7 Stephen King Adaptations That Are Unintentionally Hilarious

5. Silver Bullet

The title refers not only to the traditional means of killing a lycanthrope, but is also the name of the high-powered motorized wheelchair used by the film€™s pre-teen hero (Corey Haim), who lives in a town populated by character actors. Haim€™s uncle is booze-swilling Gary Busey (who€™s either high or pretending to be), the local bar is owned by Lawrence Tierney and the Sheriff is The Stepfather himself, Terry O€™Quinn, who according to one redneck couldn€™t find his ass if it was radioactive and he owned a Geiger counter. The redneck is proved correct when a werewolf starts tearing the town€™s residents to pieces, and even though the first victim is decapitated, O€™Quinn attributes it to an alcohol-related €œaccident.€ When more bodies bearing bite wounds and claw marks start showing up, Haim cries werewolf, but of course the adults don€™t believe him. €œPsychotics are more active when the moon is full,€ Busey says. €œHe€™s as human as you and me!€ The culprit turns out to be the Creepy Reverend, played by Twin Peaks€™ Everett McGill, who in one of the funniest scenes imagines his congregation turning into lycanthropes. Blinded by a firework (don€™t ask), the Reverend wears an eye-patch in his later scenes, and the sight of a sinister Nick Fury lookalike pursuing the Silver Bullet by car as it reaches speeds in excess of 50 mph is enough to place the film firmly in the realm of high camp.
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Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'