Happy Halloween, everybody! Be sure to stop by the Museum of Schlock tomorrow night. Edwige will be giving out Mary Janes and Bit-O-Honeys for the kiddies! Butch Patrick (TV’s Eddie Munster) will be giving a retrospective talk on Lidsville. Finally, we’ll end the evening with the unveiling of a live Chupacabra caught by a local boy named Wade Sebold. Don’t worry. He gave his word that the cage is sturdy and the lock is tried and true. Maybe I’ll spray some seltzer water at Chupacabra just for kicks.

Tonight’s movie is 1985’s Silver Bullet from director Dan Attias based on the novella Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King.

The movie begins with the town drunk being stalked by a beast in the moonlight before getting his head ripped clean off. We’re then introduced to a young disabled boy, Marty (Corey Haim), who gets around in a motorized wheelchair called the “Silver Bullet.” His sister Jane (Megan Follows) resents having to look out for him all of the time, but still loves him deep down.

Marty’s Uncle Red is played by Gary Busey, a drunk, thrice divorced reprobate with a heart of gold. Marty’s mother has misgivings about her brother, but he’s the only member of his family who seems to treat Marty like a human being despite his not being able to walk. He’s the one that designed the “Silver Bullet” for Marty after all. It wouldn’t be such a bad life for Marty if not for all the murders taking place in town. The second murder happens to a woman named Stella who gets sliced to pieces right as she was about to take her own life. Town drunk and abusive father Mitt Sturmfuller is the third to go.

When a young boy named Brady who happens to be Marty’s best friend gets murdered, the townsfolk fall into a frenzy despite the protests of their sheriff, Joe Haller (Terry O’Quinn). This mob ends up in a foggy bog somewhere and they think they have the psychopath cornered, but guess what? The psychopath is a werewolf and this beast makes short work of this angry mob. More coffins are spread out before Reverend Lester Lowe (Everett McGill), who can’t seem to stop having recurring dreams about the situation.

Sheriff Haller declares a town curfew until the killer is found meaning no fireworks for the 4th of July. Marty is bummed out by the turn of events, but Uncle Red Red stops by the house on the 4th with a brand new “Silver Bullet” for Marty that can go three hundred miles an hour in the blink of an eye. Marty sneaks out later that night to take the “Silver Bullet” for a spin and light off some fireworks. Little does he know that he’s being stalked by a werewolf.

When the giant beast reveals himself to Marty, Marty shoots a bottle rocket into its eye before speeding off. Knowing that the beast is blind in one eye, Marty employs his sister to go look around town to see if anyone is missing an eye. And she finds someone.

I’m not going to tell you who it is. Watch the movie.

Happy Halloween!

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443,episode 444, episode 450,episode 477, episode 491, episode 492,episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, episode 599, episode 642, episode 643, episode 644, episode 645, episode 670, episode 686, episode 687, 688, 689, 726, 727, 728, and 729) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.