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An American Werewolf In London, my retrospective.
by Steve Dziedziak

Overview: I think we can all agree that John Landis’ American Werewolf in London is the quintessential werewolf movie. Never in the history of cinema has there been a monster film that featured such a perfect blend of witty humor, a budding romance, and drawn out violence, all centered around the story of a young man who suffers agonizing transformations when he catches a glimpse of the full moon. What really makes American Werewolf stand out from the rest of the pack is it’s outstanding special effects, courtesy of special effects guru Rick Baker. Sure, every werewolf movie features a transformations scene of some sort, whether it is a man who gradually becomes hairier, or a man who will slip into the shadows and emerge a fully transformed wolf. Rick Baker takes the notion of the man-to-wolf transformation to new heights, staging a full transformation in bright fluorescent lighting with no cut away. This scene has set a standard for monster movies, and until this day, artists are still trying (and failing) to top what Baker created over 30 years ago. While the writing and directing is top notch, and the acting is high above par for a film of this caliber, any horror fan worth his weight in wolfs-bane can agree that this transformation scene is the real star of the show. In fact, it was so highly regarded that the Academy created a new category for ‘Best Special Effects’ to recognize the talent of special effects artists at the Oscars.

A bit about the director: John Landis may be known for his comedy films, having directed some of the most highly acclaimed (and funniest) comedies of all time; The Blues Brother, Animal House, The Kentucky Fried Movie, he is still a monster lover at heart. American Werewolf is his perfect love letter to the horror genre, and this past year he published his own monstrous book of movie monsters, fittingly entitled Monster In The Movies. In it he goes into detail of each and every sub-genre of horror, having a critique on everything from vampires to giant radioactive monsters. In the past decade, Landis has appeared in several documentaries discussing various horror films. You can feel his passion and love for all things horrific and monstrous. To think he almost started his carrier as a director of underground porno films.

My thoughts on the film: There’s really nothing more I can say about this film that hasn’t been said before; American Werewolf in London clearly is the perfect monster movie. I’ve always been interested in movies involving werewolves, starting of course with the original Universal Pictures’ Wolfman film featuring Lon Chaney Jr. as the tortured soul who suffers from a horrific curse. American Werewolf takes that simple formula and gothic setting and sets it in a modern setting. Landis stated “this was my attempt to make a movie dealing with the supernatural in a completely realistic way.” We all know there is no such thing as men who become monstrous wolves in the presence of a full moon, Landis took this surreal situation and placed it in a realistic setting. “What do you do when the surreal is real?” as much as I love monster movies, I’ll never be afraid of them because I know said monsters don’t exist in the real world. With American Werewolf, you can picture such an outlandish situation taking place. If a gigantic ferocious beast really were loose in a crowded city street, panic really would ensue, as implied in the epic climax.
Perhaps my favorite aspect of the film, aside from Baker’s fantastic special effects, is the setting and atmosphere. While American Werewolf is vastly different from the Universal and Hammer renditions of the werewolf story, it still retains the gothic horror settings of foggy moors and landscapes featuring gothic architecture, despite its modern setting. The addition of sleazy prostitute infested back alleys and grimy porno theaters help add a modern feel, and add a level of grime and realism.

Like I mentioned, the real star of the show is Baker’s special effects. Not only is the transformation scene breath taking, but also the fully formed werewolf itself is a sight to behold. Without a doubt the most terrifying lycanthrope committed to celluloid. Aside from werewolves, the film also features Nazi demons and talking corpses. Griffin Dunne’s character, Jack Goodman, is torn to pieces by the original werewolf, and through out the film he haunts David and tries persuading him to commit suicide and free himself, and all the unfortunate victims of David’s lunar activities, from the curse of roaming the Earth as an accursed UnDead. Goodman appears to David several times, with each appearance he is more and more decomposed. The aforementioned Nazi demons appear in one of David’s several dreams, introduced in a twisted home invasion scenario where they slaughter his entire family before his eyes, before ending his life with a knife across his throat. The makeup on these brutes is as horrific as the werewolf itself; each resembling hideous half-man half-wolf atrocities dressed head to toe in Nazi attire.

The point is: American Werewolf in London is without question the best example of a perfectly executed monster movie. John Landis manages to blend comedy, romance, and horror in a splendid and intriguing manor. He combines the over-the-top monster movies of years past, with their gothic setting and atmosphere, with the gritty and realistic modern horror films. Rick Baker creates an ensemble of monstrosities to bring a wide grin to any horror fan’s face; decomposing corpses, murderous Nazi demons, and the scariest lycanthrope to roam god’s green earth. American Werewolf is one of, if not the, greatest monster movie of all time, and among my favorite and most cherished movies of all time.
★★★★★ out of 5.

Hoy día vivimos una avalancha de remakes de grandes películas de terror de los 70 y los 80: en 2007 vimos el regreso de La última casa a la izquierda (The Last House on the Left), original de 1972 con Wes Craven al mando; 2010 dio a la luz Pesadilla en la Calle del Infierno (A Nightmare on Elm Street), la cual no necesita más introducción; un pequeño clásico de Troma también fue repensado en 2010, Sangriento día de las madres (Mother’s Day). Podríamos extender la lista contando cada uno de los remakes o de las terceras y cuartas partes que han aparecido en cartelera, pero no es el objetivo de este texto.

Un hombre lobo americano en Londres (An American Werewolf in London, 1981) sigue siendo un ejemplo de cómo se hace un tributo dentro del cine de horror, aun después de 30 años de su estreno.

Al igual que hizo Wes Craven con Scream (1996), John Landis toma elementos básicos del genero y opta por lo sencillo antes de que lo rimbombante o el gore se apoderen de la historia, convirtiéndose al mismo tiempo en un buen tributo al género y una contribución valiosa al mismo.

Es ahí donde fallan los intentos hollywoodenses —los japoneses son harina de otro costal— actuales de traer a la vida a viejas glorias; se enfocan tanto en ver quién lanza más sangre a la pantalla o quién muestra más senos, que olvidan contar buenas historias, aunque también hay que aceptar que el género es algo esquemático. Los resultados en taquilla y crítica de El hombre lobo (The Wolfman, 2010) con Benicio del Toro, lo comprueban.

Landis utiliza los efectos especiales para hacer su historia más atractiva; inclusive, una de las secuencias mejor logradas, la persecución en el metro de Londres, está hecha con cámara en mano y en primera persona. Mismo recurso que utilizó Sam Raimi en El despertar del diablo (Evil Dead, 1981) para el ataque de los demonios, aunque seguro que el director de El hombre araña (Spider-Man, 2002) lo hizo por falta de presupuesto.

El buen oficio de Landis para utilizar el maquillaje y efectos especiales del maestro Rick Baker dejaría un legado para después de Un hombre lobo americano en Londres con trabajos como el videoclip Thriller, del fallecido Michael Jackson, que en su versión larga es más un cortometraje que un video de MTV.

El declive del terror como género cinematográfico se debe a que los directores no tienen una voz propia; es un caso parecido a las adaptaciones de historietas a la gran pantalla. Los espectadores saben de antemano qué es lo que van a ver; son los cineastas los que no saben qué buscan más allá de mostrar sangre y senos, aunque el tono fársico utilizado en Piraña 3D (Piraña, 2010) constata que quizá lo único que le quede al género sea la auto parodia y la pantomima.

A 30 años de su estreno, bien vale la pena revisar Un hombre americano en Londres, cuyas virtudes siguen intactas. ¿Quizás al revisarla encontremos dónde se perdió el cine de horror? Tal vez fue junto al botadero del Walmart.

Never have horror and humor been balanced so well as in An American Werewolf in London, a revivalist hit that there is an ample supply of both laughs and chills. In many ways, John Landis crafted an age-old tale about werewolves. There are warnings from terrorized locals to “beware the moon”. The two backpackers that will become fodder for the hairy beast are two American college pals (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne), who make amusing strangers in a strange land (namely, the English Moors). And there are plenty of familiar, yet still blood-curdling howls in the darkness. It was about time, however, that someone realized that werewolf movies had to lighten up, while also noting the inherit tragedy of the legend.
Since Lon Chaney Jr. first sported a fur coat, the movies offered plenty of opportunity for transatlantic humor. David and Jack (Naughton and Griffin) are unmistakably Yanks with little knowledge of the ways of the English countryside (they may have benefited from knowing that the Moors are not unfamiliar with mysterious creatures, such as the notorious Beast of Exmoor). The fog and darkness, however, are reason enough for them to want to steer clear. Nevertheless, they ignore the warnings of the superstitious villagers and proceed into the night.
The atmosphere here is often scary as there is always fear in the presences we cannot see. Much of it, however, plays like comedy. There are some jokes at the expense of the boys when at the creepy tavern, as the villagers’ esoteric jokes make them stick out like sore thumbs. But every laugh in this wonderfully developed beginning is paired with a sense of panic. We know what will happen to David and Jack but John Landis still finds ways to play with our expectations. He accomplishes this by presenting the story of the villagers as an apparent lie in such way that we doubt there is any real danger.
It’s too bad that Landis didn’t venture farther into the realm of supernatural horror when he was big, as he had a real knack for it. He stretched his arms a little once again with his contribution to Twilight Zone: The Movie, but the disastrous results of that movie, not the least of which was the tarnishing of his image when he was partially blamed for the on-set death of actor Vic Morrow and two young extras, probably dissuaded him for good.
The humor is very British, especially so after the mauled David is brought to a hospital in London. Through David, however, there are hints of Jewish humor that is distinctly American. Throughout, An American Werewolf in London is a hipster creature feature, full of references to other monster movies. Not all of this works. There is some excessive nonsense with David’s nightmares, especially when he dreams that his family is being slaughtered by invading demonic troopers.
But there is one plum innovation. Jack, who was killed by the beast, pays David several visits from beyond the grave, telling him, rather bluntly, that he must kill himself if he is to break the werewolf curse. These apparitions are both frightening and funny simultaneously and make us wonder why horror films no longer seem to want to be funny.
An American Werewolf in London can be dissected in three parts. One part is a classical fear fest. One half of the humor owes something to Woody Allen while another spoofs self-important British mystery shows, and there is a variation of the city detective driving off into the country for an investigation when the doctor (John Woodvine) that treats David in London ventures out into the Moors. In a traditional film, the doctor would be a character marked for death, as he is clearly onto something and knows the villagers are hiding the truth, but this movie is full of irony.
Throughout history, werewolves have been metaphors for many things. In young people they represented puberty or arousal. In the context of this movie, it is largely a reason to pity a nice guy like David for his predicament, especially after he falls for his nurse (Jenny Agutter). His transformation is the ultimate date killer. In human form, we like David so much that it is with a heavy heart that we hope he gets killed after he turns into the monstrous beast and goes on a rampage around Piccadilly Circus, much like King Kong in Manhattan (which An American Werewolf in London clearly pays homage to.
There are some masterful scenes in the midst. The attack in the London Underground is positively terrifying and the scene in the porno theater is a miracle of comedy. Not just are the wise-cracking corpses a riot in the true Disneyland-Haunted-Mansion sense of the word, but even the seedy film playing in the background adds a layer of humor.
Notice all the ads; markers that this is Margaret Thatcher’s London. Like Dawn of the Dead, this is a horror movie on a crusade against consumerism. It’s no coincidence that most of David’s victims are yuppies and Landis even throws in a finger-shake at the English law system.
The most lasting impact of An American Werewolf in London is the music video it inspired which was also directed by John Landis. It’s impossible on hindsight to see Jack’s decaying corpse and not think of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Only the ending of An American Werewolf in London is a letdown. It’s abrupt, easy, and doesn’t jive with the rest of the movie. Couldn’t Landis have come up with something a little wittier? Watching it, it’s hard not to suspect that there were greater things planned that had to be scrapped for time and budget. As is, the ending taints the material that precedes it which is too bad, as that very material make An American Werewolf in London the best werewolf movie yet.

A fun homage to the old Lon Chaney Jr. Wolf Man. It is more fully committed to its time period and visual style. There were some nice comic touches tossed in while the horror was mostly teased with quick cuts of gore or the reactions of those being stalked by the werewolf. I was not satisfied with the majority of the dream sequences that David has while in the hospital bed. They were a poor excuse for unrelated shocking nightmarish images. This movie isn’t only about a werewolf. You get a two for one deal with the undead victims of the werewolf appearing. Has any other werewolf movie used this plot convention? The undead aren’t really like zombies since they are still only in David’s mind. It is more similar to Marley’s ghost warning Scrooge. The transformation is pretty amazing, but then like I said the werewolf is withheld until the big pay off at the end outside the porno theater.

Siodmak wrote The Wolf Man when the Nazis were in power and intended there to be some symbolic link between Nazis and wolves. There have also been distinct overtones of men struggling with alcoholism releasing violent urges in past werewolf stories. But the thing that lycanthropy most often seems to represents is hormones or sexual urges. Starting with the conversations between Jack and David while backpacking and continuing through David hitting on Nurse Alex it is obvious what animal urges are on this young man’s mind. It is really quite classic with the secretive regulars at the tavern, the detectives after the murderer, the cursed man hating himself for being a killer (only this time he has to be pushed to end his life by the undead), the doctor and nurse take more of an interest in discovering the truth this time around, and despite love, in the end, the werewolf must die. Most of the Universal monster movies end just as abruptly, but if I didn’t know better with this story, I’d expect the werewolf to live again in the next movie.