Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 27, 2008 10:05:39 GMT -5
“An American Werewolf in London” is one of the best werewolf movies ever made.
**SPOILERS**
Back-packing through Europe, David Kessler, (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman, (Griffin Dunne) wander off the roads in London and are attacked. Waking up in a London hospital, David is told that he has survived, but Jack has not. While resting and recuperating, he makes friends with Nurse Price, (Jenny Agutter) and after being released, she takes him home. During the night, Jack appears to him and implores him to take his life before the next fill moon. That night, there is a series of brutal animal attacks spread throughout the city. With no memory of what happened to him, David comes to belief that he is a werewolf and he was responsible for the killings. Even with evidence to support this, no one believes that David is responsible until he proves to them that he was right all along.
The Good News: This film and “The Howling” both came out in 1981, and set the benchmark for werewolf films from then on. There are many features that prove this. First and foremost, in terms of the werewolf, it looks incredibly scary and creepy. It’s wisely kept out of the shadows in the beginning so that suspense is drawn up about what it looks like, and all we get are brief glimpses of something, and when the big reveal comes, it works wonders as it doesn’t look like what you expected. The design is pretty creepy, and looks like what a man who turns into a werewolf looks like. It’s a nice look and ranks as one of the more memorable ones in the genre. One of the main qualities of the film is the overall spectacular special effects used in the film. It’s no mystery about the transformation in the film as being one of the greatest in the history of cinema, and it looks so realistic that it’s impossible to describe it accurately here. One of the best. The gore in here is also top-notch. There is plenty of mauling done in here, and with looks of the corpses shown all over, we get up-close looks at them, and it looks quite impressive. The film is also quite well-known for its mixing horror with comedy, and it does do a pretty nice job of mixing them. The sequences with Jack and his victims are quite funny, and full of humourous lines and quips. It features some real black humor that seems just right with the way the story goes. It’s sure to give some people a couple of good laughs. There is some real horror moments as well, including the opening attack. It’s quite suspenseful, gives off a great jump at the end, and the attack is nice and bloody. This is a great example of mixing horror with comedy.
The Bad News: There is only a couple of minor quips about this film. The first one is the slow beginning. It takes a while for the film to really get going, and the cheap jumps get a little tiresome after a while. The big stuff doesn’t happen until an hour into the movie, so it does finish on a flourish, but the opening is a long dredge. The humor is another big distraction. The initial critics are right in their criticisms about not knowing if it wants to be a horror film or a comedy have plenty of points: the comedy can be a distraction for those that are into the hardcore horror aspects in the film. Much has been made about the storyline, and to be truthful, it’s one of the few that doesn’t try to change the werewolf mythology and instead relies on viewers knowledge of previous werewolf movies to know the background for this one. Some of it is given in the film, but not really enough for first time viewers to werewolf movie to truly understand. Plus, it’s only a personal feeling, but I always preferred “The Howling’s” werewolf look and transformations. It’s not a knock on this film, but it’s merely a preference thing.
The Final Verdict: It’s merely a preference as to why I prefer “The Howling” over this one. It’s not a bad film, and is actually quite entertaining, but for individual reasons only does it slip down the ladder of the werewolf genre. It’s got a lot going for it, and should be given an honest viewing.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and several mild sex scenes
