An American Werewolf in London
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| An American Werewolf in London | |
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 An American Werewolf in London film poster |
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| Directed by | John Landis |
| Produced by | George Folsey Jr. |
| Written by | John Landis |
| Starring | David Naughton Griffin Dunne Jenny Agutter |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Robert Payner |
| Editing by | Malcolm Campbell |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | August 21, 1981 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
An American Werewolf in London is a comedy/horror film released in 1981, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter. This movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. Although there are several straightforward horror elements to the plot, it is also knowingly funny and ironic, an example of a tongue-in-cheek humour. The film was one of three high-profile werewolf films released in 1981, alongside The Howling and Wolfen.
The film was followed by a 1997 semi-sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, which featured a completely different cast, and was marketed with the tagline "John Landis - the director of Animal House brings you a different kind of animal."
Michael Jackson cites this film as his reason for working with Landis on his subsequent music videos, including "Thriller" and "Black and White".
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[edit] Plot summary
Two American college students, David Kessler (Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Dunne), are backpacking across the Yorkshire moors when they are attacked by a large, unknown animal. Jack is killed, but David survives the mauling and is taken to a hospital in London. When he wakes up some time later, he does not remember what happened and is told of his friend's death. Things get stranger when he is visited by Jack's reanimated corpse, who explains that they had been attacked by a werewolf, meaning that David himself is now a werewolf. Jack urges him to kill himself before the next full moon, not only because he is cursed to exist in a state of living death for as long as the bloodline of the werewolf that attacked them survives, but also to prevent David from cursing others when he transforms.
Upon his release from the hospital, David moves in with his pretty young nurse, Alex Price (Agutter). He is in Alex's London apartment when the full moon rises and, per Jack's warnings, he is turned into a werewolf. The painful, extended transformation sequence, designed by Rick Baker, is often held by special effects enthusiasts as the greatest special effect of its kind. In the form of a werewolf, David prowls the street and subways of the city, and slaughters a handful of innocent Londoners. When he wakes in the morning, he is naked on the floor of the wolf cage at the zoo, with no memory of his nocturnal lupine adventures. His trip home provides some much-needed comic relief.
David eventually realizes that Jack was right about everything and that he is responsible for the murders of the night before. Despite being in an advanced stage of decay, Jack returns for another visit, this time accompanied by David's victims from the previous night. They all insist that he commit suicide before turning into a werewolf again. This David fails to do, and consequently, he turns into a werewolf again and goes on another killing spree. Following a chase through London, he is cornered in an alley by the police when Alex arrives to calm him down by telling him that she loves him. Though apparently temporarily softened, he is shot to death when he lunges forward, returning to human form as he dies.
[edit] Cast
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[edit] History
John Landis wrote the first draft of An American Werewolf in London in 1969. Two years later, Landis wrote, directed and starred in his debut film, Schlock!, which developed a cult following. Landis developed box-office status in Hollywood through the successful comedy films Kentucky Fried Movie, National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers before securing $10 million financing for his werewolf film. Financers believed that Landis' script was too frightening to be a comedy and too funny to be a horror film.[1]
[edit] In-jokes
The film was produced by Lycanthrope Productions, a lycanthrope being a person with the power to turn themself into a wolf.
The film's ironically upbeat songs all refer in some way to the moon: Van Morrison's "Moondance", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" and particularly "Blue Moon", which plays during the opening credits (Bobby Vinton's slow and soothing version), the film's signature agonizing wolf transformation (as a soft, bittersweet ballad by Sam Cooke) and over the end credits (The Marcels' doo-wop version, lying uneasily over the film's ending). Landis failed to get permission to use Cat Stevens's "Moonshadow" and Bob Dylan's "Moonshiner", both artists feeling the film to be inappropriate. It was stated on the DVD commentary by David Naughton and Griffin Dunne that they were not sure why Landis could not get the rights to Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" — a song that was most appropriate for the film (perhaps Landis dismissed the song on the grounds that it didn't have the word "moon" in the title).
Landis' signature in-joke can be seen when the werewolf runs riot in Piccadilly Circus, where the porn cinema is playing See You Next Wednesday, and a poster for the fictitious film can also be seen in the tube station where Gerald Bringsley is attacked by the werewolf.
The credits congratulate Prince Charles and Diana Spencer for their wedding and contain the disclaimer "Any resemblance to any persons living, dead, or undead is coincidental".
At the end of the credits is a promo card for Universal Studios urging viewers to "Ask for Babs". This is a reference to Landis' 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House where the credits list the future occupations of the students, including Babs, who became a tour guide at Universal Studios. This same card appears in Landis' other films. Until the release of Animal House on VHS, asking for Babs at Universal Studios actually got people in for free.
References to American Werewolf have appeared in many of Landis' other films.
[edit] Cameos and bit parts
In the Piccadilly Circus sequence, the man hit by a car and thrown through a store window, is Landis himself.
As in most of the director's movies, Frank Oz makes an appearance: first as Mr Collins from the American embassy in the hospital scene, and later as Miss Piggy in a dream sequence, when David's younger siblings watch a scene from The Muppet Show that was never shown in the United States.
Actors in bit parts who were already - or would become - more well-known include the two chess players David and Jack meet in the pub, played by the familiar character actor Brian Glover and rising comedian and actor Rik Mayall. They appeared together again in 1991 in the episode "Gas" of Mayall's Bottom TV comedy series.
"Nurse Gallagher" was played by Anne-Marie Davies who had had a few bit parts in TV shows and did some modeling and was also a waitress at Tutton's Braserie in London. "Naughty Nina" was played by Nina Carter, Page Three girl, aspiring singer, and future wife of Rick Wakeman. Appearing in See You Next Wednesday was Linzi Drew, glamour model, porn actress, and occasional Penthouse editor.
One of the policemen helping to chase and kill the werewolf is John Altman, who would later achieve fame as "Nasty" Nick Cotton in EastEnders.
Michael Carter, who plays subway victim Gerald Bringsley, would later play Bib Fortuna in Return of the Jedi (1983).
[edit] Locations
The opening shots of the moors are actually in and around Hay Bluff, a mountain in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border. The scene where David and Jack get dropped off by the sheep farmer is by the stone circles, the same location where, later in the film, Dr Hirsch stops and looks at the sign for East Proctor. The same road provides the scenery for the next two shots, where David and Jack talk about Debbie Klein.
East Proctor is a small hamlet not far from Hay Bluff called Crickadarn. It is featured from the shot where David and Jack walk down a hill towards East Proctor. The 'Slaughtered Lamb' sequence was filmed in a pub called 'The Rose & Crown' on the top of the Eglwysillan mountain in south Wales. The pub is still open but has changed greatly since featuring in the movie. The church next door is also still frequented, however the upper levels have now fallen into disrepair.
Alex's flat is at Redcliffe Square, South Kensington, London, close to Earl's Court tube station.
The attack at the tube station was set in—and filmed at—Tottenham Court Road tube station.
[edit] Trivia
- This film was #42 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
[edit] References
- ^ Peary, Danny (1988). Cult Movies 3. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., Pages 15-19. ISBN 0-671-64810-1.
[edit] External links
