Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
An American Werewolf in London
January 3rd 2008 21:21
To be honest, I watched this movie only because Bryn from Horrorphile rabidly recommended it, claiming it to be one of his all-time favourite horror movies.
And a great recommendation it was - "An American Werewolf in London" is a movie imbibed with so much passion and storytelling that it overcomes the shortcomings in the script and the style.
Yes, we could go on, at length, about the weaknesses of the movie... the stilted dialogue, the dated look of some of the effects. Yet, despite all these flaws, it still remains to be one of the most delightful horror movies ever seen. There's such an atmosphere of earnest fun in the production, even down to the tiniest detail.
I'll direct you to Bryn's review, which covers a lot of ground:
"Despite some uneven moments in the movie’s pacing, and some of the jokes falling a trifle flat, Landis injects many moments of brilliance which shine like the fat harvest moon on a dark cold night. The opening scenes leading up to the attack are unmatched in horror in terms of character development, atmosphere, tension, suspense and shock."
Instead, what I'll talk about are the moments that I loved.
Some of the end scenes were filmed in London's Piccadilly Circus, where the appearance of the werewolf causes utter chaos as massive violence is wreaked - not by the werewolf.
There's one scene where the werewolf, in human form, is talking to the ghost of his murdered friend - in a porno theatre. Landis actually filmed a fake porno, calling it "See You Next Wednesday". He got an English adult actress to perform, providing a bizarre backdrop to the savage violence that takes place. A wonderful touch.
"An American Werewolf in London" is a fabulous movie. I think one reason I like it so much is that Landis wrote it in the 60s, but it took him 20 years to get made, mostly because no one wanted to make it.
According to Landis:
"People either said 'It's too scary to be funny' or 'It's too funny to be scary'"
...and I love it. Landis made a movie that he wanted to make, out of sheer passion, despite the arguments against it. He would have been happy if it didn't turn out to be a massive cult classic, but cinephiles and movie nerds latched onto the movie immediately, praising the direction and incredible atmosphere. This is a one-of-a-kind movie, and one that should serve as inspiration to filmmakers.
See it for: Landis deliberately made a soundtrack out of songs with 'Moon' in the title, eg. "Moondance" and "Bad Moon Rising"
| 86 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Loved the shout out regarding the clever soundtrack.
Mis
Also found the movie amusing back in the day. I will have to watch it again! Good work!
Mis
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Every time I watch it I'm surprised how at how well it stands up. That ending still packsa surprising emotional wallop.
The dark comedy works and the scenes of genuine horror (See uderground tube) are well handled....possibly teh greatest comedy horror this side of Evil Dead
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak