41 Years Later, Stephen King's Forgotten Werewolf Movie Finds a New Lair

9 hours ago 5

Published Mar 3, 2026, 7:43 PM EST

Shrishty is a decade-old journalist covering a variety of beats between politics to pop culture, but movies are her first love, which led her to study Film and TV Development at UCLAx. She lives and breathes cinema and sometimes wakes up with the close-up shot of Ryan Gosling's hands playing piano in La La Land, in her head.

She has worked with numerous media outlets, including Burda Media (MSN News), DKODING Media, The Voice of Fashion, Hindustan Times, and more. Throughout her career, she has interviewed an array of people, from CEOs and politicians to filmmakers and farmers.

Stephen King’s adaptations always prove a horrific delight for the fans. From psychological horror like Misery to atmospheric horror in The Shining, to sci-fi dystopian drama, The Running Man – his work is full of narratives and characters that hook audiences right from the start and keep them glued to their seats till the end.

The past year itself brought various King adaptations to the screen, Glen Powell’s The Running Man reboot, Tom Hiddleston’s Life of Chuck, James Wan’s The Monkey, and an extension of the IT franchise, Welcome to Derry on TV, among many others. So it's hard to believe that there might be some underrated titles penned by King, but decades ago King himself wrote a screenplay that was a modest box-office success but has since emerged as a cult classic.

1985’s Silver Bullet, adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf and directed by Dan Attias, is a compelling film. Set in the backdrop of a normally quiet town of Tarker's Mill, a series of unexplained murders occur, and the residents decide to hunt down the killer. However, many of these vigilantes end up dead, and those who don't are any closer to finding an assailant. Things take a turn when a young wheelchair-using boy named Marty encounters a werewolf one night, and the pieces begin to come together. Along with his sister and Uncle Red, Marty begins a mission to capture the werewolf once and for all.

The feature became a modest box office success, earning $12.3 million on a $7 million budget. It further divided its audience as critics gave it a 43 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating while fans gave it a 56 percent. Though everyone agreed that the werewolf design wasn’t on par, it gives the movie quite a fun campy feel. Some also criticized its tonal inconsistencies, which oscillated between a coming-of-age story and R-rated horror. Nonetheless, it has emerged as a cult classic owing to its performances and a gripping narrative in the years since.

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‘Silver Bullet’ Has a New Home

Fans who missed the movie for some reason or the ones who want to revisit this underrated gem are in luck. Silver Bullet is available to stream on Tubi now. The feature cast Gary Busey as Uncle Red, Everett McGill as Reverend Lester Lowe, Corey Haim as Marty Coslaw, Megan Follows as Jane Coslaw, Terry O'Quinn as Sheriff Joe Haller, Bill Smitrovich as Andy Fairton, and many more.

You can check out Silver Bullet on Tubi on March 1. Stay tuned to Collider for more such updates.