Review #55: American Werewolf in London (1981)

Cast/Notable Credits:
John Landis (Director): Animal House (1978), Blues Brothers (1980) & 2000 (1998), Coming to America (1988), Trading Places (1983)

Jenny Agutter (Nurse Alex): Logan's Run (1976), Child's Play 2

Griffin Dunne (Jack): My Girl (1991), The Quiz Show (1994), 40 Days & 40 Nights (2002)

David Schofield (Chess Player): Alien 3 (1992)

Frank Oz (Mr. Collins & Miss Piggy)

Trailer:


Plot:

Two American college students (Jack and David) spending the summer backpacking in England. They are hiking in the countryside when they stop off at a pub/tavern called "The Slaughtered Lamb".

They ask for room and board but are turned away and warned to stay on the road. Apparently the English don't like American tourist. Considering that we saved their butts back in WWII, you would figure that they would be more appreciative towards us.

David and Jack go about their merry ways and venture off into the night. While strolling the countryside, they hear distant howling noises. Then the noises come closer and closer to them.

To make things worse, the whether turns to crap (rain, wind, thunder, etc.). Before David and Jack know it, they are attacked by some wild beast. Jack is torn open...um...apart...and David is bitten by the beast trying to help.

David wakes up weeks later in the hospital and the attack is blamed on a fictious lunatic. The police don't believe David's story about the beast attack. Cover up anyone?

David rehabs in the hospital for a while and eventually hooks up with one of the female nurses, Alex. You go boy! While rehabing at the hospital David starts to have wild nightmares when he sleeps.

Eventually he gets discharged from the hospital and shacks up with Alex at her apartment in London. Unfortunately David still has his wild nightmares. In them, Jack warns David to kill himself before the full moon happens.

Slowly the evidence buiilds up and David begins to realize that he is becoming a werewolf. Some clues include him waking up in odd places naked and then learning later on of people around the area are dying in wild animal attacks. How will it end for poor young David?

Villain:

Werewolf = legendary iconic villain. Enough said. The special effects on the transformation and look of the beast were very good for the early 80's. I mean cutting edge good.

Cast:

The cast was relatively unknown and even today never went on to have spectacular careers, but that doesn't mean that they did a poor job here. It was a good fit for the film. Nurse Alex was the chick from old 70's Sci-Fi flick "Logan's Run". She showed her frontal objects there too! So my question is...why didn't she do that in Child's Play 2?

SFX/Gore:

A.A.W.I.L. featured state of the art special effects...for back then. They were crazy good effects, especially the werewolf transformation. It inspired Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Well, I made that last part up...but it could have.

On the body count side of things, there were around 13-14 people getting to be the guest of honor for as dinner for the beast.

TNA:

One hot chick (Shark Factor) who performs a sex act and even shows off her assets. That is all courtesy of the lovely Jenny Agutter. There was also a shower scene and a porno movie playing on screen in the background. Right on!

T.Gun's Take:

An American Werewolf in London was an original piece of writing back then and it's still great now. The film's success laid the ground work for many werewolf movies to come.

To be honest, I had never seen this movie until now. I have gone 16-17 years with out even seeking it out. In my opinion, The Howling is the best werewolf movie (in my opinion), but this is a close second. It holds up well over time.

The atmosphere and music in the film was creepy and dark (when need). I loved that! Outside of the late 70's - early 80's wardrobes and hair styles, this movie didn't have any of the fake tongue and cheek cheesiness that earlier horror movies had with them.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 21, 1981 and made $30.56 million at the box office ($3.78 million opening weekend)
-1st film to win an Academy Award in the category for Best Make-up (1st yr. category created)
-Studio executives wanted Dan Aykroyd to play David and John Belushi as Jack
-In the end credits there is a congratulatory message for the wedding of Prince Charles & Diana