An American Werewolf in London
As a werewolf flick, it was an evolutionary leap, providing a visceral, literal view of the werewolf transformation that haven’t been seen in any other film in the genre before.
★★★★1/2
Super-synopsis: Two American backpackers wander into the Yorkshire moors and gets attacked by a werewolf. One of them survives, but becomes a werewolf himself and starts eating unsuspecting Londoners whenever the Blue Moon song plays in the background.
When I was a kid in the 80s, this movie was shown repeatedly on TV, albeit censored. What they didn’t cut though was the werewolf transformation. Of course, it was one of the most incredible movies I’ve ever seen, and stoked my imagination in a way Teen Wolf was never able to. Throughout the decades, for some reason I’ve never revisited the film, until Arrow Video released their beautiful 4K set, so I guess it was time to return to The Slaughtered Lamb.
As a werewolf flick, it was an evolutionary leap, providing a visceral, literal view of the werewolf transformation that haven’t been seen in any other film in the genre before. They also ditched the hybrid man-wolf design and went with a giant hound beast on all fours as the final form, which actually made the werewolf scarier. The movie also added to the mythology with its own original ideas, such as the victims coming back to haunt David but in their mauled and decomposing states, which ensured that the film continues to deliver on the horror in between the werewolf bits and kept the film interesting and engaging throughout. The nightmare sequences were also a nice touch.
I wished there was a little more characterization for the main characters . The trio of David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne were charming as hell, but David seemed only mildly troubled by the brutal death of his good friend Jack, and was mostly cheery and goofing around throughout. I guess they needed to sell the romance with Agutter’s Nurse Price, and a troubled and traumatized lead wouldn’t be a very fun person to fall in love with. It also felt that Price was the real protagonist of the film, but she also didn’t get enough screen time to establish her character a little better. For example, the whole subplot of the doctor investigating David and Jack’s attack could have been given to Agutter’s character instead. John Woodvine did a good job playing the doctor, but his character was unnecessary. It felt a little bit like a set up for a Van Helsing or Dr. Loomis-like character for possible future installments, but that never materialized, which made the character even more pointless in hindsight.
Another minor gripe would be the final reveal of the creature. Rick Baker’s work was fantastic, but he was working with a small budget and the technological limitations of that time, so any time the beast is in full reveal, it looks like a puppet with one static expression. I would have kept him in shadows at all times, but again this is just a minor nitpick. Rick Baker is still an incredible talent - my favourite of his work here is Jack’s gnarly face and neck wounds.
Since my last experience with the film was with the truncated TV version, I was surprised to hear the f-bombs and see the sexy, sexy stuff involving Naughton and Agutter, and that scene in the cinema, which only now did I realise was showing a skin flick all along. Luckily I was using my headphones or my neighbours would have thought I was having a very good time that night.
And a good time it was. A solid werewolf flick that has yet to be surpassed even till this day. I enjoyed Benicio del Toro’s The Wolf Man but An American Werewolf in London still edges over it. Highly recommended.
Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.