After such infamous comedies as "National Lampoon's Animal House" and "The Kentucky-Fried Movie," who would have thought that John Landis would do a movie like "An American Werewolf In London?" I would never have known about John Landis's love for horror movies. This movie came as a gigantic surprise. This is what a horror-comedy should be.
Two backpackers, David and his roommate Jack, are walking along the moors of London when Jack is slaughtered by some kind of rabid animal. While Jack is dead, David gets off easy, only horribly bitten by the animal. Waking up in a hospital, David tries desperately to explain what attacked him. It could've been a giant dog. But then, David gets visits from Jack, his body disintegrating into a skeleton. Jack tells David repeatedly that he was bitten by a werewolf, and before a full moon approaches, he'd better kill himself. David doesn't believe Jack, until he really does turn into a werewolf, stalking the town.
The origin for "American Werewolf" is very interesting. Like David and Jack, John Landis was on the moors of London, when he saw a few gypsies burying a body feet first. The reason they buried the body feet first was so he couldn't get up and cause trouble. "Well, what if he did get up?" Landis said.
Landis does an awesome job of blending horror with gut-busting comedy, especially with scenes such as the porno theater and the nude transformation scene. He also offers some horror movie references, such as the original werewolf movie, "The Wolf Man." But the real star of the movie is Rick Baker's amazing makeup effects. They are very believable and they look so real. They didn't give Baker an Oscar for nothing.
The cast is very good, including David Noughton as David, Girffin Dunne as Jack and Jenny Agutter as Alex, David's love interest.
John Landis really is a master of horror. "An American Werewolf In London" shows how a horror-comedy should be done: with a black sense of humor, fantastic effects, plenty of nudity and very fun horror.
No comments:
Post a Comment