Day 29 - An American Werewolf in London - October Horror Movie Challenge

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

The undead surround me. Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's boring! I'm lonely! Kill yourself, David, before you kill others.

David and Jack are two college kids from America who have decided to backpack across the moors. They find a pub called The Slaughtered Lamb filled with unfriendly locals and a pentagram on the wall. Jack decides to ask them about the pentagram but it instantly turns the locals even more hostile and the boys leave after being warned to stay off the moors and beware the moon. Out on the moors (because these are two american students who don't listen) they are quickly attacked by a large wolf-like animal and Jack is killed.

David wakes up in a London hospital three weeks later not remembering what happened and a police inspector tells him he was attacked by an escape lunatic who was then shot by the locals. But David is sure he was attacked by a wolf and the scratches on his body make sense with this memory. Then suddenly Jack appears to David as a corpse and tells him that David is about to turn into a werewolf and to just kill himself before the full moon.

As the full moon quickly approaches, is London in danger? Is David really going to turn into a werewolf or is he losing his mind? And what are the locals hiding?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• The scene where the boys enter the pub for the first time and everyone turns and stares at them. I have totally experienced this in small pubs in England. It's intense.  
• The transformation of course is ground breaking and still stunning when watched this day.
• I loved Nurse Alex, played by Jenny Agutter.
• Really great soundtrack!

What didn't I love?

• This is advertised as a horror comedy, but I totally missed the comedy element. Sure there were some great British dry moments but other than that I kept forgetting it was supposed to be a comedy. 
• I liked Jack way more than David and was bummed when Jack died so quickly.
  

Overall?

First time watching this movie and I kind of wish I'd watched it earlier when I was younger. I didn't fall in love with it like I'd hoped. I get why this is a classic and I mean, that transformation scene....goddamn. In fact the makeup in this film won the first ever Oscar for Best Makeup.

It's a great little flick and mad props to John Landis for writing and directing it and even bigger props to the special effects done by Rick Baker.

I'm thinking the more I watch this film the more it will grow on me. It probably didn't help I watched this for the first time on a plane which isn't reallllly the best place to watch horror movies which I keep learning.

I will re-watch for sure.

7/10

I'm here in Kauai! I've had an amazing time so far so apologies for the delay of the last three movie reviews but they are coming, I promise. I also watched Stitches yesterday when I had some down time and I want to talk about that one!

So far here I've been stung by a jelly fish, found a creepy house and secret river, saw dolphins out in the wild and seen a lot of gorgeous land. Also today I visited a crumbled temple where locals back in the day used to speak to the Gods.

Stay spooky!