Day 14: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne
Category: New Classic, favorite
Plot Tags: werewolf, comedy/horror
Original release: August, 1981
Format viewed: Original VHS - own collection
Directed by: John Landis
Written by: John Landis
Studio: Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Distributed by: Universal Pictures

I'm going to get up onto my old guy chair for a minute and ramble about why things used to be better than they are now. In this case, I'm going to ramble about movies - particularly those of the scary variety. Re-watching American Werewolf in London is both really enjoyable and also very frustrating. It's enjoyable because the movie itself is fantastic. It is frustrating because it brings to mind the general lack of skill and craft many modern horror movies have - particularly in the character development and character relationship areas. Now, this isn't universal across all films and I'll highlight one a little later on (Absentia) that absolutely suceeds on all levels in that arena. Buuuuuutt, by and large, the blueprint is to throw a bunch of model-like twits into a harrowing situation, pick them off, fling together a backstory for the killer (or ghost or angry monkey or disease or whatever) and leave one to two of them standing at the end. The trouble with this is two fold: one, it is completely hollow and lacks any level of character development which might inspire empathy when they do meet their fate and two, it is very profitable. This might seem counter-intuative but the profitability of many of these moden brainless films doesn't challenge filmmakers or producers to really push what it means to develop a strong personal connection to the characters, tell their unique stores, flesh out their relationships and their fate. If they make money, what do they care? Every over-caffinated video director can blaspheme a classic 70s/80s horror movie if they PG-13 it up and follow the model. This becomes ever more frustrating when rewatching American Werewolf.

Because by and large, this is a near perfect monster/horror film. John Landis does such a masterful job of developing the relationship between the two American leads backpacking through Europe that we care nearly immediately. These guys aren't cardboard cutouts, they are real people who really do care about each other. The story is pretty simple, two Americans are backpacking through London and happen upon a pub in the middle of nowhere. They go inside and are faced with a not-too-friendly clientele of drunks and farm folks who glare and insult and make them feel less than welcome. There is a 5 pointed star on the wall which leads to uncomfortable questioning and ultimately their leaving the bar. An argument insues once they leave that they should have been warned, they shouldn't have been allowed to leave etc. Too late, as the men become lost in the forest and then tracked and attacked by a werewolf. Well, we know it is a werewolf but the only eyewitness report was of a manman being shot during the attack. Regardless, one of our guys is killed badly and the other ripped up pretty well. The story then progresses to a hospital in London where the survivor is being cared for and nursed back to health all the while being questioned about his crazy story.
He is constantly haunted by strange dreams and visions and, in a bout of sheer brilliance on the part of director John Landis, his dead friend who comes to warn him about the curse he is afflicted with - the humor here is great but also sad as our survivor wrestles with the impending 'change' and sadness of the loss of his life and that of his friends.

So, like many other films I've touched on, I could keep going on and on from here as the story leads to his transformation in an Academy award winning special effects job by the great Rick Baker, his acceptance of his situation, how it affects the nurse lady who he has taken up with and on from there. The thing of it is though, there are a ton of lines I could highlight (zoo scene is so very funny - balloons) or scenes or how the finale comes together in a wonderful and sad but true (almost King Kong) sort of way, but I figure this is one of those ones best seen and enjoyed with all those things intact to discover. Landis really set the bar high when it comes to real human empathy for this film and I wish to God more modern directors would learn what it means to tie the characters in their stories to the audience and how much more that means (yet another reason why Absentia is one of my favorite films, of any kind, this year and I can't wait to write a bit about it).