An American Werewolf in London (1981)

[Dave]

American Werewolf in London.

This is a great spoof of the Horror film genre. Directed by John Landis ('Animal House')

It was a landmark film because of the special effects in the human to werewolf transformation.

The music is great -- 'Bad Moon Rising', 'Blue Moon', etc. etc. -- so corny!

I especially liked the beginning when they get lost on some Yorkshire moor and the locals at the pub won't talk to them. It is meant to be a spoof of films such as 'The Wicker Man', but in some parts of the UK, the locals really are like that to strangers. If you enter a pub in North Wales, they will start speaking Welsh, then stop again when you leave.

Two American students are on a walking tour of England and are attacked by a Werewolf. One student is killed, the other is mauled. The Werewolf is killed, but reverts to it's human form, and the local villagers are able to deny it's existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on four feet at first, but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he find a way to die to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural death.

I was actually staying in London, near Picadilly Circus, when the filming of one of the scenes took place. It was the part when he has been sitting, hiding in the Cinema and leaves. They filmed and re-filmed a car screeching away, with someone crossing the road. Only after seeing the film, did I realise that it had been that.

There was a sequel -- of course -- 'American Werewolf in Paris' -- but I have never seen it.

 

[little smaug]

No offence, but this is one of the worst films i have ever seen! 9/10 of the film was just a general love story, there was hardly anything to do with werewolves.

The strange thing is, the sequel "An American Werewolf in Paris" is a really good film, it has a better storyline and a lot more to do with werewolves!

 

[Dave]

No offence taken, but I think you miss the point of the film, it was a spoof, a comedy, not meant to be an out and out horror film.

The romance was never 9/10ths. There is a similar theme in the Jeff Goldblum film 'The Fly', but no one would call that a romance.

 

[little smaug]

No offence taken, everybody is entitled to their opinion.

I never thought that the film was a horror film, i just thought that the werewolf would have made more of an appearance. I guess it just wasn't the type of film i like.

As for "The Fly", i haven't seen it, so i can't really comment!

 

[Stryker]

I loved it too dave, the whole meaning was to mix horror and comedy.

Loved it when his dead buddy kept coming back ( and the victims ) telling him to kill himself


Thumbs up!!!

Good horror / comedy that kept me laughing.



Stryker

 

[Dave]

American Werewolf in London will be discussed in the next Chronscast podcast, Season 1, Episode 3, in early March 2022.

Maybe now would be a good time to watch it again, or watch it for the first time. Maybe you'll love it like me, or hate it like Little Smaug. At least you'll know what is being discussed on the podcast with Dan and Chris.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Excellent film, I loved it.

 

[Rodders]

I remember seeing this on pirate video and it was a pretty big deal at the time. I remember discussing at great length in the playground.

As for the werewolf appearing on screen, I suspect that the budget wouldn't allow for too much werewolving. I also think that the "less is more" mantra would apply here. Too much would dilute its impact.

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

I also thought it was excellent. Less is sometime more when it comes to visuals of monsters in movies (Jaws being another good example).

 

[Dave]

I just watched it again. It is much as I remembered it, except that I'd never realised that Rik Mayall was playing chess in The Slaughtered Lamb, or that Frank Oz was Mr. Collins from the American Embassy.

 

[Rodders]

How does the transformation hold up? (It was quite groundbreaking at the time)

 

[KGeo777]

The transformation was unique for the time (though the Howling beat it to theaters--Rob Bottin, the fx artist for the Howling was an apprentice for Rick Baker and likely took some ideas with him) but I think the most effective sequence is the tunnel chase where we don't see the werewolf at all.

The problem I have with it is that it is mostly a romantic comedy and the serious horror is only a minor element near the end. The music cues didn't appeal to me either.
I heard there was a radio version of it done in the 90s with some cast members.

I prefer The Howling.
Since Patrick Macnee is a werewolf in the Howling it could be called An English Werewolf in Los Angeles.

 

[Dave]

It's difficult to look at it in hindsight as one would have at the time, but I accept that it should definitely be classified as a Romantic Comedy with Horror secondly. However, the romance is less than half the film, there is more on the doctor's investigations and on David believing he is not dreaming, and then coming to terms with his condition. Jenny Agutter doesn't even appear until a third of the way through the film.

I think the transformation still holds up, but it is only seen in full about twice. That obviously saved on the budget, but I think Horror isn't just Gore, and I agree that the most suspenseful parts are those, like the underground, where no werewolf is visible at all.

One thing that didn't really work is the accident prone policeman. It wasn't great comedy and just seems out of place.

 

[BAYLOR]

The transformation scenes were impressive but the I didn't much like the story.

 

[hitmouse]

This is an all-round brilliant film. It has a number of superb scenes, the script is sparkling, the music is witty, the casting is perfect, the horror is good, and it is really funny. I have trouble thinking of other films of that age which are referenced so widely by people I know.

The transformation scenes were great, but really not the crux of the film.

 

[Dave]

The jokes might have been understated and too subtle for some audiences. It was the attention to detail in little things like the TV ads and the X-rated film being shown in the cinema. The "darts" jokes were probably funnier in the USA. Other jokes were probably funnier in the UK than the USA. I can understand why some people who were expecting a Hammer gothic horror film were confused and disappointed, but this was something else entirely. I'd say it was ground breaking.

 

[Dan Jones]

Glad to see the podcast is picking up this thread! Well done Dave. The transformation definitely does hold up IMO, mainly because of the sound design. The sound amd foley design for this film is genius: you really get the sense of tendons stretching and snapping, muscles popping, bones creaking and grinding against each other from the sounds offered. It sounds excruciatingly painful, and really makes one sympathise with David.

Having Richard as a guest was great. On his normal show he never gets to talk about werewolves, but as he wrote his dissertation on the Hollywood Year of the Wolf we just had to get him on to talk about this film. Hope everyone enjoyed it!

 

[J Riff]

yeh, it was great, esp. at that time. The follow up was fehhh. Some ppl just don't get it.