An American Werewolf in London Movie Review
Last night's film was An American Werewolf in London. Last night the wonderful Krista joined us, so we had three judges again! We gave it a 4. We all agree that it's a classic. I think that both Krista and I would have given it a 3.5 if we did half corpses, but we don't. I was a solid 3 for a while, but was persuaded on the Special Effects aspect of the film.
The basic plot is two guys go camping the the Scottish moors. They are warned by just about everyone to stay on the road and off of the moors, but they don't listen. The main character of the film gets wounded (when his friend is killed) and we go with him through his journey into Werewolf-dom.
This film is a classic and deserves to be one for several reasons. First and foremost this film was a pioneer in "morphic" special effects. You actually get to see his transformations and watch the body change. This is back in the day when there was no CG, so every single change is a costume and prop that had to be created. Also the work on the corpses is fantastic. They are exactly the right amount of gore.
The second reason this is a classic is that it's one of the best "first person" werewolf film out there. It's not one of those "oh look I'm a werewolf, aren't I so neato" stories. He has nightmares and we get to see them. He is haunted by his actions and we get to see that too. When he thinks he going crazy, we're right there with him.
The third reason it's a classic is the writing and acting. Yeah there are a few things that bugged me, but Mary says I think too much about things. There are only a couple of parts that you might think are pointless. For the most part though the film is fairly well written.
The fourth thing I personally loved about the film is the soundtrack. It has some really great classic songs in there that add an unusually unsettling aspect to the film. Most of the songs have to do with the moon, but most of those are love songs. The one exception is Bad Moon Rising by CRR. It's placement in the film is very telling. I really with more movies would do this, where they use songs to help tell part of the story. Sadly most movies are out to make a few extra bucks by coming out with a dance album.
This is another one of those films that you will really like if you can accept a simple plot, no CG, and few plot twists. It doesn't get lost in any side trips or sub-plots. If you can deal with that, then you'll love this film.
The basic plot is two guys go camping the the Scottish moors. They are warned by just about everyone to stay on the road and off of the moors, but they don't listen. The main character of the film gets wounded (when his friend is killed) and we go with him through his journey into Werewolf-dom.
This film is a classic and deserves to be one for several reasons. First and foremost this film was a pioneer in "morphic" special effects. You actually get to see his transformations and watch the body change. This is back in the day when there was no CG, so every single change is a costume and prop that had to be created. Also the work on the corpses is fantastic. They are exactly the right amount of gore.
The second reason this is a classic is that it's one of the best "first person" werewolf film out there. It's not one of those "oh look I'm a werewolf, aren't I so neato" stories. He has nightmares and we get to see them. He is haunted by his actions and we get to see that too. When he thinks he going crazy, we're right there with him.
The third reason it's a classic is the writing and acting. Yeah there are a few things that bugged me, but Mary says I think too much about things. There are only a couple of parts that you might think are pointless. For the most part though the film is fairly well written.
The fourth thing I personally loved about the film is the soundtrack. It has some really great classic songs in there that add an unusually unsettling aspect to the film. Most of the songs have to do with the moon, but most of those are love songs. The one exception is Bad Moon Rising by CRR. It's placement in the film is very telling. I really with more movies would do this, where they use songs to help tell part of the story. Sadly most movies are out to make a few extra bucks by coming out with a dance album.
This is another one of those films that you will really like if you can accept a simple plot, no CG, and few plot twists. It doesn't get lost in any side trips or sub-plots. If you can deal with that, then you'll love this film.