Few movies had blended horror and comedy as masterfully as “An American Werewolf in London” did back in 1981.
And it’s safe to say the film’s irresistible mix has yet to be matched nearly 30 years later.
“London,” starring former Dr. Pepper dance man David Naughton, revolutionized special effects for that era.
But the film, re-released this week on DVD and Blu-ray with a bevy of extras, works best as a study of a tortured soul. Our hero is forced to make an agonizing choice, one made all the more difficult as the dead bodies pile up around him.
American pals David (Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are traveling through England when their vacation is cut short by a hungry wolf. The beast kills Jack and takes a bite out of David, who thinks he survived the assault with only a few scratches and one less friend.
But Jack comes back from the grave to tell him otherwise. David will become a wolf when the next full moon comes around, unless he kills himself before then.
But David doesn’t like that option, particularly since falling for the nurse (Jenny Agutter) who treated his injuries following the attack.
“London” delivers state of the art (circa 1981) makeup effects from gore maestro Rick Baker, including the iconic transformation scene that’s lost little of its visceral punch. And the film’s saucy soundtrack - every great song with the word “moon” in the title gets a showcase - heightens the mood.
But it’s Jack’s occasional reappearances where the film’s black humor truly pops. Dunne’s wiseacre role makes the horror go down easier while illustrating David’s sad predicament.
Writer/director John Landis, fresh from directing “Animal House” and “The Blues Brothers,” finds just the right balance between horror and humor. Naughton isn’t a great actor, but he’s perfect here as an Everyman faced with a not so ordinary fate.
“An American Werewolf In London” deserves its cult status, not only for its shock sequences but for the tiny moments, like David calling his family back home for what might be the very last time.
Those touches make this wolf story so very, very human.
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The dream scene where he’s studying quietly at home with his family and the ghouls come in and machine gun them in front of him is the closest depiction of what losing your family really feels like that I’ve ever seen in movies.
This was the first movie I chose to see by myself as a teen. OMG when he closes the bathroom mirror. That remains one of my favorite films, and owes a lot to beauty and the beast as well.
Don’t know all the timelines, but the fact that this movie was such a perfect collection of horror humor suspense and drama, is what gave rise to the far far far inferior fangoria kitsch of the mid 80’s.
Raimi did good, but it was clearly camp.
I was happy for the later efforts at creating the hammer style with movies like “Demons” and “Lair of the White Worm” though they didn’t deliver like their 25 year old competitors, it was nice to see the move away from fangoria camp, into suspense horror.
doesn’t really matter though, I love horror flicks, even the worst of them, but there’s only one “Exorcist” and only one “Rosemary’s Baby” and the only movie that gives me the chills every effing time the original “When a stranger calls.” There’s only one “my bloody valentine” only one “happy birthday to me” and other great’s from the mid 80’s that managed to deliver the right mix to create a fantastic flick (of course nightmare and friday the 13′th (wasn’t that big into holloween, liked it, but not big into it, was more into ‘terror train” and “dressed to kill” (which I do count as a horror flick)) and succeed despite the low budge crap)
Sorry I used so many prens I lost track.
I have to say that “American Werewolf” is one of the few films I’ve walked out on…it was at the 1987 SFHF Con in LA, and I’d made the mistake of seeing “The Howling” earlier that day…the transformation scene was too much for me, as I’d already ODed on werewolves… plus, I didn’t want to take the chance that Jenny Agutter (my favorite British Isles cutie of the time) would be turned into werewolf chow…