Back in the early 1980’s, horror legend Stephen King was working on a calendar with illustrations that would tell the story of a year long saga involving a small town being terrorized by a werewolf.
As the collection started to come together, King realized that his writing didn’t really fit in the vignette form needed for the calendar.
That’s when he decided to adapt the material into a short novel with illustrations from famed comic book artist Bernie Wrightson.
In 1983, the 127-page book was published as “Cycle of the Werewolf,” which because of the short length was technically classified as a novella and one of King’s shortest books to date.
Not long after the book was released, King began adapting the novella into a full length screenplay for a film. Initially Don Coscarelli was brought on board to direct the movie but a long drawn out argument over the look of the werewolf delayed production and he eventually left the project.
Daniel Attias was then brought onto finish the film and with his direction actor Gary Busey was able to ad lib many of his best lines, which went beyond the script and many of those actually ended up in the final cut of the movie.
While the film wasn’t a critical hit when it was first released, the movie later became recognized as a cult classic and a beloved adaptation of King’s work.
In the latest episode of Rewind of the Living Dead as we carry on with werewolf month, we’re going to look for some private justice as we look back at the 1985 film “Silver Bullet”
Music courtesy of Andrew Scott Bell and Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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