An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London (1981) is a flat out great movie. There are good characters, good humor, a hilarious ending, and some scenes scared the hell out of me. The film's pretty inappropriate, with some nudity and awesome gore. This film is one of if not the best werewolf movie you can watch. Some of this makes you feel like you're in the protagonist/antagonist's mind, and the movie had some good suspense too! Overall, the film is definitely watchable, scary, humorous, and one of my favorite films.

One of the best werewolf movies ever made, full of dark humor and gory thrills. As most people know, this has one of the best human/werewolf transformation scenes in cinematic history! The only other movie to show such detail is The Howling. This movie is really fun to watch, and if you are seeing it for the first time you will be shocked at some of the things you see. Great performances from the cast, and an excellent script make this a memorable experience. Unlike monster/horror movies today, this film has no computer-aided special effects. It doesn't need them, for this is a landmark film.

Violent, gory yet somewhat bittersweet tale of an American tourist who has the misfortune of being bitten by a werewolf. David Naughton is young and bewildered, Jenny Agutter cute, innocent and sexy and Griffin Dunne hilarious as a rapidly decomposing poltergeist. The score is great and the special effects outstanding. This movie gives new meaning to the term Ugly American. Don't watch this on commercial TV. It can only be appreciated in its original, unedited form.

The old adage of the simplest ideas being the best is once again demonstrated in this, one of the most entertaining films of the early 80's, and almost certainly Jon Landis' best work to date. The script is light and witty, the visuals are great and the atmosphere is top class. Plus there are some great freeze-frame moments to enjoy again and again. Not forgetting, of course, the great transformation scene which still impresses to this day.

In Summary: Top banana

Here's a film that never fails to entertain, year after year. It's almost a quarter of a century old but hasn't become dated and the special effects, which were astounding in its day, are still good. Director John Landis is so good at making entertaining movies. This is one of his best.

The appeal to this film is the combination of horror, suspense, action and humor. The latter actually is the key ingredient because this can become a downright scary movie. The levity here and there is welcome relief. There is just the right amount of contrast between horror and comedy.

For parents wanting to know, there also is a fair amount of rough language and there two sex scenes, one as part of the story and one "on screen" in a porn- movie theater where the two male leads meet late in the story.

Jenny Agutter is the love interest in here, a very pretty woman whom Americans audiences aren't that familiar with. It isn't just her: neither of the two leading (American) male actors in this popular movie ever became stars, either.

An entertaining but silly sequel came out almost two decades later, "An American Werewolf in Paris." I own both movies but much prefer this one.