An American Werewolf In London

Can you believe I’m fifty-one years old and only just watched An American Werewolf in London for the first time last night?!?

Alas, it’s true; I’ve missed out on decades of turning to this campy horror comedy classic for comfort. Why? I had a very vague impression of it being a cross between a boring British movie and that annoying Warren Zevon song with all of the howling and just no idea how delightful this movie really is. Until last night, that is.

First of all, I didn’t realize it’s a John Landis film. Having been raised in a household where we were REQUIRED by my mom to watch Animal House for cultural enrichment (she loved John Belushi), how in the world did this movie escape me as a kid?

I also didn’t realize it’s a coming-of-age movie. For some reason I thought it was about middle-aged guys, so I wasn’t prepared for the whole wide-eyed-and-sweetly-horny vibe. And the head-to-toe male nudity! Is that why I was never exposed to this flick in my formative years? Maybe it never aired on television back in those days because of the many scenes depicting David Naughton’s naked body running across the screen in his prime-of-life. The male nudity was exceptional for American films of those days and is still exceptional now (and outstanding, too, for showing a vigorously healthy and casually-athletic body that still appears natural rather than the product of obsessive gym-training and performance-enhancing drugs).

Why did I finally take the plunge and watch An American Werewolf in London now? Well … because of this site. If I’m going to blog about werewolves here on Rugaru.com, I need to enrich myself with werewolf depictions in pop culture. On top of that, it’s Halloween season, this being October and filled with full and Harvest Moon spirit. This movie happens to be free on Amazon Prime Video at the moment, and out of all of the werewolf movies I’ve added to our watchlist, this was the one my wife chose as mandatory viewing and that she was willing to bet I would love, knowing my sense of humor and movie preferences.

The special effects, for example. My wife knows I am fond of E.T.-era effects. It’s not just nostalgia that makes me enjoy obvious good old-fashioned Hollywood trickery; I prefer stuff that’s obviously crafted. I like the feeling of being in on the joke. I like voluntarily participating in suspending disbelief rather than having everything look “real”, if by “real” you mean HYPERrealistic and seamlessly computer-generated. A certain amount of schlock special effects makes for more effective storytelling. Not that anything in this movie seems insultingly cheap, but the texture and machinations of the effects are seamless when combined with the settings of early-80s London and English moors.

It feels very American-in-London. and also very Jewish: another thing I wasn’t anticipating. Mostly it’s in the humor, but there might be something more coded and/or symbolic in it that I am not in a position to put my finger on exactly. When you cross the whole cursed bloodline dark you-should-KYS shtick with Nurse Price’s fetishization of David, specifically exoticizing him out loud for this foreign quality early on in the movie / right from the get go of laying eyes on him (and identifying herself as distinctly NOT Jewish in the process), you do get the feeling their romance is doomed from the beginning for more than the most obvious and very hairy titular reason.

We don’t need to understand or weigh that issue of ethnicity too carefully to appreciate that Nurse Price and David-the-Cursed are ignoring other taboos (like professionalism) or the much bigger issue of him being a big young wild man in Nurse Price’s extremely feminine and super-orderly flat. Like … is it ever appropriate for men to live in women’s spaces? Him with the dirty bare feet and the obvious disappointment he expresses when their first fuck is delayed and sparks left to smolder for her to excuse herself to take a shower first.

Whatever. None of that need ruin the fun of the movie, or the hotness of it, even with some super-stilted action. And the shocking, hilarious timing of the raucous, bittersweet music blasting in with the end credits: PERFECT. I loved the nods to old Hollywood, and I think this would have been such a joyful delight to have seen on the big screen when it came out in 1981.

Anyhoo … I had a lot of reactions to and questions about this movie (particularly interested in a) some things Roman Polanski referenced overtly in The Ninth Gate or that seem very inspired by AAWiL, b) my experience of Jenny Agutter roles, and c) how many references to this movie I’ve probably seen but not recognized or been able to appreciate fully because I’d never seen it … even if the only one I have a possible whiff of is The Trip: did Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan stop in at The Slaughtered Lamb location or what?).

All of that noise is incidental to the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this highly-entertaining classic movie, and I’m sure to watch it repeatedly in the future when I need something cozy and fun (yes, it’s gory and violent in spots, but those moments are pretty limited, and enjoyably dramatic and funny / not torture to watch).

I’m glad this blog gave me an excuse to reach back into the classic movie archives and pull out this gem of required rugaru viewing.