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An American Werewolf In London  Hot
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Written by Staff Writer   
Sunday, 16 January 2005


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An American Werewolf In London

Grade

Content Grade: B
Sound Grade: B
Extras Grade: n/a
Picture Grade: B

Specs

Directed by Jon Landis Universal-MSRP $29.99 Anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish, French subtitles, closed-captioned 98 mins., color, 1981

Review

Jon Landis wrote and dreamed of directing this thriller-comedy back when he was just starting to create films. After his success with the "The Blues Brothers" and "Animal House" he was able to convince producers to finally do this modern tale of a werewolf in England starring David Naughton and Griffin Dunne. It is a unusual film, running the gambit from comedy to absolute graphic horror, which brings in influences from many other artists and films.
Two American students, touring England on foot, are attacked suddenly by a ferocious beast while on the Welsh moors. One student (Griffin Dunne) is killed and the other (David Naughton), bit and scratched from the animal, wakes up in a hospital in London three weeks later. He is comforted by his nurse, played by Jenny Agutter, in the hospital and after his release, in her apartment. David has vivid, horrible dreams during this time, ranging from Nazi monsters slaughtering his family, running through the woods naked and devouring deer, and changing into a monster to name a few. He tries to convince himself he is either still in shock from the killing or just going crazy. This is reinforced by sudden visits from his dead friend, in various forms of decomposition. His friend tries to convince him he is now a werewolf and must die in order for the slaughter of innocents to stop. Still not convinced after two visits, the next full moon rises and he morphs into a four footed werewolf, which leads to a slaughter of several people that night.

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Picture and Sound

The anamorphic widescreen presentation does have a few problems because of the age of the film. The landscape shots at the beginning of the film and some others look grainy. Dust and scratches are kept to a minimum and color balance is natural, with muted tones. Landis wanted the film to be bloody, and he overwhelmingly succeeds, as there are many throats ripped out, throats slit, severed limbs and even a beheading in the mayhem. Rick Baker, special effects wizard, does a stunning job in the transformation scene, which Landis wanted to present on camera. These techniques had never been attempted on film before and Baker was challenged to make it all work. The final scene is a remarkable achievement in special effects on film, long before computer graphics made effects much easier to achieve. Using body casts of the actors, Baker was able to apply his brilliant techniques convincingly to the audience. A nice variety of choices, including DTS, boosts the soundtrack level up a notch but the rear channels are used sparingly without a great deal of discreet information or separation. Sound is based up front. No remix of the soundtrack was done for this edition.

Extras

This is a special edition and we are treated to a remarkable amount of extra goodies, including a 10 minute promotional film from 1981 which shows cast and crew filming in London. The best facts about the film come from Landis himself, in a new featurette. He tells of how he came up with the idea for the film ( he witnessed a gypsy burial while in Yugoslavia for "Kelly's Heroes") and he discusses many colorful stories about the production. He tells what influences lead him to the film, including the Wolfman films from Universal's past, and his own contemporary influences. We even get a chance to see his cameo as a stunt man in a key scene in Picadilly Circus and his original ideas for the transformation scene. Other featurettes include reflections by Rick Baker and how he came up with the groundbreaking effects for the film, and rare film of Baker and his crew creating the masks and molds for the film. In one short feature, actor David Naughton's arm goes through the process of having his arm formed in a mold, and struggles to get his arm out of the cast afterward. Audio commentary for the film is provided by Dunne and Naughton but not Landis. It's interesting to hear their reflections of the film, some twenty years later. Storyboards of some key scenes are included and also some comical outtakes on the set. There is a a photographic montage set to music in a slide show fashion, and stills screens of production notes, cast and filmmakers. The only exclusive DVD-ROM feature is a script to screen comparison.

Summary

A contemporary horror film, directed and written by one of today's most successful directors, this DVD comes loaded with extras about the film. Anyone who is a fan of this film will appreciate this DVD special edition.

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