Thursday, June 10, 2010

Any resemblance to undead in 'An American Werewolf in London' is coincidental

I scratched another Saturn Award winner for Best Horror Film off my list today, and this time it was the 1981 winner, “An American Werewolf in London.”
This was an excellent, entertaining movie and one of my favorite Saturn Award winners so far. One thing that made this movie very different than most horror movies was that it was very funny in parts. The movie was also artfully put together, and some scenes left me wondering if the movie had been directed by Stanley Kubrick. (The movie was actually written and directed by John Landis, who also directed “Animal House,” which might explain the funnier portions of the movie.)
In a nutshell, “An American Werewolf in London” is about a young American man who’s bitten by a werewolf while backpacking in rural England. He eventually ends up in a London hospital, where he begins to be plauged by bad dreams. He falls in love with an attractive young nurse, but things go from bad to worse, once the first full moon rises.
One thing that made this movie very different from most werewolf movies was that the werewolf’s victims didn’t actually die, but became “undead.” The victims would follow the werewolf around (even though no one else could see them) and planned to do so until the werewolf’s bloodline becomes severed. One funny bit of trivia about this is that the legal disclaimer in the closing credits reads, "Any resemblance to any persons living, dead, or undead is coincidental."
This movie was well-received and was a huge box office success. In addition to a Saturn Award, it also received an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.
In the end, I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone old enough to vote and enjoys horror movies. How many of you have seen this movie? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.
From here, it’s one to 1982 Saturn Award winner, “Poltergeist.” Like most of the movies on the list, I’ve seen bits and pieces of this movie over the years, but never the theatrical release. If it’s as good as “An American Werewolf in London,” then I’m in for a good movie.

2 comments:

  1. I actually caught this movie one night on AMC or something, and I've been meaning to buy it on DVD. "It's a full moon." "Beware the moon..." "...and stick to the road. Oops."

    I also seem to like Landis's movies. Animal House is a given, but The Blues Brothers is probably my favorite movie of all time. He also did Coming to America and the mini-epic video for Thriller.

    I'm generally not a huge fan of horror, but the humor in American Werewolf kept it going for me.

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  2. Apparently, "An American Werewolf in London" has a sizeable cult following, and I think most of that is due to its humorous elements and Landis's involvement.

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