spends much if not most of his time in a wheelchair, Haim is actually forced to act instead of running or jumping around and distracting you from his limited acting abilities. And he is not half-bad in this one actually. Although he only really has three facial expressions (joyful, wistful, and scared), he makes the most of his character. The screenplay does not lay the pity on heavily, and although there is one scene where Marty watches his friends play baseball and Haim puts on the wistful face very intensely, Marty is portrayed as a pretty capable cripple. Of course Haim is not perfect. If you watch carefully you can see at times that he does actually move his legs slightly, breaking out of character in a rather distracting way. Yet I am impressed by Corey’s ability to play a normal teenager pretty well. Mind you, this film is coming out before he got “famous” and it went to his head. I use “famous” pretty loosely. Very loosely in fact.

The Werewolf (Reverend Lowe to spoil it for you): I have read often very biting attacks by critics of this film who accuse Carlo Rambaldi (the werewolf designer) of creating a pretty shitty looking werewolf. Perhaps if you had seen this film on the movie screen, where the werewolf would be blown up to larger proportions, you might have felt cheated by what was obviously a man in a suit. However, on a television screen the werewolf looks just right. The transformation effects are pretty well done, and the scene where Lowe dreams his entire congregation has turned into werewolves demonstrates how disturbing the idea of transformation into an animal can be if done right. As werewolf movies are fairly hard to come by (for reasons I do not understand), just appreciate what Rambaldi pulled off here. So what if it is a man in a suit. Werewolves have to walk on two feet just like humans.

Ok well I only gave three reasons. However they are all good reasons. You may also be interested to know that the film is based on a Stephen King “novelette” called “Cycle of the Werewolf”. In the book, King goes through an entire year, with each month a new chapter. He also adapted the book for the screenplay, however he decided to begin the movie halfway through the book, essentially just telling Marty’s story. This was a good decision I do believe. Frankly, I want to spend as much time with Marty and Uncle Red as I possibly can.