There are few films that have combined humor and horror quite as well as An American Werewolf in London, John Landis' horror classic. Don't get me wrong, this is a full blooded horror film and is quite intense at times. It just also happens to have a wicked sense of humor.
The film tells the story of two young Americans, David Kessler (played by David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (played by Griffin Dunne) backpacking in England. We are first introduced to the two of them as they are seated in the back of a truck full of sheep, saying everything we need to know about these characters (they're lambs to the slaughter). The two encounter a werewolf while getting lost on the moors one night. Jack is killed and David is left wounded after the werewolf is killed by some local villagers. David passes out and awakes three weeks later in a London hospital. There he is greeted by the caring and attractive nurse Alex Price (played by Jenny Agutter). The two develop a slowly growing romance while David deals with increasingly intense nightmares. Things get worse when Jack shows up in David's hospital room, looking decidedly worse for wear, warning David that since he was attacked by a werewolf and survived he's doomed to become one too at the next full moon. Naturally, David thinks he's going mad. That is until the next full moon when Jack's warnings turn out to be all too true.
This is easily one of my all time favorite horror movies. I love the way it crafts it's characters, especially David and Jack. They're played as normal, everyday American guys. Perhaps a bit careless at times (they're warned to stick to the road and the first thing they do is wander off the road), but they always seemed like guys I could have known, which helps the audience to be sympathetic to their plight. Alex is a nicely drawn character too, not just there to be a simple love interest, but is a fairly well rounded character who genuinely seems to care for David, even if she has trouble believing him at first when he tells her what Jack told him.
The script also does a good job of taking one of the classic movie monsters and updating it to a modern sensibility. It also jettisons some of the lore that never made sense, such as silver bullets. David asks Jack about this, to which Jack snaps back for him to take it seriously. The film also has a certain dark sense of humor, especially with Jack. When he first shows up in David's hospital room, he nonchalantly asks if he can have a piece of toast and complains about his state ("Have you ever tried talking to a corpse? It's boring!"). Throughout the film, every time David sees him he's more and more decayed.
The special effects of the film are top notch as well, jettisoning the usual cutaways and lap dissolves used in past films for practical make-up effects created by Rick Baker that are just as jaw dropping convincing today as they were 33 years ago. I mentioned in my review of The Howling that there was still arguing over which film did it better and I have to give the award to this film, although it's close. From the effects to the sound mix to David Naughton's performance in that scene, it's completely convincing. Add to this the gore effects with Jack's ghost and it's no surprise the film won the Academy Award for Best Make-up effects.
While John Landis is a director I haven't always admired, (just Google "John Landis Twilight Zone" for details), I think he created something special here with a perfect mix of horror and humor to create a memorable horror film.
No comments:
Post a Comment