AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: John Landis Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne
With the upcoming "An American Werewolf in Paris" coming out Christmas Day (and looking way too hokey rather than comical), I thought I'd finally check out "An American Werewolf in London," the original film, and one of comical director John Landis's first. What it does is take the old melodramatic horror films and kinda mocks them with great black comedy. Still, it has its flaws.
"An American Werewolf in London" (great title) deals with two Americans David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, respectively) who go to London to bum around Europe, get laid, etc. They are dropped off after a bit of hitch-hiking around the moors, where they meet some creepy brits, who mysteriously warn them to "beware the moon" and "stay away from the moors." They kind of laugh at this (once they're out of there, of course), and soon find themselves off the main road, and near the moors...and with a full moon out. Soon enough, they are attacked by a giant wolf, who slaughters Jack, and merely wounds David, before it is shot by the villagers, and subsequently turns into a human.
David awakes from a coma, and has a series of nightmares, fantasies, etc, including one where a decomposing Jack visits him, and tells him to commit suicide since he's a werewolf...and once he dies, he can actually go on to the next life. But David has soon fallen in love with his nurse (Jenny Agutter, from "Logan's Run"), and just thinks he is going insane. Then one night, he turns into a werewolf...
The chief positive note about "An American Werewolf in London" is the humor...and the effects. If you've ever seen a John Landis film ("Animal House," "The Blues Brother"), you know he has a cool sense of humor. Here, it's very dark, as he finds humor from almost anything. So we don't take this seriously, he places cool ironic oldies on the soundtrack, including a couple different versions of "Blue Moon," and at one instance, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising." This makes us kind of grin at the whole thing, even when David is a werewolf and chasing people around London.
The effects are also quite amazing. The legendary Rick Baker (who also worked on "Men in Black") did the creature effects, including the greatest mutation-into-a-wolf scene in celluloid history (how many of those have you seen?). It's disgusting, humorful, and just plain cool all at the same time, and even look realistic. I mean, this was made in 1981, and David Naughton's hand is shown actually growing. And for you Michael Jackson fans, there's a shot of hair growing behind ears that was used in the "Thriller" video (also directed by Landis).
The acting's good, especially from Naughton, who's great and comical in the title role, as well as very likable. Griffin Dunne all but steals the film, but what else would you expect from the man who created the Kafka-stare (in "After Hours"). Jenny Agutter does a good job too, as the nurse who takes David in to her house, and subsequently screws around with him a bit.
But as I said, the film is still flawed. The film is way too short, seeming to be afraid to expand on any themes it presents. At roughly 90 minutes, the film moves slowly for the first hour, then speeds up in the final 30 minutes, which is when he first changes into the wolf. There isn't any real depth to the film, even with the romance between Agutter and Naughton, even if they have fairly good chemistry. And the ending is almost anti-climactic and ends way too quickly. Sure the second the credits role, I laughed, but it ends on way too serious a note.
Still, "An American Werewolf in London" is an 80s classic (not a bad thing, believe me), and still a very entertaining little flick. The new one looks way too over-produced and effects-y. This one uses the effects perfectly, without overcoming the story. I personally believe that minimalism would be the best thing to use with this film, and I'm glad that Landis could make a good film, even if he hasn't made one now in awhile.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
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