AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Comedy / Horror

Director: John Landis

Cast: David Naughton / Griffin Dunne / Jenny Agutter

Plot

After an attack by a werewolf, an American tourist becomes a werewolf himself.

What I Liked

Where run-of-the-mill horror movies tend to rely purely on shock value, this one has much more to offer.  The most respected of a spate of werewolf flicks that came out in the 80s (“The Howling and its sequels, “Teen Wolf,” “Silver Bullet,”  etc.), “An American Werewolf in London” stands out from the pack thanks to the playfulness of writer-director John Landis and the still fascinating effects work of Rick Baker.  Landis was an accomplished veteran of comedy films (“Animal House,” “Blues Brothers”) when he was given the chance to make his dream film, one he had written when he was 19 years old.  His joy in having that kind of opportunity comes through in the finished product, which is a respectful homage to the werewolf pictures that had come before but goes out of its way not to take itself too seriously.  The film is full of goofiness and self-referential clichés from the start, along with a morbidly hilarious scene where the main character is forced to confront his grumpily undead victims in a porn theater.

Of course comedy’s all well and good, but the film also delivers on the thrills as well.  The real star of the film is of course the werewolf creature, brought to convincing life by Baker’s incredible work.  He has created a monster that looks to be more beast than man.  Unlike the bipedal Wolf Man characters of the past, this werewolf prowls about on all fours and has the elongated face of a very terrifying wolf.  Though some of the effects concerning the movement of the monster seem a little outdated, these scenes are few thanks to Landis’s wise choice of showing much of the action from the werewolf’s perspective.  These scenes, particularly one shot in the London Underground, are fraught with eerie suspense.

What I Didn’t Like

Nothing, really.

Most Memorable Scene

Baker’s effects really take over the movie once David transforms for the first time into the wolf.  No on screen werewolf transformation had ever appeared so fluid, frightening, and downright painful before.  The hair and claws grow right before our eyes while David’s bones stretch, break, and rearrange with agonizing realism.  Of course today it would all be done digitally and look even more natural.  But honestly, in a film market riddled with CGI, I sometimes long for the painstaking craft and ingenuity of first-rate makeup effects like those in “An American Werewolf in London.”

My Rating: 4 out of 5