AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
Director: John Landis
Genre: Werewolf
Country: USA/UK
THE MOVIE
Anyone who follows movies knows that studios periodically jump on certain genres or storylines which often result in two similar but competing projects released around the same time. We had Armageddon and then we had Deep Impact. We had Rob Roy and then we had Braveheart. We had Priscilla Queen of the Desert and then we had To Wong Fu. Well in 1981 we had The Howling and then we had An American Werewolf in London both released within a few weeks of each other. Either one by itself would have been a revolutionary entry into the werewolf movie genre. Both were directed by young and talented horror directors and both employed make-up gurus to handle the effects. Werewolf was worked on by SFX legend Rob Baker,
An American Werewolf in London is also distinguished from its competitor by its droll British infused sense of humor and its Hammer-esque ambiance. It also gives us a unique lupine werewolf as opposed to the simian designs of past movies or even the men-with-wolf-heads as popularized by The Howling. Landis’ movie also features some very disturbing and surreal dream sequences (such as one in which Nazi wolf ghouls attack attack the protagonist’s Jewish suburban family.)
Plotwise, AAWIL is pretty typical werewolf stuff. The film even rather sneakily references the old Wolfman movie with Lon Chaney Jr. A pair of young Americans are backpacking in rural England and make it to a mysterious village on the moors where the people in the local pub (which features a large pentagram on the wall) seem to be hiding something. The boys are attacked by an animal, one is killed (but returns in some black-humored visions later in the movie) and one survives and is taken to London for care where he hits it off with his nurse. As we all know, once you survive a werewolf attack you become one yourself.
THE MONSTER EFFECTS
Like The Howling, this movie aims to push the envelope as far as visual effects in a werewolf movie goes. It also tries to limit the number of cutaways during the transformation sequence and much is done via animatronics and practical make-up to create the films almost tortuous transformation sequence. One has to admire the great artistry and ingenuity that went in to creating a sequence like this when now all we would need to do would be to create it in a computer.
The other notable SFX or design aspect of the movie is in the final representation of the creature itself, of which you get some good looks in the latter part of the movie. AAWIL gives us a werewolf that actually looks something like a wolf (well honestly it’s a little stocky for a wolf. I think it looks more like a wolverine.) This is harkens back to pre –Cinema ideas of what a werewolf should look like. After all, the whole idea of the European werewolf was that a man would turn into an actual wolf, not some creature that looks like a hybrid of the two, as is more common in the movies.
FAVORITE SEQUENCE
The best shot in the movie is actually the very first one in which we see the creature. The werewolf is chasing a man through a subway station in the London Underground and up until this point we have only really seen cheap werewolf POV shots so we might be assuming this is one of those movies that doesn’t give you a real look at the monster. Anyway, this man has been chased through the station and stumbles upon an escalator. He falls dropping all of his things and is being carried up. Once he is at the top we get a near POV shot of his position. It is a long shot from the top of the escalator. It has a very objective feel almost like a security camera. The shot goes for a bit and then the monster simply steps into the frame. It’s fast but a great shot and very creepy.
SEQUELS
And unrelated sequel called An American Werewolf in Paris.
DVD AVAILABILITY
Widely available.
SEE ALSO
The Howling
TRAILER
Patrick Garone
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