An American Werewolf In London 1981 Film
Comedy Horror Directed by John Landis and Starring David Naughton
Sep 12, 2009
Two American backpackers are wandering across the Yorkshire moors when they are attacked by a mysterious creature. David runs as his friend Jack is attacked and killed but David comes to his senses and goes to his friend’s aid. He is then attacked. It turns out Jack was the lucky one because David is now cursed to become a werewolf during the next full moon.
An American Werewolf in London's Plot and Characters
Whilst backpacking around Europe David Kessler (David Naughton) and his friend Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) find themselves walking across the Yorkshire moors as night draws in. They shelter in a pub and find that the locals are suspicious of them but settle down and start telling jokes. The boys notice a five pointed star on the wall, and ask about it. The atmosphere in the pub immediately changes and silence descends, uncomfortable, the pair decide that it is probably best if they leave.
The villagers tell them to stick to the roads and as the boys walk across the moors they hear something in the darkness. Growing increasingly afraid, they decide to return to the pub even if those inside were a little hostile, and then they are attacked. Jack is killed but David manages to survive thanks to the intervention of the villagers.
Three weeks later he wakes up in hospital and learns that Jack is dead. He is traumatised by the whole experience, more so when a bloody Jack appears, and warns him that he is a werewolf and will change on the night of the full moon. David believes that he is going insane, and shares his fears with his nurse Alex (played by Jenny Agutter).
Following his release from hospital he moves in with Alex who had become infatuated with him during his time in hospital. Jack tells David that he needs to kill himself before the full moon or Jack will be doomed to walk the Earth as the undead forever and David will kill innocent people.
David doesn’t heed Jack’s warnings and on the night of the full moon he screams in excruciating pain as he undergoes a terrifying metamorphosis into a werewolf.
A Film That Defined a Genre
An American Werewolf in London was one of three films that set the bench mark for werewolf films (the other two being The Howling and Wolfen and all three were released in 1981). An American Werewolf in London is a film from the days before vampires and werewolves fighting one another, and did not rely on CGI effects. David’s metamorphosis from human to werewolf was done with prosthetics and took a week to film. It shows the slow and obviously agonising process that morphs David Kessler into a large and savage werewolf.
The werewolf stalks though London and kills several innocent people. However, Landis does not show the audience the werewolf until the film is drawing towards its end. Like Jaws, the film benefits from ‘seeing’ many of the attacks from the werewolf’s point of view and not seeing the werewolf.
Naughton does a terrific job as David Kessler, the normal guy who slowly realises that he is a werewolf and if he does not take his own life then he will kill more innocent people. Agutter is also a treat for any fans, especially as this film includes a nude scene, and she is the perfect girl-next-door who falls for the vulnerable Kessler.
Landis wrote the initial draft script for this film in 1969 but shelved the script until he received box-office success with several other films (including The Blues Brothers and Animal House) after which he was able to secure funding for his werewolf film. As a result this is a film that the director knows back to front and knows exactly what he wants from the cast and the special effects.
In addition to the main cast, many of the British supporting actors have gone on to become very well known in film or television. Director John Landis also cameos as a man being knocked through a window during the sequence in Piccadilly Circus.
4/5
An American Werewolf in London is a film that helped to shape the genre. It is from a time when werewolves were still scary and didn’t always seem to be fighting vampires.
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