Ghoulish effects create spine-chilling adventure

Press, 2 September 1986, Page 23

Ghoulish effects create spine-chilling adventure

REVIEWS

“SILVER BULLET” Starring Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Everett McGill. Directed by Daniel Attias. RCA-Colum-bia/Hoyts. 95 mins. R.

“Silver Bullet” is based on the novelette, “Cycle of the Werewolf,” by Stephen King. It has all the ingredients needed for a good movie; it is heartwarming, adventurous, scary — and surprising. A peaceful, all-Ameri-can country town becomes the hunting ground for a grisly murderer. Thirteen-year-old Marty Caslow (Corey Haim) is convinced a monster of some kind is responsible, but it takes a lot of effort and many spine-chilling, lonely moments before he finally persuades his older sister, Jane (Megan Follows), and his confidante, Uncle Red (Gary Busey), that something sinister and evil is living in the bosom of the community. The slow build-up to the first half of this movie

sets the tension for the subsequent terrifying confrontations with the savage and insatiably bloodthirsty werewolf. The special effects crew make the most of every opportunity to give vent to their imaginations with a variety of ghoulish inventions. . “Silver Bullet” is the nickname Marty gives to his motorised wheelchair, which is transformed into a three-wheel hot rod when Uncle Red has finished tampering with it. Naturally, its new-found speed is put to good use when Marty is chased on a lonely road by the werewolf, in its human form. There’s an unexpected twist before Marty and the rest of the town (the few that are still left alive, that is) are rid of this monster.

It is worth paying close attention to the werewolf when you see this movie.

Carol Rimbaldi, a threetime Oscar winner for his contributions to “E.T.,” "Alien” and “King Kong,” spent three months making the monster for “Silver Bullet.”

The most costly and complicated part of the werewolf was the head, which is mechanically operated. Like “E.T.,” the worms in “Dune” and the creature in Stephen King’s “Cat’s Eye,” Rimbaldi created a cable-operated system that enables the werewolf to have a variety of expressions via its 12 points of movement.

“Silver Bullet” has an uncomplicated plot, but with sufficient twists and special effects to make it good entertainment.