By Drew Dietsch
| Published
One of my all-time, top-tier, knockout, favoritest of favorite Stephen King stories is the novella Cycle of the Werewolf. The tale is about a small town being set upon by a werewolf but structured around each full moon of the month as a chapter. Enhanced by iconic illustrations from master artist Bernie Wrightson, Cycle of the Werewolf is a tight, brutal, and evocative story that is begging to get a proper adaptation in modern day.
Because it has gotten a feature film. In fact, it even has a script from Stephen King himself! We’ll talk about Silver Bullet for a bit, but only so we can offer some context as to why Cycle of the Werewolf needs another crack in the world of cinema, and why its best form would be a miniseries.
Stephen King’s Silver Bullet
Stephen King did get the chance to adapt his own story to the screen with 1985’s Silver Bullet. It won’t be a big surprise to find that it’s actually a fairly faithful translation of the novella’s main beats. It’s not a bad movie but it can’t quite notch its way into greatness. If you want to hear my full review on Silver Bullet, you can listen to the Chat Sematary episode I did by clicking that link or listening right here:
Suffice to say, there are plenty of things worth celebrating about Silver Bullet both on its own and as a translation of Cycle of the Werewolf. Solid casting in the lead roles does the movie a lot of favors. Gary Busey and Everett McGill prop up clunkier execution in other realms. If you have ever read Cycle of the Werewolf and haven’t seen Silver Bullet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
But, at the end of the day, I can say there is a better way to bring Cycle of the Werewolf to the screen. Could that be in another movie? Sure! But my take would be as a limited series to give the story the right kind of structure.
Cycle of the Werewolf As A Limited Series
Cycle of the Werewolf is structured with twelve chapters, each one reflecting one month of the calendar year. If you can’t see the obvious episodic structure there, you’re the reason we need to save Sesame Street.
Giving each month its own episode would ensure that each part of the tale from Cycle of the Werewolf can be told in its entirety. It can also allow for more depth to be brought to certain chapters. For example, the “February” chapter is a quick yarn about a lonely woman who allows the werewolf into her home. It’s a perfectly grim little start to the whole affair, but it is also the kind of concept and character archetype worth an entire episode of television.
Not to mention that a limited series could give us a better opportunity to properly showcase the star monster. I am always hoping for a new cinematic werewolf to become another icon for a generation. Though a movie could have that impact, it’s more likely that a prestige limited series on a premium streaming platform would have a better chance at reaching a larger audience.
And maybe those streamers will be willing to burn more of their money on a practical effects werewolf thanks to Stephen King’s name above the title. The werewolf from Bernie Wrightson’s illustrations deserves to be brought to life with top-of-the-line physical effects and quality digital touch-up. Sorry, Silver Bullet, but your main wolfie ain’t it. Though I still love that nightmare sequence! I’d love to see that done again in the miniseries!
I’m on a big Stephen King kick of late after that The Stand announcement. There are way more movies and shows that need adapting from King’s works and Cycle of the Werewolf is a big one. I wish we were getting that instead of yet another Carrie riff.
