Review of An American Werewolf in London (1981) by James S — 04 Jan 2011

Given the mythology of werewolf lore, it makes it rather difficult to create a decent movie from it. The whole lunar cycle thing doesn't really lend itself to story telling. You have to wait around for a month for anything to actually happen.....unless you're going to go the Twilight route and just reinvent it all for your own ends.

American Werewolf in London gets around this problem rather well though. After it's main protagonist is attacked by a wolf, he spends 3 weeks in a coma....problem solved.

The film begins in massively creepy fashion. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne don't stick to the roads and stray on to those misty Yorkshire moors before Dunne is pulled apart by a largely unseen wolf and Naughton escapes with a few scratches. Of course, those scratches lead to a bit of howling at the moon a little later.

Although it begins in a great way, the movie loses it's way almost immediately. Jenny Agutter as Naughton's nurse is sympathetic to him and takes him in simply because she fancies him. It doesn't seem to bother her that he is seemingly a nut case. A myriad of dream sequences provide some good moments but are never properly explained so fail to add what they could have done to the film, while the finale is very flat.

However, the effects are incredible, even more so when it's considered when the film was made. Rick Baker's make up effects are the stand out feature of the movie while director John Landis delivers enough wolf attacks in the films latter going to satisfy the blood quota required. And there's one or two tongue in cheek moments of humour too.

An American Werewolf in London is far from a bad movie. It's thrilling in parts and has an excellent opening sequence. It just feels a little half baked as it rolls on and could have benefited from a bit more plot drive, mythology and resolution. It is still one of the best werewolf movies ever made though.