Hey guys, just so you know I AM alive... but barely due to exam week. The Doctor has been getting schooled. That having been said I am making my triumphant return to the reviewing game... so buckle up... we're going to go for a little journey.
Although many don't want to admit it... the Horror genre has actually contributed some of the finest movies ever made: Dracula (1931), Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Excorcist (1973), Halloween (1978), etc. But, soon people didn't want strict fear inducing scenes, and soon horror-comedy was born. Of course to cinema goers in modern times horror-comedy is nothing new, movies like the Scream series and 2004's modern classic Shaun of the Dead have gained widespread popularity that horror movies with campy humor are almost the new status quo, but this new breed of horror movie's was not a recent creation.
In the early 80s there was a movie that challenged what people expected from horror, for example one doesn't expect a horror movie to begin with peaceful shots a a tranquil moor... matched up with a peaceful little diddy like "Blue Moon" sung by velvet tongued crooner Bobby Vinton. The more common place opening usually involves a bloody massacre to get viewers attention, making An American Werewolf in London (1981) all the more unique.
But the camp factor was not the only factor that sets this movie apart. The way David (David Naughton) discovers his condition is amongst the more inventional aspects, Landis beautifully uses dreams, flashbacks, and a chilling and chuckle inducing scene with David's deceased friend, Jack (Griffin Dunne). The script is pretty inventive, not relying solely on Werewolf canon as passed down from such classics as The Wolf Man (1941), instead flexing the mythos a tad here and there to make the movie more modern and appealing. I was also impressed with how Landis (mostly known for his classic comedies and the Thriller music video) was able to craft a very good werewolf based script... leaving behind animals like Bluto to make one of the best were wolf movies ever.
But it's not just the script that Landis got right. The over all vibe of the movie is perfect. All the archetypes are presented in ways that are both traditional and new. The creepy townsfolk provide some of the best town fillers since the robots of Thermostadt in the Futurama episode The Honking. And, although I did say that the Werewolf tale was modernized a bit, the key elements are respected such as only a loved one can kill a lycanthrope, etc. (There are none of those fake Twilight Werewolves here). But one of the true highlights is the Tarantino esque soundtrack, ironically matching songs involving the moon with intense violence and moments that one wouldn't associate with a certain song, adding to diffuse the horror and make the viewer half smile... even while David is writhing in pain during a horrific transformation.
Speaking of that transformation, the movie truly does deserve the praise for it's groundbreaking make up work. Before computers could do everything Baker and his boys put on one heck of a show during the transformations, and when Jack shows up as a decaying corpse. I do have to agree with some critics saying the real star of this movie is Baker and the make up crew.
For a horror movie, the acting is not bad. I do have to use that qualifier because the acting is not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to many other entries of macabre cinema the acting is pretty good. Naughton plays the eponymous American Werewolf with a like ability that I believe is mostly natural, and he portrays the confused young man very well, but he's not a great actor. The same can be said of Jenny Agutter, for a horror lead she is actually a strong independent woman who doesn't spend the entire movie squealing, which is refreshing. But the best acting performance is probably John Woodvine as the Dr. J.S. Hirsch, a small role, true, but Woodvine does act better than the rest.
All in all this is a very good movie, not just a good horror movie, but a good movie in general. There are some scares and more than one laugh; So if you are looking for a good way to spend an hour and thirty eight minutes pop in An American Werewolf in London, you won't be disappointed.
Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this movie (9/10)
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