An American Werewolf in London (1981)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Excellent, a Must See

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

If you're a horror fan and you've never seen this film, you're missing out on a great gem of a film. To this day, the film features one of the most awesome werewolf transformation scenes ever! To think this was done before CGI, and was mostly done with practical effects. The make-up was fantastic! This is essential a horror comedy without horror or humor getting in the way of a particular scene. It blends seamlessly, bringing us a film that is funny at times, and horrific at the same time, without being gory.The film's acting was also very good, notably John Woodvine as Dr Hirsch. I've seen my share of werewolf films over the years and this remains my favorite by far. The climax at Piccadilly Circus was really great. This is a true classic.

The doctor says that David has been asleep (comatose, in my opinion) for three weeks. My question is: where are his parents? I'm a Mom and if an embassy official told me my kid was in the hospital overseas, I'd be on the first plane out of the country. Other than that, still as good and scary as when it was first released.

Just a really fun and seamless mix of comedy and horror that totally lives up to its reputation, especially that phenomenally cool and terrifyingly painful transformation scene. Outside of that though, there's still tons of genre goodness: love the mysterious pub full of steel-eyed townspeople, love the lyrically blunt soundtrack, love how British it can be ("A naked American man stole my balloons.") Even poor-man's-Harold-Ramis David Naughton can't distract from the fun.

David and Jack are two young American enjoying a long holiday in Europe and naturally their first place to visit is a particularly bleak Yorkshire moor. Cold and wet they take shelter in The Slaughtered Lamb public house… the welcome is such that they decide to leave fairly soon. As they leave the locals warn them to stick to the roads, stay off the moor and beware of the full moon. Soon they hear something and are then attacked by a wolf-like creature; Jack is killed and David wakes in a London hospital a few weeks later. Soon afterwards an undead Jack visits him and tells him they were attacked by a werewolf and if David doesn't kill himself before the next full moon he will turn into a werewolf and start killing people. As he recovers he gets close to Alex Price, his nurse, and when he is discharged she lets him stay at her flat… and in her bed. Come the full moon he does indeed transform into a werewolf and goes out and kills six people; when he wakes up he has no memory of what happened and is naked in London zoo. After these events his doctor starts to wonder if he was involved and David tried unsuccessfully to get himself arrested before the next night.There are plenty of comedy horror films but most fail to be funny enough or fail to be scary enough… or frequently both. This however succeeds on both counts. The film starts amusingly with David and Jack getting a lift on a lorry full of sheep before going to the perfect example of an unfriendly pub. When they are attacked it is obvious that the horror is going to be good too… both scary and pretty gory. The special effects are still impressive over thirty five years after it was made… the transformation of David into a werewolf, using great physical effects is a classic scene… much better than the rapid CGI transformation of certain recent films that include werewolves. David Naughton does a fine job as David, nicely portraying his disbelief and later fear, about what is happening to him. Jenny Agutter also impresses as Alex, the nurse who falls in love with him. There is a fun selection of music to accompany the film; a succession of well-known songs, each of which refers to the moon. Overall I'd recommend this to horror fans although it certainly isn't suitable for younger viewers.