In its earliest incarnation, Little Fears was a game about kids fighting werewolves. While it soon ballooned into something much bigger, the game still presented a world perfect for stories about regular folks being terrorized by those most infamous of hirsute moonchasers.
Stories such as the 1985 classic Silver Bullet.
Adapted by Stephen King from his short story “Cycle of the Werewolf,” Silver Bullet tells the tale of a small town turned on its head by a series of gruesome murders. Originally thought to be the work of a psychopath, details come to light suggesting there might be more to these attacks than initially suspected. As the killings continue, and a child becomes one of the victims, the townsfolk get fed up with the seeming ineffectiveness of the local police force and decide to enact some “private justice” which both the town sheriff and local preacher struggle to keep in check.
Our viewpoint character for most of this—and our Little Fears connection—is a paralyzed boy who becomes the first to discover the truth about what’s going on, a fact his older sister and trusted uncle are both hesitant to believe.
The film boasts an array of familiar faces, with notables such as Bill Smitrovich, Terry O’Quinn, Corey Haim, and Gary Busey, who all turn in fine performances. The werewolf isn’t the greatest (which reportedly was a source of annoyance for the film’s producer) but it’s a solid romp in the traditional breezy/folksy style King is known for) and is perfect for a traditional-style Little Fears one-shot.
A hardcopy of Silver Bullet appears to be hard to track down nowadays (unless you’re looking for a copy for your Beta player) but you can stream it via Amazon or Netflix* which is what I did this past Friday night.
(*Many thanks to Little Fears superfan Jack O’Tears for the heads up.)
(I originally credited the source story as “Cry of the Werewolf” instead of “Cycle of the Werewolf. Thanks to Victor for the correction!)
