04/12/10 - An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London (1981, 97 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010/

I'd had this movie for quite some time, basically back since October when I wanted to watch a lot of monster movies but the urge to watch it never really came that strongly to me. But now, April 12, 2010, it's going to finally get watched.

The film starts off following two guys who are backpacking through Europe. After an awkward encounter in a bar, David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) head back out on their way. However, after being attacked by a werewolf, Jack dies and David is transported to the hospital. There he meets Nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) but also learns he has become a werewolf as well (via a conversation with the undead Jack). The rest of the film explores how David copes with this.

The greatest part of the film is easily the makeup. I learned that the Oscars basically started the "Best Achievement in Makeup" category because this movie was so amazing in that department. I can see why. The bloody effects of the undead look incredibly realistic even almost 30 years later which is a testament to their quality. I think the best one is the first encounter with Jack as a member of the undead as he still has a very "human" look about him but we can see the shredded flesh with which the werewolf left him. Also of note is the transformation of David into the werewolf. While I didn't see the new Wolf Man movie with Benicio Del Toro, I wouldn't hesitate to guess that the transformation for his character all occurred through special effects and in one long cut (or just a few cuts). Here, though, without those luxuries we have constant cuts as we see David's hands became claws, his back become arched, his legs buckle, and finally his face turn into that of a wolf. I'll admit it's somewhat cheesy because of being 1981 but when I step back and think back to what I've seen from around that time I'm amazed at how amazing it is. It's not like you hear him scream and see his shadow change while the camera comes back to him for you to see a full werewolf. It really comes off as if you are watching a transformation.

Next, another great part of the film is the pacing. Only 97 minutes long, I still felt like a ton of stuff happened. It was very action packed with never really even a 10 minute lull. This is great. One of the reasons I believe this occurred is that the movie really builds up each character great. As a viewer we really do sympathize with David. I mean, it's not like he really wants this werewolf curse to fall on him and then he's faced with the difficult decision where for him to be saved he has to kill himself (that is, if he doesn't want to run the risk of killing innocent people). Similarly, the nurse is a good character because the movie gives her this hesitation of liking David. I feel like in a modern movie that the nurse character would just fall head over heels for the main male character with little thought. Here, Alex is leery and it makes her seem like a more natural character. The interplay between David and Alex is realistic as we actually see them facing two different conflicts. For David it's the choice of believing this vision of the undead Jack and committing suicide. For Alex, she has to decide if she likes David enough to put up with his extremely odd behavior and if she can believe anything he says (since the investigators claimed he was crazy).

Finally, there's the doctor figure who treats David and then goes off to the tavern to investigate the case himself. While he doesn't have much screen time, the great thing here is how rational the character acts. He heads out there without fully believing David but just a hunch that something is weird. When he finds out what's happening, he handles the entire situation in a realistic and rational way. This extends to how Alex and David then handle the situation. No one just goes crazy and starts doing stupid stuff. I like this. I feel the movie could have easily become an action movie at this point as chaos begins to unfurl for all the wrong reasons. Instead, the film brings in some action for the grand finale but it still maintains the tension and thriller aspect it has had from the start.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. I was amazed at how much I liked this movie. It has expertly built up characters that handle everything in a believable way. It has easily the best makeup of the time period. Finally, it creates a pretty cool monster that wrecks havoc in a very memorable finale. All in all this results in one of the highest scores for a horror movie I've given. It's well-deserved.