An American Werewolf in London

I watched this a few days ago, and knowing that this was made nearly 30 years ago makes it that much more impressive.

Two college ago guys (David and Jack) are backpacking around Europe, they are going to begin in the Moors of Northern England and then move onto the much warmer and nicer Italy. When we first see them they are in the back of truck full of sheep, heading off to the slaughter house (get it) They thank the driver and head off into the countryside. When they get to a pub they are treated like monsters themselves but warned before they head out to stay off the Moors, keep to the road, and beware the Moon.

They of course don't follow the directions and soon realize they are being hunted by something in the darkness, each time it growls its on another side of them, its circling, which way should they run? When Jack is attacked by a large animal David runs, he stops and comes back to help his friend only to find him already dead, and attacked by the animal himself. The men from the pub shoot the creature, and next thing he knows he's waking up in a hospital in London.

He begins to have strange nightmares, and starts to realize that maybe what attacked him wasn't a wolf, or a dog. Jack returns from the grave as a figment that only David can see, if David doesn't kill himself before the next full Moon then he will transform, and as long as he is alive Jack will be forced to walk the earth as the undead (the curse will only be broken when the last werewolf is dead)

The make up was phenomenal, even knowing the kinds of leaps and bounds they've made in make up and effects in the last 30 years this still looks good, and is very effective. When he first transforms its easy to watch a lot of the shots and not be able to find the seams. They smartly show his transformation, but not much of him after he becomes the werewolf, that is until later. The section of the movie where he is out killing is gory and scary, especially when he chases a man through the subway tunnels, and you only see him as the creature for a moment at the very end of it creeping into frame.

Its surprisingly funny, and its actually supposed to be. From Jack returning from the grave and speaking to David as if nothing is abnormal about that to hiding out in a porno theatre before transforming it kept me smiling, and chuckling. The script does waste a lot of time not building enough tension, and with not enough laughs, the last 30 or so minutes are by far the best, I only wish they would have gave some structure to the middle of the story.

Nothing is special about the way its shot, there are some shots that were really cool, but most of it is trying not to crush you with heavy visuals and intense lighting, but trying to keep it light so then you will still laugh. The ending was kind of disappointing, it ended very abruptly.

Its worth a watch to see some really cool effects, and its really enjoyable, if you're a little squeamish with gore and blood then you might want to pass up on this. 7/10 stars.

Director: John Landis

Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne