When Wolves Cry

About Stephen King’s Silver Bullet (1985)

Daniel Attias’s Silver Bullet (1985) adapts Stephen King’s novella Cycle of the Werewolf, with King himself writing the screenplay about a paralyzed boy in a wheelchair who discovers that a werewolf is terrorizing his small Maine town. Corey Haim delivers one of his finest performances as Marty Coslaw, whose motorized wheelchair—custom-built by his hard-drinking uncle played by Gary Busey—becomes an unlikely weapon against the beast. The film’s werewolf design by Carlo Rambaldi, who created E.T., was intended to be more bear-like than lupine, though production difficulties with the animatronic suit led to significant last-minute changes. Busey’s performance as the alcoholic, firework-obsessed Uncle Red provides the film’s heart and humor, and his chemistry with young Haim elevates what could have been a routine monster movie into a genuinely affecting story about family bonds tested by supernatural evil.