An American Werewolf in London

That roar, that’s what I always think about when someone mentions AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, writer/director John Landis’ 1981 comedy/horror mini-classic. Such a ferocious, terrible bellow. Gave me nightmares when I was 13, almost as many as those courtesy of the twin sisters in THE SHINING. What’s so disturbing is that timbre, that tone of sadness, defeat. It’s appropriate as the titular werewolf is a likeable collegiate named David (David Naughton), backbacking abroad on holiday with his caustic friend Jack (Griffin Dunne). An ill-advised jaunt on the fog choked moors leads to the slaughter of Jack and nearly fatal mauling of David by what appears to be a werewolf. Arriving just seconds too late, some local pub patrons dispatch of the monster with their rifles.

Upon awakening in the hospital, David learns of the death of his friend, but himself seems to be well on his way to repair. Helping matters is a cute nurse (Jenny Agutter) who decides to take him home. All is well until the next full moon, when David undergoes the painful transformation (a famous scene that most deservedly sealed makeup maestro Rick Baker’s Oscar win) to hairy beast. The lad had been bitten, you see. Several unlucky Londoners expire in very graphic ways. David wakes up naked in the zoo the following morning. Confused, but utterly, oddly energized, he continues his pleasant dalliance with his own English Florence Nightingale. But strange things happen, not the least of which are the increasingly gruesome visits by his dead friend Jack. After hearing on the telly of a string of mysterious murders, David puts 2 and 2 together and faces some awful decisions.

We hear that roar several times, usually eminated from a distance. We know that it is David, reduced to a carnivorous horror, and I always felt that it is a howl of self-awareness, a helplessness. I don’t know if Landis intended (or even thought of) this, but it adds a poignant dimension. Orginally penned by Landis in 1969 while he was working as an extra on KELLY'S HEROES, AMERICAN WEREWOLF was and is a unique entertainment, a genre bending film that deftly switches gears between the comedic and the horrific, as well as often achieving both in the same sequence. Jack’s appearances as a rapidly decomposing corpse are perfect examples. He continues to speak like the sarcastic college student, bemoaning his fate as one of the undead. “You ever talk to a corpse? It’s boring!” he relays. Jack also informs David that in order for him and David’s victims to rest in peace, the poor bastard will have to kill himself. At one point, Jack brings all the victims, freshly killed and dripping with gore, to encounter David at a movie theater. Each victim offers helpful advice as to how David should off himself. It is a ghoulishly funny scene.

Ghoulishly funny is a good way to describe AMERICAN WEREWOLF. Seriously violent is also accurate. When Landis was approving a remaster of the film for DVD (after not having seen it in years), he was taken aback at how gory the film really was. A brilliantly staged attack scene (filled with the director’s near fetishistic interest in vehicular mayhem) in Picadilly Circus can be cited as an example, as well as an amusing dream-within-a-dream that the director claims was inspired by Luis Bunuel’s THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOUGEOSIE.

Humor does leaven the gloom, but this is still strong meat, not for the squeamish by any stretch.. I remain impressed with this film, despite my acknowledgment of some hokey elements, even after over 25 years. How Landis was able to orchestrate such a paradoxically funny/scary film is quite a mystery, and definitely worthy of earning him some respect, no matter what one may think of a lot of his other films. Many fans rank this among the highest in contemporary horror, and I think that is apt. It works on many levels, but what really gets to me is the central tragedy of an innocent, lead to (and leading others) to sacrifice. I mean, how else can one respond to the opening scene, where David and Jack are hitching a ride in a truck full of sheep? You hear it in the howl.