Rating: 
Summary: The greatest Werewolf film ever!
Review: 1981 was The Year of the Werewolves...the furry fiends leaped onto movie screens in three major films: "The Howling," "Wolfen," and the classic of the genre, "An American Werewolf in London." There has never been a greater werewolf film, there has never been a better transformation scene, and few horror movies can match the entertaining mixture of humor and scares that writer/direction John Landis ("Animal House," "The Blues Brothers") achieved here.Although there had been humor in horror films before this movie, "An American Werewolf in London" showed once and for all that having comedy in a horror film didn't mean that the film would lose out in the scare department. Landis makes it clear that the film is NOT a comedy -- the horror scenes are carried with dead-seriousness and shocking impact -- but there is so much quirky humor surrounding these scenes that the film becomes incredibly likable and buoyant. Most of the laughs come from seeing the old movie werewolf premise dropped into the modern day and watching the characters try to deal with it. Actors Griffin Dunne and David Naughton, neither of whom had been in a movie before, create a wonderful 'ordinary guy' feeling to their characters of two young American boys backpacking through Europe. In rural England, they have a nasty encounter with a legendary monster, and Naughton faces the consequences of being bitten when he returns to London and takes up living with a pretty nurse (Jenny Agutter). The transformation scene is justly famous and a milestone in visual effects. Make-up wizard Rick Baker lets the viewers watch a real-time twisting of a human body into a wolf shape: limbs stretch, snouts pop, hair grows, the body contorts...it's amazing to watch. (And on DVD, you can watch it over and over and over again). Even computer graphics can't achieve an effect as startling as this one. This DVD offers some nice extras. The image is good, and the 5.1 Surround Sound is decent (although there's not a lot of back speaker sound). Actors Naughton and Dunne do feature commentary on the film, and provide some interesting information and sound as if they were having a great time reliving the experience. I wish that Landis had been on the commentary as well, but you can hear his thoughts on the film in an 18-minute interview. Landis is an absolute hoot to listen to; the guy is as funny as his movie, and he absolutely bursts with ideas and observations. To go along with the Landis interview is an 11-minute interview with make-up maestro Rick Baker. He provides a fascinating look at crafting what he calls "the coolest werewolf film ever made." Also included is a vintage featurette on the making of the film, although it's only about five minutes long (but you get more of wise-cracking John Landis), ten minutes of archival footage of Baker making a cast of David Naughton's hand, and an assortment of storyboards, outtakes, and production photos. "An American Werewolf in London" is a major turning point in horror films and visual effects -- and even over twenty years later, it is still one of the most entertaining movies of its decade. It hasn't aged at all, and this DVD lets you experience it the way it should be seen (and in the company of wild-man John Landis!)
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: the best werewolf film ever!!!!!!!
Review: this movie is awsomely cool!!!the transformation scence is way cool.david naughton and griffin dune are hilarious. this is my favorite movie! for werewolf lovers every where this is your movie. don't see it on tv rent it.
Rating:
Summary: Great !!!
Review: I give this movie 5 stars, its an excellent WereWolf movie. For it being made in the 80's , I believe it was 1980 it has the best Human - werewolf transformation. The action is good the story does not get boring and it will keep you up and on your toes, never bored. the acting is very good the gore is there, not like dawn of the dead 1978 gore but its bloody. It is without a doubt a classic werewolf movie, just a classic in general and worth the buy and especially if you are a fan of horror/cult type of movies its a must to have. To anyone who rates it low if I was you I wouldnt take there but take the word of the people who gave it 4 or 5 stars cause they are not lying. Just an excellent movie.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: Okay, so I didn't see this until I was 24, but scary? God no! Funny, irreverent, and well done, though.
Two Americans are wandering along the moors of Wales when they're attacked by a werewolf. Jack (the horny comic relief sidekick) is killed and David (the slightly mature frat boy type) awakens after 6 weeks in a coma in a London hospital, under the care of a hard boiled doc and a sexy nurse.
David begins to lose his mind when Jack shows up in sporadic visits, decomposing as he goes along. As a victim of the werewolf Jack is "undead" as in dead, but unable to rest, just like all the victims of this werewolf's line.
He urges David to kill himself and end the curse, freeing all the victims.
David does not and the first night mauls what appears to be an accountant in a Tube station amongst other victims. He wakes up naked in zoo cage with other wolves. He goes back to the nurse's flat and they have wild monkey love.
The next night he goes nuts and kills more people, including a clueless couple who are quite amiable when they meet him in the afterlife.
The third night undead Jack lures him into a porno theater with the saddest fake prono in the background. David transforms into the ugliest wolf you've ever seen in the theater and after killing everyone in it, escapes into the crowds of Lodnon town. Chased down an alley his only hope for salvation is the quasi-sympathethic London nurse who appears to be using him for sex.
Funny, great soundtrack, cool effects, perfect for the horror buff or the comedy buff. A must see! Think Lon Chaney meets "Animal House".
Rating: 
Summary: "Dr. Pepper" guy gets nipped
Review: David (David Naughton "Be a Pepper") and Jack are Americans visiting England. Evidently they are not aware of the many werewolf movies. Everyone knows to beware of the moors. Not these two. Yep one gets bit the other ripped. Of course no one believes David when he mentions his hairy dreams and his suspicion that he may be experiencing that change in life. Long before the movie "Six Sense". David also saw dead people.
While in hospital for his bite recovery, a nurse (Jenny Aggutter of "Logan's Run" fame) takes a special interest in him and takes him home like a stray. So is he a bit unbalanced or does he have a nocturnal apatite that includes a lot of dumb people?
There is lots of great and not so great music with a moon motif in the background.
The movie stretches the theme too far. The jokes are just enough off to not be jokes. The pacing is off enough to make your fangs grate. Many opportunities were missed. And the abrupt ending leaves you wondering why?
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Suspenseful Werewolf Film
Review: This one starts out with the music "Blue Moon." Two ordinary young men are backpacking in England when they are attacked by a werewolf. One is killed and the other is in a London hospital for weeks. In the hospital an attraction develops between the surviving young man, David, and Nurse Price, a very beautiful captivating young woman. David moves in with the nurse. They fall madly in love. However, David was attacked by a werewolf and he is facing a transformation experience at the next full moon .......
Rating: 
Summary: Worst werewolf movie
Review: I know a lot of people out there love American Werewolf in London but hate American Werewolf in Paris which i don't understand. American Werewolf in London is the worst werewolf movie i have seen if you want to see a proper good werewolf movie you should see the Howling not this. Also they say the movie is funny its not i only got a laugh out of it because of the thought the main female character had had sex with a werewolf besides that its boring. Seriously i love werewolf movies don't get me wrong but the werewolf in this film more looks like an over inflated hairy balloon with legs and a dog mask, it's nearly as bad as the bald, over sized annerixic hampster of a werewolf from Harry Potter 3. In short don't see this film other wise you'll want to watch something else remotely tasteful to wash out the bad taste
Rating:
Summary: The Ugly American
Review: John Landis's "An American Werewolf in London" is Red in tooth and claw, and goes to show that even a man who's pure of heart, and says his prayers by night, may turn into a snarling hell-hound that boogies down to Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" while tearing up yuppies in Kensington and uptight bankers in the London Underground---all when the wolvesbane blooms and the Moon is shining bright, of course.
Made in 1981 (a great year for movie Lycanthropes on both sides of the Atlantic) Landis's "American Werewolf" is for my money the greatest werewolf movie ever made, and coincidentally marks Landis's directorial high-water mark.
While backpacking across the UK, and shortly after a pit stop at the way less than 5-star Inn of the Slaughtered Lamb, American college buddies David Kessler (the underrated David Naughton) and Jack (a cheeky Griffin Dunne)are attacked by a mysterious beast on the moors.
The dimly glimpsed beast tears Jack's throat out and savages David, who is hospitalized and London, cared for by a pretty English nurse (played with sexy restraint by Jenny Agutter). Tormented by increasingly horrific dreams and plagued by ghoulish visions, David soon realizes that he has problems far worse than the cancellation of his summer-long EurailPass.
"An American Werewolf in London" has long been regarded as a comedic horror film, and it's not hard to see why. The title is campy and glib, the film itself has a cocky and sarcastic air about it, and the dialogue between the increasingly Lupine David and his inreasingly ghastly revenant friend Jack is wickedly, blackly funny.
But "American Werewolf in London" is not a funny movie; it is far more of a classic evocation of the black, wild terror you feel when you find that the hungry, uncontrollable beast that stalks the night and slakes its thirst with the blood of innocents---is you. Landis, who had a fine touch for the comedic and strong sarcastic flair, uses funny barbs and witty dialogue to heighten the mounting horror of David's plight.
Landis has created a work of sheer, diabolic genius, channeling the stuff of pure nightmare: think of the stalking scene where a City banker is pursued by something---something too awful for the camera to show, we feel---through the anonymous, antiseptic, endless tube-like passageways of the London Underground. From the moment we hear the snarling, coughing bark coming from the darkened tunnel to the second some brutish thing comes slouching upon its cowering victim, we have left the world of film and entered the world of nightmare.
Rick Baker's special effects are outstanding: the prosthetic and gore effects are so shocking, so gruesome, and so organic that the film (especially on the crisp Special Edition transfer) looks like it could have been made yesterday.
But when all is said and done, the real credit for this masterwork comes back to Landis. Here is the work of a director in the prime of his career, finely balancing comedy with terror, wielding a mean and unsympathetic camera, and willing to take a chance. Those inured to its shocks from having watched the film hundreds of times may not realize what an insidious, subversive little piece of grue this is, but think about it: Landis zigged where a lesser director would have zagged, and the result is the stuff of nightmare. Where did those squealing Nazi pig-soldiers come from, anyway? I don't know, but thanks to Landis they have been regular guests in more of my nightmares than I can remember.
Dreamy, surreal, hysterical and terrifying, modern and classical at once, "An American Werewolf in London" is the greatest werewolf film of all time, and a fitting meditation on the Beast within.
Rating:
Summary: John Landis's Horror Classic
Review: There may be a lot of comedy in this film, but it is really horror and tragedy. As soon as one starts watching one can tell that this film will not have a happy ending (unlike Landis's Innocent Blood).
A pair of young Americans are touring the English countryside when they fall afoul of a werewolf. One winds up dead while the other is only wounded. He wakes up three weeks later in a hospital to discover that there is some sort of coverup regarding what happened.
The tending nurse falls for him while the doctor trusts the sincerity and looks into the events. But the full moon quickly rises and all concerned begin to realize that something is very definitely wrong.
The werewolf is a classic tragic monster and this film maintains that tradition. No one asked to be a werewolf and they did not get that way through their own actions. But this is not a typical werewolf film. There is a higher degree of characterization and interaction than is usual.
Landis fans will recognize his signature catch-phrase taken from the title of his "adult" movie attempt. That movie is actually being shown in the theater where one of the film's important meetings takes place.
|
