← Back to Reviews
in
An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981)
I never get tired of watching this flick. It's really amazing how much you can put into 90 minutes of film and produce a rollercoaster ride of terror, laughs, sex and love, music and tragedy. The title makes you think that you're going to get a spoof, but the spoofy elements are mostly present in the porno movie playing in Piccadilly Circus. This film is the real deal, and if you're one of those people who claims that you've never been scared by a movie, I want to present Exhibit A: the scene on the moors near the beginning of the movie with American tourists David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne). That is one crackerjack scene that always impresses me. However, that's just the beginning. The film is really quite nerve-wracking all the way through and presents a world where it's difficult to discern reality from fantasy, at least until it's too late to do anything about it. It definitely has characters and implications which I've never seen depicted in any other movie. One other thing I have to say about the film is that although the transformation scene is impressive and placed in the middle of the film, it's just another scene, and to me, it's no more "special" or better than the scenes with the balloons or in the subway or at the hospital with lovely nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter). I remember my nephew watching the movie and being enthralled by it all the way up until the disturbing ending. Then he said, "I didn't like it", and I said, "That proves how good it is!"
I never get tired of watching this flick. It's really amazing how much you can put into 90 minutes of film and produce a rollercoaster ride of terror, laughs, sex and love, music and tragedy. The title makes you think that you're going to get a spoof, but the spoofy elements are mostly present in the porno movie playing in Piccadilly Circus. This film is the real deal, and if you're one of those people who claims that you've never been scared by a movie, I want to present Exhibit A: the scene on the moors near the beginning of the movie with American tourists David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne). That is one crackerjack scene that always impresses me. However, that's just the beginning. The film is really quite nerve-wracking all the way through and presents a world where it's difficult to discern reality from fantasy, at least until it's too late to do anything about it. It definitely has characters and implications which I've never seen depicted in any other movie. One other thing I have to say about the film is that although the transformation scene is impressive and placed in the middle of the film, it's just another scene, and to me, it's no more "special" or better than the scenes with the balloons or in the subway or at the hospital with lovely nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter). I remember my nephew watching the movie and being enthralled by it all the way up until the disturbing ending. Then he said, "I didn't like it", and I said, "That proves how good it is!"