Review of “American Werewolf in London” (1981)

Before I go any further, I have to mention that the film discusses but does not depict suicide.

For this pizza and bad movie selection, we opted for a bit of nostalgia. Both the dearly beloved and I saw this when it first came out, lo, these many years ago. Despite the underlying darkness, this flick was a lot of fun. I still liked it on this viewing.

Plot:

American students David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) are backpacking around Europe. In northern England, they arrive at a crossroads in the back of a sheep farmer’s truck—with the sheep. The farmer warns them to stay on the road.

They don’t. Jack talks about a girl from home he intends to meet later in their travels. The weather is cold, damp, and miserable. They find their way to a pub called the Slaughtered Lamb with a grisly sign—a severed wolf’s head on a pike.

To their dismay, there’s no food available, only beer and spirits. They settle on tea. The locals give them a chilly reception. Our heroes notice a pentagram carved on a wall and flanked by candles.

“It’s a charm to ward off evil,” they decide.

Taking a hint from the chilly locals, they leave. Pub patrons warn them to stay on the roads, avoid the moors, and beware the moon—whatever that means.

It starts to rain. Jack and David get disoriented and find themselves on the moors. A growling noise comes. When they realize it’s circling them, they decide to return to the Slaughtered Lamb—but which way is that? David slips and falls. Jack reaches down to help him. Something attacks him. David runs but turns back when he hears Jack screaming.

Something attacks him. There are gunshots. In the last few moments, before he passes out, he sees the bloodied nude body of a man he doesn’t know.

Three weeks later, he wakes in a hospital. Dr. J. S. Hirsch (John Woodvine) explains that he was attacked by an escaped lunatic. His friend, Mr. Goodman, sadly, did not make it. His body had already been sent back to the United States for burial.

David tries to say they were attacked not by a human but by an animal.

Thoughts:

This movie is quite dark, yet it is also quite funny. David has a series of dreams (are they dreams?) of himself as a monster. In another dream, he watches as his family is slaughtered by what looks to me like Nazi zombies. David convinces himself they’re just nightmares. He suffered a trauma. These are just echoes of that, right?

While David is in the hospital, the ghost of Jack returns to him, munches on some toast, and tells him that a werewolf bit them. He died and is cursed to walk the Earth as undead until the last of the line is cut off.

“That’s you,” he tells his friend and urges him to take his own life. This will set Jack free and prevent David from killing anyone else.

Is this real? Or another dream? David doesn’t know and quickly dismisses Jack.

But can he be sure? He discusses his misgivings with his new girlfriend, Nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter).

“Your dead friend Jack?” she asks skeptically.

He references the 1941 movie The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney and says that a werewolf can only be killed by someone who loves him. (Chaney’s character was beaten to death by his father with a silver-topped walking stick. The father was unaware of the werewolf’s identity).

Part of what makes this movie for me is how matter-of-fact things remain between David and Jack. After Jack dies, they’re still two dudes talking about dude things. Jack talks about his funeral. He was happy with the turnout, except for the girl he was hoping to get together with. She was so distraught at his death that she slept with another guy, “that asshole.” They’re continuing the same conversation they had in the opening scenes.

At another point, Jack peeks in on a sleeping Alex. “A nurse, huh?”

When David transforms for the first time, he is in agony. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. His hands and feet stretch to accommodate the new bone structure. He screams. He howls.

Of course, it’s not all fun and games. Actions have consequences. Jack (whose body is steadily decomposing) gathers David’s victims in what I’ll delicately call an adult movie theater. The movie’s dialogue and action are wretched.

“Good movie,” David says.

The victims cheerfully advise David on different ways he might kill himself.

“Thank you,” he says. “You’re all so helpful.”

Another odd yet endearing part of the movie is the music. There is the old rousing R&B tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Bad Moon Rising, as well as two versions of “Blue Moon” and Van Morrison’s “Moondance.”

The movie was hardly perfect, but it was fun enough to ignore a plot hole or two.

If it needs to be said, this is not one for the kiddies. It is violent, with some gore, plus there’s some nudity and sex. It’s one instance where one can take the R-rating seriously.

Rick Baker won a 1982 Best Makeup Oscar. The film won a 1982 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Jenny Agutter was nominated for Best Actress and John Landis for Best Writing by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

The movie can be watched here (Tubi—with a whole lot of commercials)


Title: American Werewolf in London (1981)

Directed by
John Landis

Writing Credits
John Landis…(written by)

Cast (in credits order)
Joe Belcher…Truck Driver
David Naughton…David Kessler
Griffin Dunne…Jack Goodman
David Schofield…Dart Player
Brian Glover…Chess Player

Released: 1981
Rated: R
Length: 1 hour, 37 minutes