Review of An American Werewolf in London (1981) by Cameron H — 11 Aug 2014

To describe a movie as horror-comedy or comedy-horror usually implies that the comedy is in the horror or vice-versa. John Landis, better known for college comedy classic National Lampoon's Animal House, instead paired comedy and horror as clearly separated elements. It's not a bad idea, even if there is a lack of focus in this approach. Landis would never sacrifice his comedy. One of the more memorable laughs is when the American werewolf David (Naughton) wakes up from his state of lunacy in the wolf pen of a zoo, completely naked, and has to return to his temporary London home. I don't watch this for the comedy though. I want a ferocious werewolf to rip every living Brit to shreds. An American Werewolf in London succeeds more as a horror than a comedy. The make-up effects yield the best werewolf transformation I have seen. I'm sure that in today's age, CGI could make a meaner-looking werewolf, but I don't see many Hollywood werewolves. Twilight and Harry Potter had some werewolves, but they didn't intimidate me at all. The former were just wolves, and the latter's werewolf was too lanky.

The werewolves of this film appropriately kill in the darkest and/or most claustrophobic atmospheres. The first attack is in an empty wetland, illuminated only by the light of the moon. David and his friend Jack (Griffin Dunne) are lost in the midst of it all and grow further anxious when they hear howls repeat closer to them. If I wasn't lying down on the couch, I would have been at the edge of my seat. After that, there aren't any wolves for a whole hour. To sustain the horror in this hour, the film introduces artsy dream sequences of David acting like an animal in the woods and monstrous creatures (possibly aliens?) attacking his loved ones. Outside of dreams, the undead is in this world too. The werewolf victims are stuck on Earth until all werewolves are dead. By the end, it is evident that Landis did not count his horrors before they hatched, but I'm glad that Landis did not include too many werewolf attacks. When it attacks, I am reminded that this is still the most chilling werewolf film I know.