Excellent Movie, Awesome DVD, What are You Waiting For? (An American Werewolf in London (DVD))

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	An American Werewolf in London (DVD)
Date:	18/02/02 (199 review reads)
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An American Werewolf In London has to be one of my favourite movies of all time, certainly one of my favourite horror movies, anyway...no it IS my favourite horror movie. Probably not too strange then that the DVD was one of the first I bought, but what was strange considering the popularity of this movie is that the original DVD release is actually rather naff, making a neat place to rest your coffee cup but not much in terms of quality or enjoyment. Poor transfer and virtually no extras made it a wasted purcahse. Thankfully, Universal went on to release the Collector's Edition of the movie recently which completely eclipsed Live Entertainment's original piece of trash!

~The Movie~

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Yes, The discussion of the movie is the original movie review I submitted to Dooyoo under the video review section, but I can't see the point in giving a lame, less useful synopsis in its stead, or rewriting exactly the same thing in other words just for the sake of it! I haven't anything new to say so, whats the point?! If you have already read that review then skip on down to the DVD section and read about the extras etc. If not, then carry on...
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The 80s saw the ‘traditional’ movie monsters fall by the wayside to be replaced with new, more fearsome beasts. The old vampires, werewolves, zombies etc. which had scared the pants off previous generations became the brunt of ridicule, found more often in comedies and spoofs than in any real horror movies. However, there were a few notable exceptions, particularly when we come to talk about werewolves because the early two years of the 1980s saw not only the first incarnation of Joe Dante’s The Howling but also the finest werewolf movie ever committed to celluloid...no not Wolfen although that was around at the same time, but rather John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London. It of course has never really been given too much competition either previous
ly or since, Mike Nichol’s Wolf achieving a small amount of critical acclaim although personally I thought it was abysmal, and more recently Ginger Snaps proving that you can teach an old dog (wolf?) new tricks. It came at a time when director John Landis was widely seen as being able to do no wrong, following hotly on the heels of his earlier efforts The Blues Brothers and Animal House which were both not only huge box office successes but at the same time have gone on to achieve a modicum of cult success... but for that matter so has this movie. Of course, one more major movie later(beset with tragedy) and John Landis is assigned to the directorial scrap heap for no reason other than Hollywood being a rather fickle place...but at least we have movies such as these to look back upon.

You may look at the other works of this director and wonder what exactly he has to offer the horror genre. The raucous, bawdy comedy of a movie like Animal House probably wouldn’t lead you to think that there was a decent horror movie in this guy. Well, and in some respects you would be forgiven this, and indeed Landis doesn’t offer us a straight out ‘horror’ movie as such. Instead he attempts to do what most other directors have found impossible to do and that is to blend the two genres of horror and comedy together. Admittedly there is a fine line between horror and comedy - it being a natural human defence mechanism to laugh at that which we find uncomfortable - but there is an extremely fine line to tread and its incredibly easily to end up with a ridiculous mess which is neither funny nor scary. In fact the list of directors who have actually managed to achieve this ‘tightrope walking’ feat is decidedly small - Sam Raimi managed it with his Evil Dead series and ummm...well the only other is John Landis himself with this movie(no I will not accept carry On Screaming as a third!). Not only is An American Werewolf In London very sca
ry and very gruesome at times, but at the same time it has its tongue firmly planted in its progressively rotting cheek that it almost borders upon camp in some parts but just about manages to steer clear. It does exactly what it ought to - the funny parts are very funny and the scary parts are very scary - trust me, you’ll not know whether to laugh or hide behind the sofa, but you will sit glued to it from start to finish.

Our simple but effective tale begins in Northern England, with two American backpackers, David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) trekking across the Yorkshire moors(although it is filmed simultaneously there and in Wales). Tired and with the night closing in around them they decide to take refuge in a local pub with the rather curious and foreboding name of “The Slaughtered Lamb” but are met with a particularly cold reception by the locals (this could almost be The Brotherhood of Gentlemen's Royston Vasey with its treatment of outsiders). Noting the hostile atmosphere, but doing little to head it the pair find themselves ejected from the inn onto the moors again after asking one too many questions - but they leave with a chilling warning to stay off of the moor and beware the moon. Of course they have no intention of heeding the warnings of a bunch of superstitious yokels and find themselves away from the main path - shortly before finding themselves the victims of a sudden and vicious attack by a shaggy creature which bursts out of the night and leaves Jack a ripped and bloody corpse and David injured but at least alive thanks to the intervention of some of the locals who followed them and chased off the beast...

Cut to some time later where David finds himself in a London hospital recovering from his injuries. Events of that night are a little sketchy but he is getting better - or at least he appears to be getting better until he finds himself suffering horrible nightmares and th
en being visited frequently by the progressively rotting corpse of his dead buddy Jack. Jack brings with him warnings. He tells David that he has been bitten by a werewolf, the same creature which condemned him to a life walking in limbo amongst the undead, and that the transformation will become complete at the next full moon, so he must kill himself or be forced to live life as a creature of evil, making others walk in limbo like he is. Of course David is not ready to believe this and sees himself as still being delusional due to the horrific events which befell them a few weeks previous and furthermore he has just begun a relationship with his nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter)...there must be a cure...

There are effectively a great number of elements which make this movie work as well as it does. For a start, you have a lead character who you cannot only identify with but for once, actually care about. So many horror movies feature faceless, under-developed or simply obnoxious characters which leave you without the slightest bit of sympathy for their plight. David on the other hand is a down to earth kind of guy, a young man who we witness earlier on in friendly banter with his friend who has now been wrenched from him in a most vicious fashion, who is beginning a romance with a English nurse etc. We get to see more of him than simply a pretty face ready for the killer’s blade, or in this case, the wolf’s bite and resultantly we fear for his plight. His part is well acted by David Naughton, who although otherwise unknown to me, certainly fulfils the role adequately. Adequate is how everyone can be described in this movie, there are no shining stars here, no beacons illuminating an outstanding achievement, but at the same time no turkeys either and although sometimes the storyline approaches the realms of being camp we also managed to avoid any ham creeping in to our cinematic banquet as well. It may not be the best acting in the world but it is cer
tainly consistent which prevents one performance highlighting the rest for what they are.

Of course one of the areas in which horror movies often stand or fall is in the special effects department. How often has a good build up (or even a bad one) lead to the most unscary, ridiculous looking monster you have ever seen? Too often is the answer on most of your lips I am sure and especially where werewolves are concerned I might add - a Michael J. Fox ‘Teen Wolf’ look-a-like isn’t going to scare anyone but it wouldn’t be the first time that Hollywood has thrown one at us in the final reel. Well, not so this movie, in fact this has some of the finest transformation effects you are likely to see anywhere - and they haven’t aged one little bit either despite this movie creeping over its 20th year. Special effects maestro Rick Baker was called in to do the effects after doing a fine job on The Howling in the previous year. Here though, he picked up on a few mistakes highlighted in that movie and came up with a piece of pure perfection. David’s transformation from man to wolf is a truly horrific extended sequence which proves that no amount of CGI special effects technology can surpass the efforts of a truly talented special effects wizard like Baker. His body twists and contorts as his skin melts and bones extend into the wolf shape, thick course black hair sprouting from the sticky shape-shifting vaguely human/progressively lycanthropic vision of pain that convulses on our screens...before a low guttural growl signifies the transformation is complete and mayhem ensues. Its absolutely fantastic, as is the progressively rotting appearance of Jack’s portentous ‘zombie’ for that matter.

Anyone who argues that modern CGI effects are the only way forward for special effects perhaps needs to look at movies like this one and then the CGI alternative in its abysmal sequel An American Werewolf In Paris and th
ink again. Baker won an Oscar for his work here and richly deserved it was too.
But, as I said, An American Werewolf In London is not just a horror movie but the fusion of horror and comedy, and like I said the humour here definitely works. It is naturally a twisted black humour which comes out of the most unlikely situations but it works superbly. The best one liners are reserved for the banter between Jack and David as he tries to convince him to take his own life - not really because he cares that much about people dying but for the purely selfish reason that there are so many “boring” people walking in limbo that he doesn’t want him to add more! You can’t help but giggle at the progressively disgusting appearance of the rotting Jack and David’s refusal to take advice from a “walking meatloaf”. Jack’s entire role is performed with a blackened tongue placed firmly in his progressively rotting cheek and his inclusion in the plot is obviously simply for comic relief but there are a number of humorous asides throughout the movie. Landis litters the plot with in-jokes and even the musical score consists entirely of tracks with the word “moon” in them...The Marcels’ “Blue Moon, and Van Morrison’s “Moondance” spring to mind immediately.

Landis couldn’t afford to let one thing pass though and that was the level of gore in his movie. In that sense An American Werewolf in London is very much a product of its time, coming around the same time as the Halloween series, Friday The 13th and others which dictated that movies in the horror genre needed to push the boundaries in terms of their gore content or face critical disdain and box office failure. Gore the paying public wanted and gore Landis provides...but not until at least two thirds of the reel is over when the first horrific transformation occurs which may leave many gore hounds dissatisfied, and equally becau
se it is certainly very graphic, makes this a movie which is definitely not for the squeamish. There is also the (then) expected mix of sex and violence which was a prerequisite to 80s horror (the promiscuous must die) this time our lycanthropic beast rampaging through a porno theatre with bloody abandon...

Werewolf movies are by enlarge pretty rubbish when you look at the majority of those which fall within this category so its something of a surprise when you come across one which is this good. That is not to say that it does not have its bad points, and its certainly not a movie which is going to appeal to everyone. The dubious mixture of horror and comedy may be distasteful to some and the level of gore and violence shown in the latter portion of the reel is definitely not for the squeamish. Landis’ choice of sudden and abrupt ending is almost criminal as well but even so, An American Werewolf In London is by far the best movie of its type and one of the true classics of the horror genre and certainly one I would recommend to all those who are fans of such things...and a few of those who aren’t.


~~DVD Review~~

An American Werewolf in London has made two appearances on DVD format, once in 1997 in a rather poor offering from Live Entertainment and now recently in a much improved Collector's Edition from Universal. The original DVD was rather iffy, and almost completely devoid of features, but you are much better served by the re-release anyway so you'd have to be a huge fan to care. The original is rather grainy, has distinctly iffy sound(the back speakers virtually redundant) and has extra features consisting of a teaser trailer and nothing more. Universal has put this travesty right with a DVD release which could be better in all honesty, but is a vast improvement over what we were originally offered.


~Visuals~

The anamorphic widescreen transfer asks you to bare in mind that the movie i
s now over 20 years old so you can't expect the visuals here to be perfect. Indeed they are not, the opening night scenes looking rather grainy at times and the movie showing a little wear and tear throughout in some parts. No doubt there is little Universal could have been reasonably expected to do given the source material, and given that it is a vast improvement over the original DVD release you can't really complain. I think they did their best, and whilst DVD purists might grumble about how there is evident grain or that the colours aren't as sharp as they could be, there are other factors which need to be considered. Its a vast improvement over the original DVD release and distinctly better than a VHS copy - basically its the best you are going to get!

~Sounds~

Sound effects are another part of this DVD where you can hardly claim perfection. Dobly Digital 5.1 was a technology which certainly didn't exist when the movie was produced and it is easy to argue that the sound effects feel somewhat 'manufactured. Funny that, because they of course ARE and yes, its is noticable if you listen out for it. You'll notice that your back speakers don't exactly get a lot of work here, but you'll also notice that the howling of the wolf echoes around you in the most creepy fashion. Again, its the best you are ever likely to hear this movie sound, but its not perfect...but again, no doubt the best you could expect Universal to achieve given the source material.

~Extras~

The extras on this DVD are where it really comes into its own. Given the popularity of this movie, that it won an oscar for its stunning creature effects and such like, the original release was something of a travesty in that it didn't include more features! Well, you'll be pleased to know that it has been put right here with som really interesting and entertaining additional goodies.

Firstly you get a film commentary from Gri
ffin Dunn and David Naughton who walk you through the movie. There is great cameradery between these two and its fun to see the friendly banter continue between the pair after they were ripped apart so horribly at the beginning of the movie. They discuss, the movie, the filming process, how the movie has effected their lives and careers and all that kind of thing. Following this there is short documentary filmed at the same time as the making of the movie(why the hell wasn't this on the first release!?) which is brief but interesting. It is somewhat ironic to hear Landis talking about movie safety here when you consider the tragedy which accompanied his next movie, The Twilight Zone movie, in which 3 people(two of them children) lost their lives. On top of this we get to see Landis again in his own interview segment giving us a director's eye look behind the scenes of the movie ad showing his great sense of humour and fun and an additional interview with make up artist extraordinaire Rick baker. Baker talks us through the effects he used on the set for which the movie won an Oscar and we get a walkthrough of one special effect in particular. In The Casting Of The Hand, Baker walks us through the moment where David's hand becomes elongated during the first transformation, how it is plaster cast and then manipulated - all top stuff! Other feautures include a storyboard to the movie and a selection of silent out-takes including a blooper on the set of the porno theatre scene which is a little odd. All in all the extras are great.


~Overall~

I love this movie and I love the DVD. It is a shame that the transfer could not have been perfect, but its probably as perfect as you are ever going to see and this coupled with the superb extras makes the DVD well worth a purchase. If you've already seen the movie then its definitely worth seeing again, and where better to see it than on DVD?! If you've never seen it, then rest assured tha
t it is one of the best horror movies ever made, packed with tongue-in-cheek humour and memorable scenes, and despite its age it still looks as fresh as it did 20 years ago. On DVD it only gets better! Well worth a purchase!



~Links~

Official Site:
www.americanwerewolf.com

Screen shots, clips, general fandom:
www.houseofhorrors.com/american.htm

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