Stay off the moors, for F*cksake

 Okay, so to get it out of the way, the werewolf transformation scene in Landis' American Werewolf in London (1981) is incredible. Rick Baker became a makeup artist god thanks to this film. It is intense, highly lauded (deservedly so), with sound effects that makes a person wince because what happens to Naughton's David can be felt. Those bones twisting and protruding, shifting and contorting...this isn't a pleasant experience. This isn't about Chaney sitting still while the camera gradually alters his appearance. It's David reacting with every physical pain the body shifting causes. And even worse as a rampaging wolf striking folks in London, he is haunted by his victims and the friend he left behind when the werewolf in English countryside struck poor Jack (Griffin Dunne), ripping his face, neck, and chest apart. Jack's a bloody mess. And Landis, known for his big blockbuster comedies, lets us see the werewolf mangle Jack as he cries for help, receiving non. Sure the locals at the tavern, The Slaughtered Lamb, eventually kill the werewolf, but their reluctance to listen to the bartender and stop David and Jack resulted in unfortunate lost time that costs both of them. Werewolves on the moors under the full moon in East Proctor were clearly kept secret so that outsiders wouldn't consider the locals daft. Back in London after David was also attacked but saved by gunfire thanks to the late but arriving locals, his fate is tragically effected by the werewolf curse, leaving him to envision attacks on deer, creatures in Nazi uniforms machine gunning his family, moving through woods and finding himself in bed with Nurse Price (the fetching Jenny Agutter) awakening with a monstrous face and eye contacts, and even one of those Nazi creatures in a helmet and knife stabbing Nurse Price. But not only does Baker get to go crazy with the werewolf Naughton turns into, but he gets to "deteriorate" and rot Dunne a "visitation" at a time, with Jack telling David that he must die so the werewolf curse can be "severed". Landis understands that the werewolf genre since the Universal era of horror film, that happy endings are quite rare. But before he turns into a rampaging werewolf in Piccadilly circus, accumulating the walking dead to visit him very angry because he needs to die so they can be lifted from their limbo, David does get to shower naked with Nurse Price, have lots of sex with her, even staying at Price's apartment. But he's doomed just as Larry Talbot was. It was inevitable. 

The film features Doctor J.S. Hirsch (John Woodvine), David's physician, looking into his claims of a werewolf killing Jack, finding locals in East Proctor like Schofield and Glover not particularly inviting. Glover is especially rude and hush-hush while bartender Lila Kaye does what she can to remain mum (she did try to convince Glover and the guys in the bar to stop Jack and David from leaving that fateful rainy night). The five-pointed star on the wall in the tavern remains a closely guarded secret, with Glover seemingly the one in the village and surrounding area who corrals everyone else into remaining quiet. Glover is quite a tense, stubborn man. He will not allow outsiders to infiltrate their secret. Not happening.

I always felt the film's strength besides the famous transformation, rotted Jack, and Agutter just looking sexy even when not trying is that damned werewolf wail bellowing out as a threatening warning of violent carnage forthcoming. Landis' editing is rather jarring sometimes. The werewolf attacks are especially cut fast to keep any mouth-teeth-to-throat violence kept quick and off-screen if only to "protect" his beast and Baker's work, as if not to expose the effects or costume. I think this could be considered perhaps a slight against it from some horror fans who might feel cheated. I'm not sure I could really complain personally considering what we get with the apartment transformation; for Petesake, you do get plenty of the face extending, hair growing out, even the legs and feet stretching forth. 

I think there have been some like me who sort of felt like the end of the film felt either rushed or was missing something. He's in the porno theater, visited by his victims and Jack, suffers the transformation, goes on another rampage that causes traffic collisions and horror on the streets, is cornered in an alley and blown away by police in front of Nurse Price. It is edited madcap much like what happens in Piccadilly circus. Despite Dr. Hirsch's efforts, David truly has to be stopped. Just as Jack said, David must die in order for the city to be spared.

This is a good bit of fun for those interested in 1981 London, and Landis got quite the access. And the American in London theme is played to the hilt. When David is naked in the zoo, needs balloons and a woman's red coat from a park, eventually waiting for the bus, those scenes in London are ideal, as is, when he tries to get arrested and Nurse Price tries to talk him out of doing something crazy in front of a copper. And, of course, Piccadilly circus at the end gets plenty of spotlight ton conclude the film. The porno theater is pure Landis. David talking to corpses who offer him options to off himself in a darkened porno theater in Piccadilly Circus... 

The violence at the end happens with such impact, devastation, and sudden succession, vehicular mayhem caused by the werewolf chewing a cop's head off and moving through the street while snarling and wailing at folks, it's hard to absorb the shocks as they come. Bodies are thrown through windows from double decker buses, crashing cars, and hit at high speed, with so much shattered glass and destroyed metal, Landis just continues without a breath. Eventually Nurse Price does see the werewolf but her David is gone. The police do the city a service, and the walking dead are granted a reprieve from their limbo.

I just love that atmospheric first werewolf attack, before it obviously a bit chilly, wet, and dark, as Jack and David wonder how they got lost in the moors, with that werewolf wail much too close. 4/5