FREE: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON DVD

Review - part 2

Landis' use of foreshadowing is hilariously less than subtle. We first glimpse David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffen Dunne), our backpacking American anti-heroes, in a literal "truckload of sheep" as they hitch a ride across the moors of northern England. Their fates are cemented when they stumble across "The Slaughtered Lamb," a not quite merry old pub where the glowering locals give them the up-and-down before ominously warning them to stay on the road and keep clear of the moors. Of course, the two brash Americans set off under the light of the full moon and go precisely where they were told not to tread. When a werewolf suddenly mauls Jack to death—and gets a few good scratches on David as well—the locals begrudgingly show up to dispatch the beast with a few well-placed rifle shots. Three weeks later, David wakes up in a London hospital under the care of wary Dr. Hirsch (John Woodvine) and Nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter), who takes a liking to the poor American and invites him to stay in her cozy, one- bed flat. Meanwhile, a rapidly decomposing Jack has been appearing to David in waking nightmares. "I was murdered, an unnatural death," Jack says, "and now I walk the earth until the werewolf's curse is lifted." And how does one lift the curse, you ask? By destroying the last remaining werewolf, of course, which now happens to be…David. After a stunning transformation, David goes on a rampage in urban London, with Dr. Hirsch, the lovely Nurse Price, and a whole host of bobbies hot on his blood-stained trail.

Review - part 3

When the film was first released, critics and audiences alike had a hard time knowing what to make of it. Horror comedy was in its nascent stages as a mainstream genre, and the common consensus was that An American Werewolf in London was too comedic to be an outright fright-fest, and too scary to work as a traditional, laugh-out-loud comedy. Admittedly, it comes down to expectation. If you go into the film thinking you're going to be scared witless, you'll probably be disappointed. There are a few jolts—mostly of the loud-noise-accompanied jump scare variety—but since the main threat of the film is also our protagonist, and since we nearly always know what's coming, there aren't many moments of typical horror movie terror. Likewise, the film's comedy is dry, wry, and almost British—appropriately—in how understated it can be. David Naughton carries the film as a collegiate Yankee on King Arthur's turf, and though he convincingly carouses with a slightly oversold American swagger, it's a bit more difficult to believe that Nurse Price would find him increasingly more attractive as he becomes more and more delusional. The funniest scenes are those where Jack shows up in varying states of decay but otherwise entirely himself, down to his droll delivery. When he tries to convince David to commit suicide, and thereby break the curse, David replies, "I will not be threatened by a walking meat loaf."

The film's faults are few but impossible to ignore, and are mostly rooted in plot development and pacing. Much of the film has a meandering, unfocused quality, and the ending, in particular, is abrupt and unfulfilling. Werewolf lore junkies will also be disappointed, as there are really only passing mentions of the traditional lycanthrope mythology. The whole bit about severing the werewolf's bloodline is thin and undeveloped, and there's no resolution at all for the undead Jack, whose afterlife in limbo is the driving force for most of the narrative.

Review - part 4 of 4

Still, the real star of the film, and the reason to see it in the first place, is Rick Baker's fantastic special effects work. Universal's Van Helsing will also see a Blu-ray release next week, and the two films couldn't be more different in the effects department. Whereas Van Helsing brings its creatures to life through the impressive but superficial-seeming magic of CGI, An American Werewolf in London relies purely on practical, rubber 'n hair effects that might look a little hokey today, but still have a more visceral, tangible on-screen presence. The transformation sequence is—to this day—the best the werewolf genre has seen, and it's so brilliant because it's composed of nothing but tricks of the trade and old school ingenuity. A little bit of polyurethane and some pneumatic tubing can obviously go a long way, and I'm really interested to see if Rick Baker's work on the upcoming Wolfman can top the staggering latex feats he accomplished in An American Werewolf.