November 4, 2015

This past weekend, Los Angeles residents were treated to an all day horror movie marathon over at Creature Features in Burbank courtesy of filmmaker Mike Williamson and his monthly event Secret Sixteen. The third feature in the queue was one of my personal favorites SILVER BULLET, the 1985 werewolf cult classic based on the Stephen King novella CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF. You know the book I’m talking about, right? With all those awesome Bernie Wrightson illustrations? If you’re unfamiliar, go to your local bookstore or on Amazon and buy it immediately. Thank me later.

OK, back to the movie…

I’ve always loved SILVER BULLET. I’m a sucker for any werewolf movie as long as it’s executed properly, and in that golden pre-CGI era, as long as you had a rad looking lycanthrope in a costume, I was totally in. But it’d been so long since I’ve actually seen SILVER BULLET that watching it now with fresh eyes made one thing evidently clear. Gary Busey’s Uncle Red is a goddamned national treasure.

First of all, this is 1985 Gary Busey. Which means that I’m fairly certain he’s not acting in this movie. I’m pretty sure he just showed up, Wild Turkey bourbon in hand, thinking that Corey Haim is in fact his nephew. Either that, or he’s just so darned good in the movie that he completely convinces me that he’s Uncle Red.

Corey Haim plays Marty Coslaw, a good natured, kind hearted kid that moves to a new town with his family. Even when he gets on his sister Jane’s case (Megan Follows), he feels bad about it. His mother doesn’t like him being around his Uncle Red (Busey) because he’s kind of a loud mouth drunk currently on his third divorce, but it’s evident from their first scene together that these two have a very special bond, and that Red really does love his nephew. He also treats him with the respect that any proud Uncle should treat their nephew with. When Marty’s mom scolds Red for the way he behaves around Marty and how he’s got it hard enough, Red defends him by saying, “there’s so much more to that boy than his disability.”

Later on, Red (a mechanic) builds up Marty’s wheelchair into a bad ass mini-motor cycle. Something that later in the movie ends up saving his life. The effort put forth and lengths Red goes to for this kid are just so darned admirable. When Marty uncovers that there’s a werewolf responsible for the recent rash of murders in town, the only person that Jane and Marty trust with this outrageous discovery is their Uncle Red. Sure enough, he thinks they’re nuts, but he’s willing to humor them, because he loves these kids and knows their parents won’t understand. After uncovering the identity of the werewolf, Marty now becomes his target! Red goes ahead and makes a silver bullet, just in case.

It all boils down to the climactic finale in which Red sends his sister and brother-in-law out of town, so that it’s just him and the kids at the house. And if anything is going to go down, he’ll be there to protect them. And man does he try! Once the werewolf bursts in with Marty set in his sights, Uncle Red steps up and gets his ass handed to him. He’s thrown around the room like a ragdoll, but the distraction gives Marty just enough time to load that silver bullet into his gun and defend himself.

I look at Uncle Red in the movie and despite all his character flaws, he always strives to do the right thing, and he always saw his nephew as an equal who was capable of much more than the rest of the world thinks him to be. For that, and of course letting his ass get beat by a werewolf, this week’s hashtag (and shot of bourbon) goes out to you, Uncle Red.

#RESPECT