Film: An American Werewolf In London
Director: John Landis
Country: USA
Released: August 1981
Runtime: 97 minutes
Genre: Horror
Studio: PolyGram / Universal
Influenced: Rod Daniel, Joe Dante, Edgar Wright, Drew Goddard, Taika Waititi
1981 was a bumper year for horror movies, with the release of Andrzej Żuławski's Possesion, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and David Cronenberg's Scanners, but for me the most innovative of them all was An American Werewolf in London. John Landis managed to highlight the inherent absurdity of the genre like no director before him, combining horror and comedy in a unique cinematic experience. Landis conceived the idea for the film while watching other satirical genre experiments like Brian G. Hutton's Kelly's Heroes (1970) and Mel Brooks' comedic take on the western, Blazing Saddles (1974). In the opening scenes of American Werewolf, set on the North York Moors, there are also echoes of The Wicker Man (1973), especially during the sequence in the Slaughtered Lamb pub with its suspicious locals and the pentangle on the wall.
One of several interesting cameos for lovers of British film & TV is Rik Mayall as a laughing punter in the pub and hard geezer Alan Ford (aka Bricktop) as the cab driver. Against a distinctive British setting, the film follows the story of two naive American college students, David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), who are backpacking across Europe, starting in the north of England. One night, while wandering through the moors, they are attacked by a werewolf. Jack is killed, but David survives and wakes up in a London hospital. As David recovers, he begins experiencing vivid nightmares and encounters the ghost of his deceased friend Jack, who warns him that he is now cursed to become a werewolf. David is skeptical until he transforms into a savage werewolf during a full moon and goes on a killing spree throughout London. With deliciously dark humour, the film explores David's struggle to come to terms with his newfound curse and his efforts to stop the bloodshed.
David develops a romantic relationship with a nurse named Alex Price (Jenny Agutter), who becomes entangled in the werewolf curse and attempts to help David find a way to break it. Landis makes great use of music throughout the film, notably during the romantic shower scene soundtracked by Van Morrison's Moondance. David's first transformation into a werewolf takes place in a hospital room, resulting in a brutal and graphic sequence that showcases groundbreaking special effects by Rick Baker. Baker's work on the film revolutionised the field of makeup and prosthetics, earning him the first-ever Oscar for Best Makeup in 1982. The film showcased the use of animatronics, prosthetic appliances and air bladders to create seamless and realistic werewolf transformations on screen.
One of my favourite comedy moments is the scene in which David tries in vain to get himself arrested by a local bobby, shouting, "Queen Elizabeth is a man! Prince Charles is a faggot! Winston Churchill was full of shit! Shakespeare's French!" Piccadilly Circus is also the scene of David's bloodiest rampage, when he leaves a trail of chaos and death in his wake during a full moon. David's fate is sealed when he is cornered by the police in an adult cinema, leading to a dramatic confrontation and an iconic ending. As well as being a commercial success, An American Werewolf in London is also now a cult classic, beloved by fans for its unique take on the horror genre. It spawned a series of copycat films in the werewolf subgenre, notably Teen Wolf (1985), and its special effects and groundbreaking makeup techniques have left a lasting impact on the industry.
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