Werewolf Flicks: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

First thing I have to say is doesn't that title sound like a comedy? I'm serious. I first heard of this movie in a little book called Monster Madness that I got when I was either twelve or thirteen. It was mentioned briefly in the section on the Wolf Man and when I saw that title, I immediately thought, "Is this a comedy?" It just seemed like a funny title. In any case, I had never heard of the film until then and over the years, I learned more and more about it from other books such as John Stanley's Creature Features movie guide, a horror film trivia quizbook that had a section on it, and even a book on special effects that I found in my high school's library. That latter book was what intrigued me because it talked specifically about the transformation and the way it was described, it sounded unlike anything I had ever seen in any werewolf movie. Obviously, I couldn't hear about this movie without learning how awesome the effects were supposed to be and how it won the very first Oscar for makeup but that was the book that talked about it in great detail. Bottom line, it sounded really cool. I finally saw a glimpse of it in a little known horror and sci-fi documentary that I received on video for my fourteenth birthday which was simply called The History of Sci-Fi and Horror. Hosted by Butch Patrick, the thing mainly consisted of Patrick talking over trailers, photographs, and movie clips with almost no actual audio from the films for most of the documentary. I saw a brief glimpse of the transformation there but with no sound and less than perfect picture quality, I wasn't able to draw anything from it. But then, that winter, I received the newest VHS release of Halloween II as a Christmas present and one of the previews before the movie was for the new DVD release of An American Werewolf in London. I saw a lot more of the movie then than I had ever seen before and what I saw looked awesome. Needless to say, that made me feel like I had to see this movie. I can't remember exactly but it was some time after that, either the following spring or the one after, when I got the VHS and finally watched the movie.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of what I had just seen when the movie was over. It's funny because I thought back to when I first saw the title and thought the movie had to be comedy because, in some instances, it was a comedy, with the songs that play on the soundtrack, David running around naked for an entire sequence, and so forth. But then, in other instances, it was an extremely violent, disturbing horror film and still, in other instances, it was a movie that was just plain weird. I didn't hate it, mind you, but again, after it was over, my mind was really struggling in processing it. However, as often happens, when I watched it more and more, I began to enjoy it more and more. I grew to appreciate the utterly macabre nature of the film overall as well as the comedy, which is very dark in some spots, and just the sheer strangeness of it too. Now, I can honestly say that I consider An American Werewolf in London to be one of the greatest werewolf movies ever, second only to the original Wolf Man.

While on a backpacking trip across England, American college students David Kessler and Jack Goodman come to a small village near the Yorkshire moors. They decide to stop at a pub called the Slaughtered Lamb but get a rather cold reception from those inside when they walk in and an even colder one later on when Jack becomes curious about a star painted on the wall. After deciding to leave, the two boys are given strange warnings from the pubgoers such as, "Stay on the road, keep clear of the moors," and, "Beware the moon." As they walk off into the night, they unknowingly stray off the road and become lost on the moors. After the full moon rises, an unearthly howl begins echoing across the moors. They try to find their way back to the Slaughtered Lamb but become all the more lost and soon realize that the howling animal is now stalking them. Eventually, they are ambushed by a large, wolf-like creature that rips Jack to pieces and mauls David but is shot to death by the villagers before it can kill him as well. David loses consciousness and awakens in a London hospital three weeks later to find that Jack is dead and that the official report is that they were attacked by an escaped lunatic. David, however, clearly remembers that their attacker was a large wolf and he begins have to a series of disturbing nightmares during his stay at the hospital. This culminates in him being visited by Jack's mutilated undead corpse, who tells him that the creature that attacked them was a werewolf and that not only will he himself become a werewolf when the full moon rises again but all of his victims will be cursed to walk the Earth as the living dead like Jack until the wolf's bloodline is severed with his death. David, however, still thinks he's suffering from the trauma of what happened to him and soon, moves in with his lovely nurse Alex. The two of them soon become lovers but Jack again appears and warns David that if he doesn't kill himself soon, he will become a werewolf. David, however, doesn't believe it and, sure enough, painfully transforms into a large, bloodthirsty wolf and goes on a killing spree in London. Now, David must make the choice whether to take his own life or go on living and murdering innocent people.

I must say that I absolutely love John Landis as a personality. This guy just seems like such a fun, energetic, wise-cracking guy, like somebody you'd want to spend an afternoon with hanging out and talking movies. Moreover, you can tell in both the film itself and in interviews that he absolutely loves the horror genre. Before I saw the movie, when I first found out that most of his filmography consists of comedies like Animal House and The Blues Brothers, I wondered if he did this film simply as a lark but nope, he grew up watching the classic horror films as a kid, just like me, and still has a passion for it to this day. It's remarkable and, like I said, I think his love for the genre really comes through in this film. Now, yes, the guy has had some ups and downs in his career and life, the lowest point being that horrible mistake he made on Twilight Zone: The Movie that resulted in the deaths of Vic Morrow and two kids and while that was indeed horrible and Landis should take some responsibility, I still feel that he's a sincerely good guy. I just can't hate somebody who's so cheerful and loves horror films as well as the world of cinema at large as much as he does.

There are two big reasons why I think the film is as effectively disturbing as it is. One is that the two leads, David Naughton and Griffin Dunne, are very likable in their respective roles. These are two funny, charming guys who remind you of the roommates that you had in college. They're not looking for trouble or anything. They're just on a fun, sightseeing trip in a country that they've never been to before and neither of them deserve the horrific fate that befalls them. That's the other reason I think the movie is very effective. They're in a strange land, far from their friends and families and not only do they encounter something that neither of them believe in at all but also by the end of the movie, it has destroyed both of their lives. Basically, it gives you pause in letting someone you know go off to a strange place because, as what happens here, they might not come back. There are two scenes that hammer this feeling home for me. One is the dream that David has where he's at home with his parents and younger brother and sister and suddenly, a bunch of Nazi demons (or whatever those things are called) burst in, slaugher his family, and destroy his home before ultimately killing him. And not only that but it's one of those double dreams where a Nazi demon appears and kills Alex as well. That to me shows how something he cannot possibly comprehend has entered his life and, if he lets it, will destroy everyone that he loves (like if he ignores his werewolfism and goes on home, which would lead to him changing and killing his family). The other scene, and this one gets me even more, is when he calls his home and tells his little sister Rachel to tell their parents as well as their younger brother Max that he loves them all. He also has to lie to her and say that he's, "all better now," and he even has one last playful little tiff with her, saying, "No, I'm not being silly, you little creep!" It's just so heartbreaking in many ways. He knows he'll never see his family again and this is the last time he'll ever have that type of argument with his little sister. Also, I find it really tragic that he didn't get to say goodbye to either of his parents, that they last time he ever spoke to them was before he left for England. And who knows if Rachel will give them the message? Since she's a little kid, she may just think her older brother is being silly and not tell them it properly or not at all or she could just plain forget. It's a depressing thought, even more so when you realize that Jack never got a chance to say goodbye to his family and David got a chance but missed his parents. On top of that, judging from David's being informed that both his parents and Jack's parents have been informed of his current condition and Jack saying that David's parents came to his funeral, it seems like both families were very close and the events of this movie no doubt did some incredible damage to both of them. Basically, like John Landis himself has said, this is very much a horror film and, the gore and makeup effects aside, the most horrific side of it to me is the emotional despair prevalent throughout.

As I said up above, David Naughton is very likable in the lead role of David Kessler. He's simply a decent, charismatic American kid who seems to find the prospect of exploring a country that he's never been to before exciting, while his friend Jack is blase about the whole thing and only cares about having sex with a girlfriend he's meeting later on. He's the one who's really polite to those inside of the Slaughtered Lamb when they walk in, despite the icy reception they get, and he also has enough tact not to ask something that not's any of their business, like the purpose of the pentagram on the wall. Once Jack asks about it and the pub becomes completely silent as a result, he knows that it's time for them to leave. If I have one complaint about David, it's that when Jack is attacked by the werewolf, he at first runs off and it takes a long period of Jack screaming his head off before he finally runs back to help him. Now, granted, he was sincerely horrified when he saw Jack's mutilated body but still, if you think about it, Jack's death and his getting turned into a werewolf is his own fault (although, if he had tried to help Jack, then one of several things would have happened: Jack would have become a werewolf and David would have been killed and become one of the undead, both of them would have become werewolves, or both of them would have become the undead so I guess they were screwed no matter what David did). In any case, you have to feel really bad for David once he regains consciousness in the London hospital. He finds out that his best friend is dead, the police are treating him like he doesn't know what he's talking about and insist that he and Jack were attacked by a maniac and not an animal, he begins having disturbing nightmares, and, again, all of this is happening to him while he's stuck as a stranger in a strange land. The worst part of all is when Jack's reanimated corpse begins appearing to him, looking more and more decomposed each time, and continues to warn him that he will become a werewolf the next time the full moon rises. With all of this bizarre and horrifying stuff happening to him, David isn't sure if he's losing his mind or what. The only good thing that comes into his life is Alex, his nurse, whom he falls in love with and begins living with at her apartment in London, where they have a nice, passionate romance. But soon, even that is taken away from him when he realizes that he is, indeed, a werewolf and that he must take his own life before he kills more people, including her. At least with Alex, he gets a chance to tell her that he loves her before he leaves her. It's still sad because that's the last time she sees him, unless you count the ending of the movie where she walks up to him in the alley when he's a full-blown werewolf. While there is a hint that there's still a bit of David in there when she tells him that she loves him, that doesn't last long when he lunges at her and the police shoot him dead. So, that moment when he ran away from her was truly the last time she saw the man she loved. Again, not a happy story in the slightest!

Griffin Dunne's role of Jack Goodman is a character that has several distinct sides to him. At the beginning of the movie, he's the real wise-cracker of the pair, making sarcastic remarks about everything around him and coming off as rather uninterested in the country he's traveling through. He's the one who's initially rather freaked out by how eccentric the Slaughtered Lamb is, both in regards to its exterior and the people inside. He really knows that something is up when he says the pentagram (or pentangle, as he refers to it) on the wall. He shows that he has maybe a slight interest in the macabre since he knows that the pentagram is used in black magic and he's also the one who makes the connection between it and werewolf lore (when it comes to the movies, anyways). He makes a big mistake when he asks out loud what the star is for, causing all activity in the pub to cease. Jack is more than happy to leave when David prompts him to, feeling more uncomfotable now than he ever did before. I like how even when he's freaked out by what happened in the pub and is scared to death when they hear the werewolf howling, he's still making his wise-cracks. Thinking, or rather hoping, that the creature that's circling them in the darkness is nothing more than a large dog, they turn around and walk the other way, with Jack going, "Walking away. Yes, here we are, walking away." However, Jack is soon attacked and ripped to shreds by the werewolf and three weeks after he's buried back in America, he appears to David in the form of a reanimated corpse. It just cracks me up how when he first appears to David with his throat ripped open and his face mangled, the first thing he says is, "Can I have a piece of toast?" Moreover, instead of immediately getting to the matter at hand, he decides to shoot the breeze for a little bit, telling David that a lot of people came to his funeral and that his ex-girlfriend found a new lover immediately afterward. When he mentions who it was that she went to, he comments, "An asshole! Life mocks me even in death." Even after he's dead, Jack is still Jack. He's still making his wise-cracks, like when he appears to David the second time, sees that he's been sleeping with Alex, and comments, "A nurse, huh?" or when he picks up the Mickey Mouse toy in Alex's living room, waves its hand at David, and imitates Mickey's voice while saying, "Hi, David!" You got to love the dark humor of a mutilated and gradually decomposing corpse, moreover that of the protagonist's best friend, doing and saying these things.

However, even though Jack is still funny when he becomes back as a corpse, there's a very palpable feeling of sadness and melancholy about him in these appearances. He talks about his experience in being in limbo and how much of a depressing, awful existence it is. His line, "You ever talk to a corpse? It's boring!" is funny but it also shows how miserable he is, hammering it home by following it up with, "I'm lonely." There's also a sense of sad irony about the fact that he's discovered that what he and David mocked back in the village of East Proctor is real in the most horrific way possible. He tells David, "The supernatural, the power of darkness? It's all true. The undead surround me." Dunne says this stuff in a very melancholy tone, particularly in his warning that if David doesn't take his own life before he becomes a werewolf, he'll curse more people to endure the torture that Jack is going through. The way he tells David to beware the moon the first time he appears to him in the hospital is particularly ominous. Finally, it all culminates when David meets Jack for the final time in the porno theater. By this point, not only has Jack's body horribly deteriorated but so has his spirit. Even though he still has his sarcastic wit, it feels more melancholy than ever before, like his experiences in limbo and David's failure to listen to him have just made him dead in every sense of the word. Listen to the way he tells him, "I did tell you so, you schmuck" or, "Oh, be serious, would you?" The only real emotion that's coming through him now is slight annoyance towards David. Otherwise, he just doesn't seem to give a shit about anything, even when it comes to keeping David from killing more people. Maybe that's why he had them meet in a porno theater. He hoped it would put some life back into him! In any case,  we can assume David's eventual death does finally set Jack and everyone else free from their limbo (that is, unless you count the slight link between this film and An American Werewolf in Paris as a continuation).

Of the main characters, the one that I'm not exactly sure how to feel about is Jenny Agutter as Alex Price, David's nurse and eventual lover. Now, Agutter is a very lovely woman and plays the part well, coming across as genuinely caring and loving David. But the problem I have is one that I've heard others comment on: their relationship is sporadic to say the least. Let's break it down. David has been at the hospital for three weeks but has been unconscious for most of the time. The only interactions between the two of them are her helping to sedate David when he becomes hysterical upon waking, having to force-feed him to make him take some medicine even when he insists that he's not hungry, and keeping him company late at night when he tells Dr. Hirsch that he'd rather not be alone. Now, granted, she did seem concerned for him when he calls out in his sleep in her introductory scene and they do become acquainted enough to where they start calling each other by their first names but that hardly counts as any indication of something major on the horizon. While we can see that David is becoming enamored with her, she doesn't seem to have the same feelings until much later. While he does sporadically kiss her when she checks on him after he becomes hysterical due to Jack's first visit, she seems just as surprised and confused as anybody else would be when it's over. She offers him a place to stay when she learns that he doesn't have anywhere to go once he's released from the hospital but I find that to be more out of genuine concern for his well-being. When they get to her apartment, she does admit that she finds him attractive but passively resists his advances toward her. And then, the next thing you know, they're taking a shower together and having sex afterward. The first time I saw this movie, that threw me for a loop. I was wondering if I missed something because it was so unexpected. Now, the scene itself is very passionate and romantic, made all the more so by the accompaniment of the song Moon Dance, but, again, it's just so out of left-field. I don't have a problem buying the fact that there is a connection between the two of them for the rest of the movie because they play it very well but if I had my druthers, I would have liked it to have been developed more. Something else that I just thought of. To the end of the movie, Alex believes that David's thinking about being a werewolf and that Jack is visiting him from beyond the grave is all in his head, even when he runs away from her so he won't harm her the next time he changes. And yet, when Dr. Hirsch comes to her that night and tells her that there's a disturbance in Picadilly Circus involving a mad dog or something of that nature, she immediately says, "David!" Moreover, when they arrive at the scene, Alex runs down the alley where David has trapped himself and talks to this big, snarling wolf like she knows for sure that it is David. What, now she believes he's a werewolf? What made her change her mind? And what if she's wrong? Of course, we know that wolf is David but how does she? For all she knows, this could just be a wolf that escaped from the zoo so she could be risking getting bitten in half for nothing! Again, it doesn't ruin the movie for me but it's another aspect of Alex's character that feels very rushed and underdeveloped.

One character that I really like is John Woodvine as Dr. Hirsch, the doctor who treats David at the hospital. At first, he's mainly a stern authority figure who puts the nurses in their place, like when he says to Nurse Gallagher, "Surely you perform some function here at the hospital? Then get on with it," and right after that when, in a less stern voice though, he also tells Alex to go about her duties. He's more understanding with David, knowing that he's been through something horrible (I like the slightly disapproving way he looks at Inspector Villiers when he's arrogantly telling David they don't believe his story), but, of course, simply believes that his insistence that he and Jack were attacked by an animal rather than a maniac comes from somebody who's severely traumatized. The one line from him that I don't really like, though, is when he says to David, "Please, remain sane... at least, until you're no longer our responsibility." Not a very good beside manner, basically saying, "We're only nursing you back to health because it's our job. What you do when you get out of here is your business." But, in any case, he is sympathetic enough to have Alex keep David company when he says he doesn't feel comfortable being alone. Where he starts to become a truly likable character is when he decides to investigate David's werewolf claims by going to the village of East Proctor himself. While there, he sees enough strange behavior from the villagers to tell him that they are, indeed, hiding something. While he still doesn't believe in werewolves at this point, it's clear that he has become genuinely concerned about David, worrying that his belief that he's a werewolf might lead him to harm other people. He realizes just how severe it is when he discovers that six people were ferociously killed and mutilated that night. Again, I don't think he believes that David is a werewolf at this point but he does believe he's very disturbed and asks Alex to bring him to the hospital so he can care for him. Like I said with Alex, I'm not sure when Dr. Hirsch decided to believe that David is a werewolf. Maybe the newspaper and television reports that the murder victims were found half-eaten as well as Inspector Villiers saying that the forensics people believe that an animal was probably involved convinced him, as well as Alex, that there was more to this than they originally believed. He obviously does believe it when he comes straight to Alex and tells her about the incident going on that involves a mad dog or something similar. (Even if that is the answer, I still don't think Alex should have stupidly gone up to something that could just be a dangerous animal and not David.) Whenever he became convinced, I like that Hirsch started out as a stern authority figure but grew into somebody who genuinely cared about David and wanted to help him. But, as with Alex, his efforts ultimately proved futile.

There are some pretty interesting characters that frequent the Slaughtered Lamb pub. The most memorable one for me is Brian Glover as the chess player. At first, he comes across as just a rather jolly jokester, telling everyone in the pub a joke about a crashing plane. It's obvious he does this often due to the reaction everyone gives him when he starts to tell the joke: they're not too enthused at first but soon, they let him go along with it. He gets a pretty big laugh for a joke that I don't think was that funny but it's clear everybody in the pub likes him and his jokes. But his demeanor, like everyone else's, completely changes when Jack asks about the pentagram on the wall. He seems to be the one most willing to get them out of the pub as quick as possible. Even though he does give them the vague warning, "Beware the moon, lads," he doesn't let them stay or tell them what the pentagram was for so the world wouldn't, "know our business," as he says. He's willing to let two innocent people get killed to keep the secret and he even goes so far as to act like he doesn't hear the werewolf howling when he obviously does. He just feels, "It's in God's hands, now." He's especially hostile when, later in the movie, Dr. Hirsch appears at the pub and asks questions about what happened to David and Jack on the moors. Once he learns that Hirsch isn't a police officer, he angrily resists his questions, eventually telling him, "There's nothing for you here, sir." He also makes sure that nobody else tells Hirsch the truth, angrily shouting at the dart player, "That's enough!" when the latter tries to do so (the way Glover yelled that was awesome as well). I kind of wish the movie had gone back to him one last time because I wanted to learn more about him. In any case, he's a memorable character.

Not everybody at the Slaughtered Lamb is as cold as the chess player is. The barmaid (Lila Kaye) isn't that kind to David and Jack when they first enter the pub, shooting down every one of their drink requests in a rather irritated tone, but she's the one who tries to make the pubgoers stop them from leaving, knowing the danger they will be in. Over and over again, she says, "You just can't let them go!" and she even tells the chess player that he could have told them truth (although, as the dart player says, they probably would have just thought they were all crazy), She becomes all the more distressed when she hears the werewolf howling in the distance, saying, "We must go to them!" It's probably because of her that the villagers eventually do go out and kill the werewolf, even if it was too little, too late. However, she keeps quiet about what happened when Dr. Hirsch is investigating the attack, only answering his question about the pentagram on the wall and even then, lying about it. I guess she figures she has no reason to tell Hirsch the truth so she just decides to keep quiet, especially with the chess player's ever watchful eye on everyone in the pub. The most conflicted pubgoer is the dart player (David Schofield). He's the first one to become hostile towards David and Jack when the latter's question about the pentagram causes him to miss the dartboard, saying he's never missed it before. He also insists to them to go but he warns them to stay on the road. He keeps going back and forth after the two leave, telling the chess player that letting them leave is murder and also ignoring the werewolf's howls like the former is. I think in truth, he didn't want them to leave but seems to be a very impressionable person, going along with the chess player given the authority he appears to have over everyone else in the pub. He was right, though, when he told the barmaid that telling David and Jack why they shouldn't leave would have been foolish because they would have just thought they're insane. Later, when Dr. Hirsch comes along, the dart player feigns ignorance like everyone else, denying the attack. But after Hirsch says that he works in the hospital where David was brought, the dart player clearly begins to panic and gets up to leave, saying he wants to check on his dogs. The chess player, either knowing what he's trying to do or feels that it will make him look suspicious, angrily says, "The dogs are fine!" The dart player goes out anyway and later, meets with Hirsch privately to warn him about what's really happening. No doubt by this point, he feels extremely guilty for having let David leave the pub and I also feel that Hirsch's statement that David was taken to a London hospital and nursed back to health made him realize that a lot of other people are going to be slaughtered if something isn't done. He tries to tell Hirsch the truth but is chased away by the chess player before he can do so, only giving the doctor some rather cryptic warnings. Like the chess player, I'd like to know what happened to him afterward.

Some other notable characters include the two cops, Inspector Villiers and Sergeant McManus, who take on the investigation of what happened to David. Villiers (Don McKillop) is by the far more unlikable of the two. He's an arrogant prick of an inspector who shoots down David's assertion that he and Jack were attacked by an animal rather than a man and tells him that as far as they are concerned, the case is closed. He's also reluctant to think that David killed the six people the first night of the full moon but he does agree to find David when he's reported missing (I love how Dr. Hirsch puts Villiers in his place in this scene, saying, "Regardless of what you think, Inspector, the fact remains that David is missing!") On top of that, he's an absolute asshole to Sergeant MacManus, getting onto him for everything. When they first meet with Dr. Hirsch, he asks them if they'd like some tea. Whereas Villiers declines, MacManus says that he'd like some tea but for some reason, Villiers shoots him this nasty look that makes him say, "Maybe not, no thanks. Maybe later." He shoots MacManus the same look when he speaks before he can in this same scene, like he's supposed to be the one who talks first. Worst of all is when he degrades MacManus, when the former says that David looks to be in his right mind and not someone suffering from trauma. He says, "Inspector, the boy seems all right to me and..." with Villiers saying, "And what, Sergeant?" MacManus sheepishly says, "And I don't rightly no, sir," with a smug Villiers responding, "That is precisely my point." What a dick. It's really satisfying when the werewolf bites Villiers' head off when he bursts out of the porno theater. While Villiers is very arrogant, MacManus (Paul Kember) is much more sympathetic and understanding. He's clumsy, mind you, knocking over something in Dr. Hirsch's office when the latter is on the phone and quickly scrambling to put it back together, but, as I said, he's the one who is open-mind to David's insistence on what he really happened to him and Jack, saying, "Two strong boys would be able to defend themselves against one man." Near the climax when Hirsch and Alex implore the police to find David, MacManus is the one who reassures Alex that they will find him, whereas Villiers didn't do anything of the sort, just loudly stating, "We will find him, I can assure you of that!" I'm really glad that MacManus wasn't killed by the werewolf as well because that would have just been way too cruel.

Frank Oz, who often appears in John Landis' movies, has a brief role as Mr. Collins, who works at the American embassy in London. He comes across as sympathetic towards David, informing him that both his parents and Jack's parents know what has happened, but when David becomes hysterical, he gets downright offended. His last line is, "These dumbass kids, they never appreciate anything you do for them." Of course, there are the London citizens whom David murders in his first night as a werewolf. I like how Harry Berman (Geoffrey Burridge) and Judith Browns (Brenda Cavendish), the couple whom David kills first, are still all smiley and happy even when they're among the undead. I guess it's because they're still together but they're just so enthusiastic and giddy, including when they're suggesting ways that David can take his own life in the porno theater. It's hilarious. The three bums, Alf (Sydney Bromley), Ted (Frank Singuineau), and Joseph (Will Leighton), on the other hand, are the ones who are the most vicious to David when they meet him as the undead, with Alf opening with, "Can't say we're pleased to meet you, Mr. Kessler!" Ted is especially angry, seeing as how when Jack tells David that he shouldn't hang himself because he could end up painfully choking to death, he yells, "So what? Let him choke!" And then there's Gerald Bringsley (Michael Carter), whom David murdered in the subway. He's the one I feel most sorry for because he lost the most, saying, "You've left my wife a widow, and my children fatherless." He's not the angriest of them all, but is rather weary and bitter towards what David has done to him, saying he must die so he can be at peace and gives him suicide advice with an air of just wishing he would do it already. You can't tell me it's not a memorable scene. Two more things I have to mention are a couple of the kid actors in this movie. The boy with the balloons (Rufus Deakin) is memorable for the classic line, "A naked American man stole my balloons." The way he said it made it all the more funny, especially with how that woman said, "What?" Finally, there's this kid Benjamin (Colin Fernandes)that Alex is charged with taking care of. He's this weird little kid who only says, "No!" whenever he's asked something. I've never understood what was with this kid. Obviously, there's something wrong with him since he's in a hospital but is that why, because he's mentally challenged and only says that one word or something? If that's the case, shouldn't he be in a nursing home? I don't know, I get caught up on weird things in some movies.

While people tend to draw a lot of comparisons between An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, in reality they're two vastly different movies. While The Howling was a satarical, in joke-filled way of bringing the werewolf myth into the modern day, American Werewolf is trying to tell a more traditional werewolf story in the style of the classic films of yester-year, albeit with new some new twists to it and still set in the 1980's. Now, there are some things they do share. One is the juxtaposition between the traditional setting for this type of film and the fact that it's still taking place in the modern age. In this case, it's the windswept moors where the film begins and the setting of modern-day London where it ends. However, whereas the wooded area of the Colony in The Howling was more akin to a fairy tales and classic stories like Little Red Riding Hood, the moors fall more into the tradition of the Gothic horror films of the 30's and 40's. And the small village of East Proctor is right in the tradition of all the little villages that plagued by monsters in those movies like Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and the Hammer films. I will say that the first time I saw the movie, its depiction of London threw me off a little. I think a factor was that after seeing all of those classic, black and white horror films of the 30's and 40's where London is treated as a city where everybody is either posh, wearing tuxedos, going to fancy dinner parties, and saying stuff like, "I say," "Spot of bother," and the like or Cockney, lower class pubgoers, I was unprepared for it to be treated like a real city. While most of its citizens are much more respectable than those in most American cities, London still has its seedy elements like the porno theater in Picadilly Circus, stuff on the TV like that woman Nina Carter talking about her sexual exploits, and other things like Nurse Gallagher deciding to have a look at David's nether-regions while he was unconscious. Still, despite those seedy elements, London isn't treated like a dangerous, sleazy city as Los Angeles was in The Howling (but then again, both of these depictions are true to life so there it is). In fact, the only time it becomes dangerous is when David becomes a werewolf and prowls the streets for victims. Another thing I picked up on in the film's depiction of London and England as well is that there are some instances of apparent xenophobia. The most obvious one is the reception David and Jack get at the Slaughtered Lamb. Now while that could be attributed to the idea that the little, isolated village doesn't get many visitors, when Dr. Hirsch arrives at the pub later on, the people inside take not of his presence but then immediately go back to their business rather than staring at him for a long period. Also, even though we know that Inspector Villiers is just an asshole all-around, I can't help but feel that his dismissal of David's claims come from the notion that he's American and his outrageous "fantasies" shouldn't be taken seriously. Maybe it's just me but I've always felt that way. Finally, there are some things about the depiction of Londoners here that is just... odd. The example that immediately comes to mind is when Harry Berman and Judith Browns are attacked by the werewolf and a woman looks out the window while he's ripping them apart. She says, "Shawn, those hooligans are in the park again." And after that, she says, "There's something going on out there." Uh, lady, do you not comprehend that a big wolf is tearing two people apart out there? I know it's dark but what the hell does she think she's seeing?Moreover, the guy Shawn goes outside to look and eventually steps on a severed arm. All he does is just look back up with an expression that kind of says, "Oh, wow." I know he's probably drunk but I would still think if you saw something of that nature, you'd have a stronger reaction than that. And I've already mentioned that kid Alex takes care of. Don't get me wrong, I still love this film but there are some things about it that puzzle me.

One thing that The Howling and An American Werewolf in London share through and through is the notion that in this day and age, everyone knows what a werewolf due to the movies. Not only does Jack know that the pentagram is used in witchcraft but, having seen The Wolf Man, he immediately connects it to werewolves and is, therefore, curious to know why it's painted on the wall of the pub. There's also an interesting thing about which movies people who live in England are more likely to have seen. When David asks Alex is she's ever seen The Wolf Man, she asks him, "Is that the one with Oliver Reed?" She's thinking of The Curse of the Werewolf, a 1961 film from England's Hammer Studios, which, naturally, is the one she's more likely to have seen. After Dr. Hirsch investigates David's claim of being attacked by a werewolf, he has a conversation with Alex where he talks about how if David had survived an attack by a werewolf, then he would become one himself during the next full moon. Now, he's saying this to explain how he feels that the beliefs of the people in East Proctor could influence David and make him merely think he is a werewolf when the full moon rises but still, Hirsch didn't need to do any deep investigation into werewolf lore to know what a werewolf is. Finally, as in The Howling, there's a hint of the idea that because of the movies, everyone thinks they know all the rules of werewolves. When David, Jack, and David's victims from the night before are discussing how he could commit suicide, one of them proposes that he shoot himself. David asks the logical question, "Don't I need a silver bullet or something?" Jack just shirks it off by saying, "Oh, be serious, would you?" Silver bullets are purely an invention of the movies, from Curt Siodmak, the screenwriter of The Wolf Man. They've never been part of real werewolf lore. As shown by David being shot to death by police officers with normal ammunition, "real" werewolves can be brought down by any means necessary.

Since it's directed by a guy whose filmography mainly consists of comedy, there was no way this movie was going to come out without having some funny stuff in it. A lot of the humor in the first act of the movie comes from Jack's remarks about their surroundings and at the beginning when he and David are talking about his intention to have sex with his girl. I like when they first arrive at the Slaughtered Lamb, Jack looks at the pub's advertisement that shows a wolf's head on a poker and asks, "Where's the lamb?" The joke the chess player tells in the pub is one of the broadest examples of humor in the movie. Landis has said that he likes people telling jokes in movies but even so, although I get the joke, I still think the reaction it gets from everyone in the pub is rather excessive. And as I mentioned earlier, I like David and Jack's reactions to the werewolf howling in the distance, particularly Jack's. When they first hear the howl, Jack ponders what it was and David says, "It could be a lot of things." Jack looks at him and goes, "Yeah?" David after a moment says, "A coyote." "There aren't any coyotes in England." "The Hound of the Baskervilles?" "Pecos Bill." "Heathcliff." "Heathcliff didn't howl!" "No, but he was on the moors." You can tell that they don't want to admit to themselves that it's a wolf that they hear. Also, the two of them realize it's a full moon and they remember the warning, "Beware the moon and stick to the road." It then hits them that they've wondered off the road and David just goes, "Oops." Even though they're lost in the dark and that howling creature is getting closer and closer, David still manages to let out some humor, albeit nervous humor, saying, "That's it, a nice stroll on the moors. Tra la la la la! Isn't this fun?" Of course, this humor is tempered by Jack getting slaughtered by the wolf but we'll get into that later.

After the start of the second act, the humor gets both darker and more outrageous. We have the bumbling Sergeant MacManus knocking a bunch of stuff over in Dr. Hirsch's office and scrambling to put it back up as quickly as possible; a stereotypical Hispanic (I think he's Hispanic) orderly who talks fast and when Alex questions him about what condition David is in, he says, "I'm an orderly, not a bloody psychiatrist! I push things around!"; and the horrific double nightmare that David has about the Nazi demons is tempered by him waking up with a start and saying exactly what the audience is thinking: "Holy shit!" The macabre humor comes from David's interactions with Jack's reanimated corpse and later with those of his victims. It's both hideous to see Jack walking around and talking to David while he's torn to shreds while continuing to decompose and yet, it's darkly funny since Jack is still himself. He's not the moaning spirit you would expect him to be. His first line to David when he appears to him is the casual, "Can I have a piece of toast?" That's hilarious and unexpected as well. Jack is also wise-cracking about how life is mocking him even in death with his girlfriend running to someone else right after his funeral. He even describes how miserable being in limbo is in a funny way with the fabulous, "You ever talk to a corpse?" line. The scene in the porno theater is especially funny when the full-scope of what's going on hits you. You have David sitting there with Jack, who is now basically a skeleton, and the corpses of his victims from the previous night, who are all covered in blood, discussing how David can take his own life. As I said earlier, the various moods the corpses are in make it even more interesting, particularly in how giddy and happy the couple is, even when they're giving David suicide suggestions. Jack admonishing that one bum for saying, "So what? Let him choke!" when he says why David shouldn't hang himself is also funny because, as Landis himself says, it's like, "I brought you hear to suggest ways he can kill himself but you don't have to be rude about it!" Anyway, all of this would be funny enough but, again, it's taking place in a porno theater and during the entire scene, you can hear porn music playing and the woman in the film moaning in ecstacy. It's such a huge contrast that it's quite funny when you really think about it. It goes even further when David starts to transform into the werewolf again in the theater and he sees some guy standing there and staring at him while he's moaning and convulsing. I didn't pick up on this the first time I saw the movie but I now realize that the guy thinks David is having an orgasm. Basically, it's making fun of the age-old metaphor that a werewolf transformation is like going through puberty and unleashing the wild, animalistic, sexual side of a person! That's quite brilliant. The macabre contrast with the porno playing is also taken a little further as it continues playing while David kills several people in the theater.

There's some other nice bits of humor like when David and Alex are riding on the subway at one point and David starts making weird faces at Alex while they're crammed in-between these outlandishly decorated people like skin-heads and the like. It's a minor moment but I always thought it was kind of funny personally. There's also the sequence where David ends up getting locked out of the flat after seeing Alex off to work and has to get in through the window. He tries to watch TV but there's basically nothing on except really boring stuff like a dart-throwing tournament (God, you'd have to be desperate to watch that) and that aforementioned advertisement for the program where Nina Carter is going to reveal all of her outlandish sexual exploits. Then there's this whole sequence where he's sitting around the apartment bored, trying to lay on the bed, trying to read, and trying to get something to eat but he can't keep himself preoccupied long enough, all set to Bad Moon Rising. However, as we'll get into later, while funny I think it suggests that something more sinister is afoot. There's even a bit of humor during the transformation where David, recalling an insult he threw at Jack earlier, says, "I didn't mean to call you a meatloaf, Jack!" There are two more sequences of humor that I feel I must point out. One is very blatant: it's when David wakes up naked at the zoo after his first night as a werewolf and has to get back to Alex's apartment. It's cheap humor, granted, with a naked guy running around the zoo and trying to avoid people but it's still funny, I think, like when he accidentally walks right in front of this elderly woman and then takes some balloons from that little kid to cover himself up (the loud squeak the balloons make when David runs behind this bench while grabbing this woman's coat always makes me smirk), which leads to that classic line that kid says to that woman. The bit where he's waiting for a bus while wearing that coat and the guy behind him is staring at him is also nice. And finally, I feel have to mention a bit that I think gets overlooked, which is when David, now realizing that he is indeed a werewolf, tries to get this bobby to arrest him. However, no matter what he does, the bobby won't do it. He uses strong language and when the bobby tells him there's no call for that, he decides to insult various revered English people: "Queen Elizabeth is a man! Prince Charles is a faggot! Winston Churchill was full of shit! Shakespeare's French!" (The Prince Charles one nearly causes me to lose it every time, not only because of what he said but how he said it.) The bobby then tells him, "If you don't stop this disturbance, I shall arrest you!" David yells, "That's what I want you to do, you moron!" This whole time, Alex is trying to discredit David's claims, saying that he's just upset and the two keep arguing back and forth. When the bobby finally just tells the two of them to go about their business, David is so dumbfounded that he goes up to this poor woman and says, "Don't you think he should arrest me?" The woman just says, "Well, I don't know! Perhaps he thinks it's a prank!" David then screams, "You people are crazy!" This whole scenario just kills me because if you did something like that here in the States, you'd be arrested like that but David, who wants to get arrested, just can't do it no matter what! And as a final funny footnote to it all, later when Dr. Hirsch and Alex are meeting with the police, Alex tells Inspector Villiers that David tried to get himself arrested, to which Villiers responds, "Well, getting arrested isn't all that difficult." Buddy, you obviously don't know crap!

Like The Howling, the mythology that this film creates for the werewolf keeps some old traditions, dispenses with others, and creates some new ones. This film keeps the typical lore of the werewolf being an uncontrollable curse that takes shape whenever the full moon rises. In this film, though, we get to see just how unpleasant and agonizingly painful the transformation. Not only does the change itself look unbearable but David's screaming throughout it punctuates the feeling of pain even more so. Even more disturbing is that you can hear as well as see David losing his humanity, with his voice growing deeper and deeper until by the end of the transformation, he's howling and roaring. It's freaky to say the least. Going back and watching the movie for a second time brings to mind the idea that when the full moon is rising from behind the clouds at the beginning of the movie, the same exact same thing is happening to the man who is the first werewolf and when you hear him howling in the distance, it means that his transformation has just ended and he's now roaming the moors. I've also heard some complaints about the werewolves in this movie being quadrupeds instead of the traditional bipedal type. Even Rick Baker wanted it to be a biped but John Landis insisted on the, "four legged hound from hell," concept that he had come up with. Personally, I've never had a problem with the four-legged werewolf. A werewolf is a werewolf to me, no matter how many legs it's standing on. And, as I mentioned earlier, the werewolves in this movie can be killed by ordinary bullets instead of those made of silver. We also how David's being a werewolf affects him while he's still human. When David is locked outside of the apartment, several pets that he comes across bark and hiss at him, and when he wakes up in the zoo the following morning, all of the animals are going crazy. This has been a staple of werewolf movies from the very beginning, that animals can sense what the afflicted really is. I mentioned that entire sequence of David sitting around the apartment, restless and seemingly unable to keep still. While this is meant as a comedic section with Bad Moon Rising playing over it and whatnot, as I said earlier, I think there's a sense of something more insidious going along. The key to that comes when David seems to impulsively open the refrigerator and reach for some food, only to stop himself and say out loud, "I'm not hungry." He even goes back to it again later, once again realizing that he's not hungry. I personally think this is a sign that the werewolf is already beginning to assert itself and take control of him, causing him to do things impulsively. I also see his restlessness and inability to keep still as a sign that he's become infused with the energy and stamina of a wolf and feels kind of caged. Heck, I think even the song itself, with it being about bad things coming as well as just the title, is there to tell us that something is building. And the transformation takes place right after this sequence, so I think that should say something as well. The next day, when David gets back to Alex's apartment, he suddenly become very amorous and starts making out with Alex. He later tells her that he feels awesome and he's jumping around like crazy while doing so. Again, there's the wolf-side talking. It makes him energetic as well as crave for sex with Alex, again going back to the idea that the werewolf is the id run wild (although the way it's characterized is a bit different from how it was in The Howling).

The werewolf has a strange effect on David's psyche in the form of the bizarre nightmares he has while he's in the hospital. They allude to what he'll eventually become but, since they're dreams, they're much more abstract and non-specific. They consist of David running naked through the forest and then proceeding to stalk, kill, and eat a deer; a very strange one where David is running through the woods again, this time fully clothed, and sees an image of himself in the hospital bed in the middle of the woods which, in a quick shot, is shown to have pale skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, and snarls at Alex; and, of course, the infamous Nazi demon nightmare. I cannot tell you what was going through my mind when I first saw that. I was just like, "What in the hell?!" That just comes right out of nowhere and is a bat-shit crazy, chaotic scene with David's parents and siblings getting shot to death, his house trashed and set on a fire, and finally his throat being slashed, which causes him to "wake up." And then, you find out he's still asleep because a Nazi demon suddenly comes through the window when Alex opens the curtain and stabs her to death. That's when David wakes up for real. (John Landis has said that he took that from the Luis Bunuel film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie but a lot of other people must rip that off too because I've seen that done many other times in movies.) As I mentioned earlier, this scene is not only unexpected but also as horrific as you can get, showing that David's life is about to become a living nightmare and this is what will happen if he goes home to America or stays with Alex now that he's a werewolf. And, finally, there's the concept that all of the victims of a werewolf's bloodline, that being the passing of the curse from one person to the other, are doomed to walk the Earth in limbo until the bloodline is severed by the current werewolf being killed before it can pass the curse on which, needless to say, brings the werewolf to an even more sinister level.

The characters, acting, and interesting twists on the lore aside, An American Werewolf in London is most remembered for its makeup effects and for good reason. There's a lot of ground-breaking stuff in her and most of it is still amazing to look at to this day. Rick Baker was really getting a chance to show off with this flick and his hard work would result in his winning the first ever Oscar for makeup, which would launch his career into the stratosphere. To start off with, there's a lot of gore in this movie and it's all the more noticeable to how rich the color of the blood is, slightly akin to the blood in the Hammer films. The first death, which is Jack getting ripped apart by the werewolf on the moors, is not only gruesome with the visual of his clothes and then his flesh getting ripped apart as well as the violent biting and gnawing of the wolf but Griffin Dunne's screaming makes it all the more disturbing. There's also a brief but hideous shot of his mutilated body lying on the ground. Incidentally, I think the werewolf here actually looks better than the one that David becomes later in the movie. I know you only see brief, quick glimpses of it and if the camera lingered on it, it would probably look fake but from what I can tell of the design, I like it more than the ultimate werewolf, which we'll get into later. And I have to say, I feel really bad for the guy who had to lay there naked with big bullet holes attached to his body in order to show that the werewolf had turned back into the man he was. I know for a fact it was cold as crap when they filmed that so I hoped that guy got paid extra for that bit.

That dream sequence of David stalking and killing that deer is brief but, like all the rest of the violence in the film, it is shocking. I can never tell which part of the deer he holds up and takes a bite out of after he kills it but that image of him doing so while naked and covered with blood is pretty hideous nevertheless. And then there's that extremely brief shot of him with that pale-faced makeup in the second dream sequence that I went into earlier. It's only on-screen for a split second but the first time I saw this movie, that made me about hit the ceiling when he opened his eyes and let out that jaguar-like growl at Alex. Those Nazi demons caught me off-guard even more when they showed up in the third dream. Not only was their appearance unexpected but I wasn't sure what they were supposed to be, if they were meant to be werewolves or something else completely. Sure, one does look like a typical werewolf with the furry face and so on but one looks almost like a pig in some shots, one kind of looks how Jack appears later in the film (Baker said that creature is meant to be a decomposing werewolf), and then there's the one that holds David captive and eventually slits his throat. I don't know what that guy is supposed to be but he basically looks like a werewolf with a fur-less face and a snarling mouth full of sharp-teeth. The screaming and yelling that these things do make them all the more disturbing, especially how that rotten werewolf screams when he stabs Alex to death. That throat slit that David gets is brief but, again, savage-looking. It is a memorable scene but God, that takes you off-guard the first time you see this movie. Other than the transformation, the most amazing makeup-work to me in the movie is Jack's gradual decomposition. When he first appears to David freshly killed in the hospital room, he really does look like someone who has just been absolutely mauled. His neck wound is especially impressive. You would swear that those are real open tears in his throat and you can even see the inside of his throat during those close-ups. And that wiggling piece of flesh is particularly memorable. I know everybody talks about that but there's good reason: once you notice it, you can't stop staring at it. The slashes across Jack's face are convincing too with how they looked welted up and even slightly bruised. I find the second time he shows up to be even more cringe-inducing. Not only is he looking green but with the way the scene is lit, he almost doesn't look human when he's walking and sitting in the shadows. That brief closeup of his decomposing hands with big bite chunks, which are still bloody, taken out of them particularly make my skin crawl. As for when you see him in the porno theater, while it's still an impressive-looking piece of work, it's quite obvious that it's a puppet. The mouth-movements when Jack speaks is a little awkward and doesn't quite match what Griffin Dunne is saying (but, he was operating the mouth while he spoke the dialogue so I guess it was a little difficult to match it). In any case, though, it does look cool and I would take it over CGI any day. Also, the look of the other murder victims is rather underwhelming. They don't seem to have any wounds on their bodies but rather look like somebody just poured a lot of blood all over them (which is basically what John Landis himself did to them). I guess they didn't have time to give them all elaborate makeups and since they're fresh kills, they wouldn't require anything like that anyway but they could have at least put some scratches on them or something. But, now that I think about it, you probably wouldn't notice it in the dark lighting of theater so whatever. (With this concept of the victims continuing to decompose while in limbo, the very first victims of this werewolf line must look like dust at this point!)

Now, we get to what everybody remembers from this movie, which is David's transformation into the werewolf. There's no two ways about it, it's incredible. I had seen a tiny bit of it in that promo for the DVD on the Halloween II VHS and had read up about it but I still wasn't prepared for how both impressive and disturbing it is. It really does look like it hurts like hell. David feels the bad even before he starts changing, screaming that he's burning up. When his hands stretch out, I didn't understand at first what that had to do with becoming a werewolf but I understood once I heard Rick Baker explain that it's meant to be the enormous paws of the wolf taking shape, with the fingers curled into claw-like positions and if you look closely at the palm, you can see pads starting to form (the brief shot of his claws breaking through his fingernails when he's transforming in the porno theater makes me wince, I must say). There are two shots during the transformation that really make me cringe. One is the shot of his feet stretching (anything with feet, especially the heel, just gets me) and the other is the one showing his back, with his spine arching up and his shoulder-blades twisting into a different position underneath the skin. That latter image coupled with the sounds of bones cracking, flesh-squishing, and his screaming makes that feel especially painful. I knew how they made the hair grow even before I saw the movie but that visual was still interesting. What's really horrific is when David tries to get up apparently but falls on his back and you can see how his whole body is becoming more and more canine. His face is also starting to change but it's gradual, which makes it all the more effective because it gives that sense that the tiniest bits of his humanity are slowly ebbing away (like his teeth are suddenly sharp in one shot and when he falls on his back, that's when you notice how different his face suddenly looks, as well as how his voice is deepening into a howl). The big climax of all of this is his face stretching into the snout of a wolf, which is accompanied by his ears growing long and pointy as well. Like everything else, it is quite an amazing visual and from what I understand, received applause in the theater. After the face stretches, you get a dimly lit pan showing the werewolf not fully formed yet but developing and you can get a sense of what he looks like. (One thing I'd like to know is how did David get out of the apartment after he finished transforming? Since he's on all-fours, he obviously can't open doors and there was no evidence that he smashed his way out. And I think somebody may have noticed a big wolf pawing at and opening the doors to the flat and running out into the streets. For that matter, why did the lights suddenly cut off during the transformation? Maybe the power went out or something. I'm thinking too hard about this.)

The way the werewolves howl in this movie is very ominous and sinister-sounding. That combination of a howl and a roar that they produce makes them feel all the more demonic in my opinion. Their snarling and growling also give the sense that this is something that can tear you to pieces in an instant. John Landis has said that he originally intended not to linger on shots of the werewolf and only show him in quick cuts, which may be why I feel the first one looked more impressive than the one David becomes. During David's first night as a werewolf, Landis stuck to his guns and barely showed him at all, save for quick glimpses of him coming at that couple and then chowing down on their remains (you can see the guy squinting in that shot, by the way) as well as random closeups of his face. I also agree with Landis that the overhead shot of the werewolf coming towards Gerald Bringsley in the subway station is really intimidating looking. However, once Landis saw Baker's design of the ultimate werewolf, he was so impressed with it that he decided to show it a lot more than he originally intended. That, I think, was a mistake and I know Landis feels the same way. While the werewolf is designed well and does look intimidating, when shots linger on it for too long, it's obvious that it's a puppet. Now, when that cop comes across the werewolf chomping down on some of his victims in the porno theater (very gruesome-looking fake corpses, I might add), he looks really scary when he snarls at the guy. But once he bursts out into the brightly lit streets of London, he starts to look rather fake in some shots. I think he looks the worst when he traps himself in the alleyway and there are closeups of his face while he howls. And the way they created the running werewolf is innovative but when he's running down the alley, you can see bits of the mechanisms as well as the shadow of the person pushing the wolf. That said, I think the ramapage he goes on when he bursts out of the theater is really exciting, with him biting off Inspector Villiers' head (which, again, is satisfying as all get-out), storming into the street and causing a major traffic accident, and him walking through the crowd while snapping at people. There are some deaths in that pileup he causes that really make you wince: people getting run over, flying through windshields and windows (John Landis himself in one brief shot), and that cop who gets sandwiched between two cars (that had to be a painful way to go). And, finally, the last shots of the werewolf in the alley when Alex walks up to him does have a memorable moment, even though the wolf itself does look fake. It's when Alex tells him that she loves him and the wolf relaxes his face from the snarl-position he had it in, suggesting that there is still a bit of David in there. But, of course, he lunges at Alex and is shot dead by the police, turning back into David as he dies, ending the movie.

You know what my biggest complaint upon seeing An American Werewolf in London for the first time was and still is? It's too short. When I originally saw it, I wanted it to go on for another half-hour or so. Honestly, I wanted more werewolf action. You get some good bits like the attack on the moors, the transformation, David's first night as a werewolf, and the climax in Picadilly Circus but I really wanted more. I used to complain that he only becomes the werewolf twice in the movie but after I thought about it, I realized that I really like the Hammer film The Curse of the Werewolf and Oliver Reed only changes twice in that movie and you only really see him the second time so I retract that gripe now. What I wish it had gone on to is that David actually escapes from the commotion at Picadilly Circus, changes back the next day, is eventually found by Alex who tries to help him but is unable to, he changes again, and is killed right before he can attack her, much like the actual ending of the film the way it is but more to it. I think that would have added an even sadder and more tragic element in that she now knows he's a werewolf for sure and wants to help him but it's beyond her control and she must allow him to be killed. But I'm not the screenwriter so what do I know?

Music-wise, that is in regards to an actual score, the film is pretty light. The late Elmer Bernstein, who did a lot of scores for John Landis, composed what little score there is. It's not exactly iconic but there are some nice cues in here, like the soft, dream-like piano theme that plays as David and Jack walk towards the village of East Proctor at the beginning of the movie; the theme that plays during the dream sequence of David running through the woods, the beginning of which sounds kind of like a more orchestral version of the Jaws theme to me and you hear a variation on the latter part of this theme during the scene where Dr. Hirsch is driving to East Proctor, which is also a nice piece of music; there's another piano theme that plays during David's second dream where he sees himself lying in the bed in the forest that has a nice sound to it, which is beautiful but a little frantic as well; the mystical music that can be heard in the background when Jack first warns David that he's a werewolf; another soft, dream-like bit of music that plays when Jack appears for the second time, this time sounding a little more eerie and complimenting the bizarre imagery of a decomposed man walking around the apartment well; and the music that plays in the montage of the activity in Picadilly Circus right before David transforms again in the porno theater. Other than that, a lot of the movie has no music save for the songs, which I think works best for a good portion of the movie. For instance, that shot of the full moon rising at the beginning of the movie with no sound other than thunder rumbling in the distance is particularly ominous, more so than any bit of music could have ever made it.

Song-wise, Landis purposefully chose a lot of songs that are upbeat and, therefore, clash with the dark nature of the film, making it both funny and yet more disturbing at the same time. There are three versions of Blue Moon that play during the film. The first is the slow, soothing version by Bobby Vinton that plays over the opening credits, which actually fits with the nice shots of the English landscape but, when I first saw the movie, it put me off a bit because I wasn't expecting it. Until the title came up, I was wondering if I had the wrong film! Now, though, I don't mind it and I think it's a nicely deceiving way to open the film. The second version of Blue Moon is by Sam Cooke and plays during the transformation. Oddly, that song fits with the scene because of how bittersweet it sounds and it kind of matches the agony David is going through. Finally, there's the extremely upbeat doo-wop version by The Marcels that plays over the ending credits. I kind of take issue with that because the ending is so abrupt. One minute you're looking at David's dead, naked body while Alex is crying and then, you're watching the credits while hearing, "Bom, bom bom, bom bom, dingy dong ding." That was really jarring the first time I saw it (especially since the VHS I had at that time cut directly to the credits instead of to black) and I still think it is to this day. You need a little time to take in the tragedy of what's happened before being hit with that song or at least I think you do. Van Morrison's Moondance plays during the sequence where David and Alex are making love and that song is perfect for that scene. Can you think of a better song to make sweet love to than that? Finally, Bad Moon Rising by the Creedence Clearwater Revival plays during the section where David is stuck at Alex's apartment and, like I said, despite its upbeat tune, its lyrics foreshadow what's about to happen. Overall, save for that last version of Blue Moon, I think the songs in the movie were used rather well and actually fit most of the stuff they're put to.

An American Werewolf in London is definitely a unique entry in the werewolf subgenre. It takes the classic lore and mythology and does some interesting new things with it, it's an extremely gruesome and disturbing film and yet, is quite funny too, it has some likable characters, is a showcase for special effects that are still amazing to this day and set Rick Baker on his path of becoming one of the best effects artists in the business, and, above everything else, is a nice little love letter to the genre from a true fan. Granted, while I don't think the film is entirely perfect and I feel that John Landis did make some mistakes, it is a great flick overall and is very worthy of being the cult classic that it is. And, it's one of my favorite werewolf movies, second only to The Wolf Man. If you haven't seen it, it's best that you prepare yourself for what an odd film it is in general because if you go into it expecting a typical werewolf movie, you will be thrown (like I was, although I've obviously grown to enjoy it very much). Be ready for that and you'll have a good time because it is a fun flick and makes a great triple feature with The Wolf Man and The Howling. So get those movies and this one together and prepare to have one fun, hair-raising night!