I haven’t seen An American Werewolf in London in a few years and, even edited for tv on SyFy, it is an amazing film. Griffin Dunne is hysterical. I have adored him since this movie. Yes, David Naughton is really great, but it’s Griffin as Jack that cracks me up every time. The visits he pays to David are classic. The first one in the hospital, eating the toast, he is wonderfully nonchalant. As the other corpses join him in visiting David, he still remains protective of his friend (see the scene when the corpses are suggesting ways for David to off himself). The best scene for Jack is in the porno theater. It’s hysterical that he’s holding this serious conversation with the horribly acted film in the background.
I love how Jack’s corpse keeps rotting throughout the film. He has a wonderful delivery of lines that could be really cheesy. “I’m not having a nice time here.”
The film is quite a good horror film…underplayed in many ways yet had ground-breaking special effects and make-up. Rick Baker completely deserved the Oscar. The art for the poster/cover was great, very simple and implied great scariness was coming at you.
The movie delivered with the story, Jack, and David’s amazing transformation to the werewolf.
Now does anyone else think it weird that both Griffin Dunne and David Naughton had someone close to them horrifically killed? David Naughton was on the show with Pam Dawber (My Sister Sam) with Rebecca Sheaffer and Shaeffer was murdered by a crazed fan. Griffin Dunne’s sister, Dominique Dunne (oldest sister in Poltergeist), was brutally murdered by her boyfriend. No, I’m not saying it’s a curse or anything, but it is an incredibly odd connection for the two of them to share.
This is one movie I quote rather often. “Have you tried talking to a corpse? It’s boring” is another of Jack’s lines that makes me laugh out loud every time. “A naked American man stole my balloons” is very challenging to work into conversation, but sometimes it works. I will leave you with this piece of advice… “Beware the moors, stick to the road.”
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