For a Howlin' Good Time Watch...

Choosing a movie for my first old horror movie review was not an easy decision. I spent about 40 minutes reviewing my options and watching several trailers before setting on 1981’s An American Werewolf in London. The movie is not strictly a horror film, but more of a horror comedy.

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

The movie starts out following two young American men backpacking through Europe; David and Jack. As the title suggests, there is only one werewolf, so the first question is who it going to be, and what is going to happen to the other man. Before the audience finds out the fate of the travelers, they stop at a local pub somewhere in the middle of northern England, where they are clearly not welcome. After they offend the locals, they make their way into the dark and rainy countryside, where they are warned to “beware the moon” and “stick to the road.”

Of course, they don’t listen and find themselves in the middle of the fields. Once they realize they’re lost the howling starts. To add to the suspense, as they flee David trips. As Jack reaches down to lend  hand up he is side-swiped by a werewolf. David’s fight or flight reflexes kick in (with flight winning) and he starts to run. But, being a somewhat decent friend, he doesn’t make it very far before turning around to help Jack. Unfortunately, by the time he makes it back, Jack’s been torn to shreds, and the wolf turns on David. Lucky for David, the locals from the pub felt guilty for letting the guys basically walk to their deaths, and show up to kill the wolf, but not before it takes a chunk or two out of David; setting him up to be an American werewolf in London. The rest of the film follows David after he wakes up in a hospital bed three weeks after the attack. He deals with Jack reappearing as a decaying, talking corpse, only he can see; vivd dreams featuring wolflike behaviors and other monsters attacking his family; and the help and love of an attractive nurse from the hospital. Oh, and of course, him transforming into a bloodthirsty wolf during the full moon. 

When I starting watching the movie I expected it to be more horror than comedy. However, that was not the case. Both genres balanced each other out. Unlike other horror comedies that try to do both, but end up being more stupid than anything, An American Werewolf in London did a great job blending the two. I really liked the dream sequences, they were unexpected and graphic, but fit in well with the theme of the movie. One negative aspect however, was that for me, the movie was a little too slow paced. After the initial attack, much of the movie focuses on the relationship between David and the nurse, Alex. The run time for the movie is 97 minutes, and David doesn’t change into a werewolf or savagely attack anyone until over an hour into the movie. Once he does though, the (spoiler alert) escalator attack is a standout horror scene. There were also some great comedic scenes such as David (in human form) practicing growling in the mirror, and an extremely awkward police officer. The ending definitely interesting as well. Some people would be turned off by it, but I found it fitting. To not give too much away, I’ll just say it was abrupt. If you’re a happy ending, everything should come out like roses type of person, then you’d be in the category of people turned off by it. 

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and would recommend it to both horror and comedy fans (unless you are very squeamish). If I were rating with stars, I would say three and a half out of four, if I used a grading system i'd give it an A-. Whichever rating system you choose, its definitely worth a watch.