Time: 97 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – contains violence & sex scenes
Cast:
David Naughton as David Kessler
Jenny Agutter as Nurse Alex Price
Griffin Dunne as Jack Goodman
John Woodvine as Dr. J. S. Hirsch
Director: John Landis

I have heard about An American Werewolf in London for a while, mainly because of the title and particularly one iconic scene that I had heard talked about, but I’ve also heard about how significant and influential it was as a horror movie. Outside of that, all I knew going in was that it involved werewolves in some capacity (which could easily be gathered by taking a glance at the title), so when I finally watched the movie, it ended up really surprising me.

The film is a horror comedy, and it does well at balancing the horror and comedy really well. It is aware of the silliness of its scenarios and is darkly comical. At the same time, it delivers a level of tragedy to the story and characters, as well as some genuinely strong atmospheric horror. This tonal balance on paper seems hard to achieve, but with its very clever script, it’s perfect here.

The movie has great performances from everyone, especially from David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne.

John Landis’s direction was good. It’s well shot and I liked the locations used, and as weird as it might sound, I liked how the film is so firmly set in England. Of course, there’s also the special effects and makeup effects, which remain outstanding to this day. These stellar effects are gruesome and gory and exceptional, mainly for the transformation and werewolf scenes.

An American Werewolf in London is an entertaining, well made and effective horror comedy, with incredible effects which still hold up decades later.