Horror's not really my bag, baby, but there are a few that I really enjoy, and the top of this, admittedly, short list is An American Werewolf in London. This John Landis masterpiece captures all the flavor of a good, old-fashioned monster movie with the Oscar winning makeup effects of Rick Baker for a film that will scare the shit out of you, while making you laugh at the same time. The cast is awesome: David Naughton and Griffin Dunne as the hapless American tourists who stumble into an English werewolf's hunting grounds, Jenny Agutter as the deliciously tragic nurse who falls in love with David, and John Woodvine as the incredulous doctor who must reassess his view of the natural world. Make no mistake, while this is a very funny movie at parts, it is also grim, gory, and truly frightening. And the transformation scene, which may seem familiar to you younger folks now since it's been copied in nearly every werewolf movie since, was groundbreaking:
Keep in mind that CGI was still years away. This was all done with prosthetics and a marvelous performance by David Naughton.
1 comment:
I loved this movie, and I still have it on VHS somewhere although the tape is probably as decomposed as Griffin Dunne's face was. "David, you're hurting my feelings!"
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