'An American Werewolf in London' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   Halloween is drawing even closer, and my reviews of what many consider to be classic horror films continues. Today, I’ve decided to review the 1981 film, An American Werewolf in London.
   An American Werewolf in London is written and directed by John Landis, and it stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Jack Goodman. It tells the story of two friends who are going on a trip throughout Europe. Whilst in England, they have a run-in with a werewolf. When one of the two friends starts becoming a werewolf himself, they must find a solution to the problem before he hurts too many people.

   An American Werewolf in London wasn’t necessarily a horror film. It was a film that had scary elements to it. This movie was just as much a comedy as it was a horror film. The mixing of these two genres resulted in a film that is incredibly entertaining to watch, beginning to end.
   This movie was one of the most original films I’ve seen in a while. Sure there are plenty of werewolf films to go around. This one, however, is much more than that. An American Werewolf in London is very much a character study. How does this twenty-something American tourist deal with his becoming a werewolf? It’s a question that they answer throughout the film, and it’s extremely interesting to see how these events play out.
   The thing that stands out the most to me about this film is how fun it was. From the very beginning of the film, the humor is in the forefront. In many films like this, the comedy can be distracting, especially when it’s in the forefront. An American Werewolf in London was different. The humor wasn’t there just because the filmmakers needed people to laugh. It was very much just conversational wit. The kind of things that make you laugh in casual conversations with your friends. It was extremely convincing, and it did a fantastic job making the relationships in the film feel realistic.
   The visual effects in this film were far better than I was expecting. I admit it, I’m a millennial who is used to the advanced visual effects of most films today. I was expecting the visuals in this film to be what you would expect from a film that came out in 1981. I was pleasantly surprised by how convincing the make-up and visual effects were in this film. Yes, there were points where they seemed a bit dated, but for the most part they held up extremely well. I was not surprised when I discovered that Rick Baker won an Oscar for his makeup work in this film.
   The acting in the film didn’t add a whole lot to it. Don’t get me wrong, nobody gave a bad performance. That doesn’t mean they were amazing. I felt that everybody gave performances that worked for the film. They didn’t go above and beyond, although they weren’t distracting. They were all pretty decent.
   The musical soundtrack to the film stood out to me as a positive thing. The song choice throughout the film fit so well. The use of songs like “Blue Moon” and “Bad Moon Rising” added another layer of entertainment to the film. They mixed very well with the movie and even provided a few laughs in their situations.
   Overall, I really enjoyed An American Werewolf in London. I thought that it was an extremely original film that still holds up very well today. It was scary when it needed to be, but it also provided an ample amount of humor to keep the audience smiling. The visual effects worked extremely well, and the movie as a whole was tremendously entertaining!
 
8.5/10

​   So what do you think of An American Werewolf in London? Do you think the visual effects still hold up? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back later this week for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
 
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