The relationship between Jane Coslaw (Megan Followes) and her paraplegic younger brother Marty (Corey Haim) is a rocky one. But things change with a series of mysterious murders in the town. Railroad worker Arnie Westrum (James Gammon) is decapitated. A pregnant woman named Stolie Randolf is murdered in her bedroom. Abusive father Mill Sturmfuller (James A. Baffico) is killed in his greenhouse. Marty’s best friend Brady Kincaid (Joe Wright) is killed as well.
The townspeople form a vigilante group, much to the dismay of Sheriff Joe Haller (Terry O’Quinn), but Brady’s father Herb (Kent Broadhurst) confronts him. Reverand Lester Lowe (Everett McGill) tries to prevent more bloodshed. As the vigilantes scour the woods, three of them are killed. Survivors, including Andy Fairton (Bill Smitrovich) deny seeing anything. Reverend Lowe dreams he is presiding over a mass funeral when the congregation and the dead transform into werewolves and attack him. He wakes up screaming.
Curfews are established and the 4th of July celebrations are cancelled. The Coslaw family has their own backyard party and invite their mother’s alcoholic brother, Red (Gary Busey). He gives Marty a custom-built combination wheelchair and motorcycle
called The Silver Bullet and a bunch of fireworks. The werewolf is attracted to the fireworks, and it confronts Marty, but Marty hits it in the eye with a rocket.
Marty obtains Jane’s help to find someone with a damaged eye. What they find is Reverend Lowe with a missing left eye. Marty sends anonymous notes to Reverend Lowe, revealing that he knows his secret and the Reverend should kill himself. Lowe tries to run Marty off the road and tries to justify his murders as God’s work, but a passerby saves Marty.
The brother and sister convince Red that Lowe is responsible for the murders and tried to kill Marty, and they persuade Sherriff Haller to investigate. That night, Haller goes to Lowe’s house and finds that the Reverend locked himself in his garage. Haller tries to arrest him, but Lowe transforms into a werewolf and kills Haller. Realizing that the werewolf will be after them next, Marty and Jane convince Red to melt down Jane’s silver cross and Marty’s silver medallion into a silver bullet.
On the night of the full moon, the werewolf cuts the power to the house and breaks in to attack Red. The silver bullet is nearly lost, but Marty finds it and shoots the werewolf. It turns into Lowe as it dies. Marty and Jane embrace, and she admits that she loves her brother.
The film was directed by Dan Attias and produced by Martha De Laurentiis from a script written by Stephen King from his novel. It was shot in Wilmington, Delaware. Gary Busey identified with Red and ad-libbed all his lines. King and Attias let him do it throughout the movie. When the best thing about a movie is Gary Busey, it gives one pause. And the werewolf itself, which is kind of important, seems to look like a bear. I’ve seen brilliant and terrifying werewolves in Fifties movies and even on television, and it’s hard to imagine screwing up something as important as how scary the werewolf looks. I get the idea sometimes that directors don’t have much respect for horror movies and figure Stephen King’s name will do the trick for them.
It did not get great reviews, though Roger Ebert considered it a parody and praised it. The relationship between the siblings has also been praised and the performance by young Corey Haim is quite good, but nobody praised the werewolf. There’s nothing like a brief joke in the middle of a scene of terror: “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” It works the other way too. In the middle of a comedy scene, a moment of serious terror will mess with your mind. It would have worked better if the creature had been genuinely horrific, but the rest of the movie is entertaining and has, I think, been unfairly treated.