An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Thanks for the memories!

A Masterpiece!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Plot; Two young Americans backpacking across Europe are attacked by a creature, leaving one of them dead and the other irrevocably changed.Despite its lofty status (and the fact it ran on a loop on TV in the 80s), I'd somehow managed to never watch An American Werewolf in London. For sure horror isn't my favorite genre, but I knew of its comedic counterweight and that's a combination that would seemingly appeal to me. 36 years later, on a recommendation from the great 80s All Over podcast, I finally gave it a go. I'm glad I did.Deftly balancing the horror with the comedy, Landis uses one to enhance the other. It's a very fine line, and he and his cast walk it expertly. The script is snappy and there's no wasted motion in its tight hour and a half runtime. The cast all acquit themselves well, with David Naughton making for a likable and sympathetic lead, the impossibly beautiful Jenny Agutter breathing life into what could've been a thankless role, and Griffin Dunne stealing every scene he's in as Naughton's undead best friend.The end feels a bit too sudden, but I was both surprised and impressed by the direction Landis went and it gives the film a weight and poignancy.I love it when I'm rewarded for going back and watching an older film that I'd previously ignored or otherwise missed. This may have been the first time, but it won't be the last, that I watch An American Werewolf in London.

Greetings Fans, Of all the Myths and Legends in the world, I sometimes side with the Werewolf, I'm Pretty Sure you know already know about the Lycan Legends, If you get bitten by these things is you Survive an encounter, You become cursed to Turn into one when the Fullmoon is up at night, And it happened in our little country of England in London in a Movie that is... Kinda true to the legends, An American Werewolf in London, That's right guys I'm Reviewing another Universal movie that was released back in 1981 (The beginning of the 80's) Directed by a man named John Landis the guy who did a movie I never seen before Animal House, But this is a different kind of Animal, The Monster effects in this to be truthful is very good, so good this movie won an Academy Award and Oscar for Best Make Up, Well this was done by one man named Rick Baker, Looking up this guy on Wikipedia shows that he has done quite a lot, Some notable work such as the Alien Designs in the Men in Black Movies, the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes, Schlock (Something from the Beginning of his Movie Make Up Job life) Star Wars (The First one) Hellboy and he also did the Make Up effects on the 2010 remake of The Wolfman, So yeah he is a Monster Make Up Artist (Almost forgot, He also did Make Up effects on The Grinch) I own this movie on Blu-Ray and... I don't know what to say about this Werewolf movie, Don't get me wrong It's an alright film, The Werewolf Transformation is Amazing and somewhere creepy, But Rick Baker did a Fantastic job on it, To my opinion it's just on of them Comedy Horror films that resembles a B-Movie, Ofcause what was done here was amazing, Some of the story elements in this are similar to the Original Wolfman movie that was released in 1941 (the one staring Lon Chaney, Jr) The 1941 Wolfman is what a lot Lycan movie nerds claim that American Werewolf took ideas from it, It was rumored that American Werewolf was at one point an Wolfman Remake, but since, Universal wanted this to be a B-Movie tip and The Original Wolfman is a Classic, They left in a bunch of the Ideas, There is a Sequel to this movie called An American Werewolf in Paris released in 1997 (Some year as Batman & Robin), But since it wasn't a very interesting movie due to it receiving Negative Reviews I'm skipping it for the time being, All n All, This was a alright film.

American Werewolf in London, undeniably the most highly praised werewolf film but is it really all that the film is cracked up to be? The film starts off really rough with atrocious dialogue between the two lead actors. It's a painful beginning ten minutes as the writing eventually gets better as more characters are introduced. David Naughton overacts a bit too much but otherwise he did a solid job in his lead role and has a good look for it. Jenny Agutter was the real star of the film, having great screen presence and bringing an authenticity to her role. Other attributes that the film did rather well was great dream sequences that were actually frightening. There are a lot of horror films that try to pull of scary dream sequences but American Werewolf definitely did it right. Also, of course, the transformation scene is top notch with perfect background music and interesting filming techniques on Naughton's arms, legs and exterminates. The werewolf's completed state is pretty believable too. There is a great ending too, albeit a tad ridiculous but there is no shown remorse to the Londoners and the city landscape was shot really well. John Landis's American Werewolf in London starts off really poor but quickly redeems itself into being a great horror film.

If You're looking for a good Werewolf movie look no further than this absolute timeless classic from 1981. An American Werewolf in London is without a doubt the best Werewolf and Horror/Comedy ever made. The special effects are unsurpassed. If Werewolves were real this is exactly how they would look, instead of a human shape with a wolves head, it looks more like a massive very scary looking dog/wolf. You catch a glimpse of it on the Underground scene and then again at the very end. They couldn't have made it look more real if they tried. It has an absolute perfect balance of comedy and horror. The horror of the movie is very scary and the comedy is often hilarious without adding the mistake of slapstick (An American Werewolf in Paris). There is also a bit of a love story thrown in. I think this is and always will be my favorite horror of all time and was probably the first real horror that I saw as a child (Shown to me by my very irresponsible babysitter when I was just 7). I hear it's due for a remake, it would have to be a pretty amazing movie to surpass this one.