An American Werewolf in London

Rating:
Summary: A true classic gets the 5 star DVD treatment.
Review: "An American Werewolf In London" is one of those movies you can go back to again and again, without getting bored of it. It is a nice mix of horror and comedy, while being the best werewolf movie to date. Not since "The Wolfman" from the 1940's has a movie about Werewolves been so good.

The story starts off simple enough. Two American travellers in England cross paths with a vicious werewolf, one is killed, and hte other survives. The one who survives starts to experiences strange mental episodes, and he wonders if all those stories about werewolves are true--if you are attacked and survive, do you yourself become a werewolf. Director and writer John Landis took his time with the characters, making them believeable and likeable. The dialogue is very well written, with touches of black humor to keep the movie from becomming a standard "bump in the night" horror movie. The special effects and makeup were, for their time, cutting edge. And even today, the transformation scene is unmatched.

The DVD is an excellent package. I always enjoy the commentary buy the film makers, but on this DVD, the two main actors (David Naughton and Griffin Dunn) do the commentary. Their commentary is more like a friendly chit-chat, with amusing anecdotes and plenty of insight. Also included are two excellent featurettes, one of the makeup, and the other is the original 1981 "Making of" special. The outtakes reel is the funniest, with one in particular that will make you fall to the floor laughing. You'll know which one when you see it, but in case you don't, it involves a falling "setpiece".

This is one of my favorite movies of the 1980's, and one of the first I looked for when I bought a DVD player. With all the extras and the top quality transfer, it is worth every penny.

Rating:
Summary: Sappy and Dumb
Review: I guess I saw this a decade (or two) too late. The foreshadowing at the beginning of the movie was great and there was enough graphic violence, but the lines were cheap and the acting was morbid. There was just too much of that late 70's low budget flavor in this early 80's thriller. I'll pass on buying this DVD. I cannot recommend this story to anyone but die-hard horror fans who crave nostalgic films. It lacks too much to be an artful masterpiece. Enjoy it with a bowl of popcorn when it appears on network television again.

Rating:
Summary: clasic
Review: This dvd combines horror, comedy and an excellent story line. The werewolf changing series is still one of the best to this date. This dvd is a true clasic movie!!

Rating:
Summary: Bad Moon Rising
Review: 4 Stars as far as monster films go, and 3 by average film standards. Meaning If you go into this movie not knowing what to expect youll probobly give it 3 stars, If you rented it for special effects and gore then its a 4 star film. I find the movie itself, kind of weak. Guy gets bit, turns into werewolf, eats people. The acting isn't spectacular (although the pain i nthe transformation scenes looks very real). Also the film has a lot of nudity (male and female) in it, which I endorse whole heartedly if used right, but it's kind of just thrown into this film. (But the porno movie makes me laff out loud everytime. It kills me that they actually scripted this situation for a porno they watch in the film) As far as special effects go, this movie is spectacular, The transformation effects have'nt been topped to htis day. Even the dead people are pretty ripped up and bloody, altho the actual attack isn't shown, just the aftermath. THe film lacks longshots of the wolf tho which is a dissapointment and a hinderance to the movie. Luckily they are included on the extras. Also there are a few documentarys on the makeup, a commentary and some cool deleted scenes. The audio on the film is crisp and the dialogue is easily heard over the music(The Soundtrack is great). The picture is very clear nad bright, altho not mind blowing.

If youv'e seen the film and liked it, then definately purchase this version, it's loaded. If this is youre first Experience with the movie I would rent it first, unless you enjoy gory type horror movies(not really scary, but heavy on the blood). The film manages to fall in between standard horror movie fair and bloody B movie zombie flix. All in all a very well done Monster Movie, with traces of humor and fantastic makeup effects.

Rating:
Summary: Did they fix the sound?
Review: All I want to know about this flick is if they fixed the sound from the vhs version? The sound on my vhs version is scratchy and rattles if you turn it up. I heard a rumor several years ago that somehow the original sound to this movie was lost in a fire or something. So all I want to know did they fix the sound?

Please someone let me know. Thanks
BTW this movie is a great romance that will have your girlfriend jumping in your lap from fright. Take care

Rating:
Summary: Tourist Be Werewolf
Review: When 2 American students, on a walking tour of Europe, decide to take a shortcut through the Welsh moors...they are attacked by a Werewolf. Sometime later, David Kessler (David Naughton) wakes up in a London hospital. He finds out that his friend Jack (Griffen Dunne) is dead from a nurse (Jenny Agutter). Shortly thereafter, David is visited by his friend's decaying corpse, who tells him that he is now a Werewolf. This inspired horror/comedy from director John Landis successfully blends the two genres. The film not only benefits from good perfomances from the cast, Dunne is hilarious as Jack, but the transformation FX still lookd cool, some 21 years later. It still amazes me that Rick Baker and his crew were able to pull the transformation off at all It's even more stunning because CGI wasn't even around yet. The script is very good and has some truly funny moments, without being over the top, or dumb At its center though, the film is a horror movie, and has a jolt or two as well.

The "Collector's Edition" DVD is solid. It has a very good commentary track with Naughton and Dunne that's pretty light and sometimes funny. There is a rather lame featurette with Landis, a (better) featurette with Rick Baker about the aforementioned FX, outtakes, and a photo montage. The rest of the extras can be found on most discs. For a fun film with some good extras, AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON is a good bet. Recommended

Rating:
Summary: Hidden Trailer
Review: Enter the Bonus Material area then select Recomendations. Go the the second page and press the up arrow on your remote. A small reel of film will be selected. Hit enter to view the the original trailer to Lon Chaney Jr's "The Wolfman"

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Horror Comedy Ever
Review: John Landis is a genius. I love Werewolf movies, and this is a great Werewolf movie. Funny, and genuinely scary at the same time. The DVD has great interviews with John Landis (Director, Writer), and Rick Baker (Special Effects). Baker, in my opinion, is the best F/X guy around, some would argue Stan Winston, but some would be wrong. The writing is hilarious, and the mood is creepy.I love how the movie just abruptly ends. This is a classic that should be in every horror movie fan's collection. My only complaint is I would have liked to seen deleated scenes on the DVD, rather than outtakes.See ya,Spideyy

Rating:
Summary: He's not "a Pepper" anymore!
Review: "An American Werewolf in London" was the first really scary and not campy movie my mother (who is a true horror movie buff) let me watch. Looking at it from a technical point of view, I much prefer this type of werewolf (the all-fours, more wolf-like) to those of "The Howling" or "Silver Bullet".

The soundtrack is really cool too.

Without giving too much away, I think the scariest part of the movie isn't werewolf related at all. It's the dream David has in the hospital.

There's a lot of subtle humor too, notably the scene in the movie theater. Then there are others that aren't intentionally funny, such as the fact that Frank Oz is one of David's doctors (the sound of "Bert" giving medical advice is hilarious!).

Rating:
Summary: The best werewolf film ever made...
Review: In my opinion, it is the most well made werewolf film ever made. Compared with other werewolf films, special effects scenes are very impressive. It can be compared with ¡°The Howling¡± in the scene, which changes to a werewolf. Both are pretty outstanding. ¡°The Howling¡± is more dreary and stylish, but this film is more humorous. That is the reason the director of this film is John Landis who usually made well comedy movies such as ¡°Blues Brothers¡±. This is not a film that makes a mood gravely or horribly. On the contrary, it gives a laugh. One of funny scenes is, people who murdered by werewolf, appear again with looks what they are killed at that time. Absurdly, they come out at the adult theater to threaten werewolf, David, who killed them, to do a suicide. That is what they can get out of terrible appearance. The scene that David changes to werewolf and kills people ruthlessly at the middle of the city, London, is remarkably striking. Humor and wit, this is a peculiarity of this film. After this film¡¯s success, imitation film, ¡°An American Werewolf in Paris¡± was made in 1997. However, it developed only computer graphic scenes. Nothing was special, it was a completely parody of this film.