An American Werewolf in London is
the definitive werewolf movie. All werewolf movies from before it
were merely precursors, and all later werewolf movies are merely
successors. It has everything a horror movie needs; good characters,
a mythology that’s interesting and original, but which doesn’t
overload the story, and a plot that unfolds at just the right pace.
The movie opens with two American
students, Jack and David (Griffin Dunne and David Naughton), who are
backpacking through England and who stop at an out-of-the way pub.
After an unpleasant exchange, the nervous locals send them on their
way, despite knowing that there’s a werewolf on the loose and that
they’re putting the young men in danger. However, the locals’
conscience eventually gets the better of their spite, and they come
out, guns blazing, and shoot the werewolf just in time for Jack to
die and David to be bitten. (Although, if the werewolf could be shot
and killed so easily, I’m actually surprised they hadn’t already
dealt with him).
There’s one major element that was
added to the werewolf mythology in this movie, the fact that a
werewolf sees the ghosts of people killed by him or members of his
werewolf bloodline. So during his recovery from the attack, David
sees his friend Jack, whose ghost decays as the month passes as if he
still had a physical body. Jack tells him that he’s now a
werewolf, and that he must kill himself to save others and free
Jack’s spirit. This element is a little confusing if you think
about it. For it to be true, it would mean in all the time since the
first werewolf to ever roam the Earth, not one single member of
David’s bloodline had ever taken a life before Jack? Why aren’t
their armies of ghouls? Or perhaps the others decided to just let
the ones who’d be especially meaningful to David appear to him as a
voluntary act (his friend who was killed by the werewolf who turned
him, and then later, his own victims).
Obviously, David questions his own
sanity. During his recovery he also hooks up with a nurse named Alex
(Jenny Agutter) who reassures him that he’s just hallucinating due
to his survivor’s guilt. She’s not the best female lead I’ve
seen, but I see nothing particularly objectionable about her
performance. She’s there to be a nurturing figure to David when
he’s in emotional turmoil, and she does her job admirably.
The movie is probably best remembered
for its transformation sequence. Director John Landis and makeup
artist Rick Baker both felt that the kind of physical changes a
werewolf would undergo would be agony, and it shows in this sequence.
David is twisted and contorted in every way imaginable. It’s
actually surprising that more modern werewolf films don’t try to
copy this formula. The only one I can think of that did so was
Underworld, and that movie included a throwaway line saying
that it was only the first transformation that was painful. I
suppose most modern films satisfy themselves with the psychological
horror of becoming an animal, not that this movie is lacking in that
element.
The movie benefits from the fact that
it mixes humor with the horror, rather than being so dark that we
find ourselves detached. Jack is always friendly and happy to joke
with David, even as he begs David to end his life. After his first
rampage, David wakes up in a zoo, naked, and has to steal a bunch of
balloons from a little boy to cover his genitals as he runs home.
The scene could have been taken right out of a comedy! (And a better
one than most.) There’s also a later conversation between David,
Jack and the victims of his first rampage in which they helpfully
list ways in which he could kill himself, trying to think of the most
convenient method, that leaves me laughing out loud.
Of course, an actual suicide would be
an anti-climax. So instead, the film ends with David in werewolf
form being gunned down by the police. (No, they don’t use silver
bullets.) Alex cries over his body, credits roll and happy music
play. And you sit there, happy that at least David’s suffering is
over.
I can’t recommend this movie enough.
Even if you’re not interested in it as a horror film, it’s an
excellent movie all around. The emotional whiplash is used to great
effect. It’s a fine film from beginning to end.
On a final note though, why the Hell do
this movie’s credits include a congratulations to Princess Diana
and Prince Charles on their then-recent wedding? I mean, I know the
movie was filmed in the UK, but did every film made there
congratulate them for a period of time? Were they really going to
feel a great deal of love being thanked by a werewolf movie? Just,
whose idea was that?
No comments:
Post a Comment