Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1382 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-10
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With an ingenious script, engaging characters, nerve-shredding suspense, genuinely frightening set-pieces and laugh-out-loud funny bits An American Werewolf in London is a prime candidate for the finest horror-comedy ever made. Americans David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are backpacking in northern England when Jack is killed by a wild beast and David is bitten. Back in London David finds himself falling in love with a nurse, Alex (played with winning charm by Jenny Agutter), and turning into a werewolf. Adding to his problems, an increasingly decomposed Jack keeps coming back from the dead, and he is not a happy corpse. The Oscar winning make-up and transformation scenes still look good and rather than send itself up Werewolf plays its horror seriously, the laughs coming naturally from the surreal situation. Naughton is engagingly confused and disbelieving, desperately coping with the ever more nightmarish world, while Landis delivers one absolutely stunning dream sequence, an unbearably tense hunt on the London Underground and a breathtaking finale. Gory, erotic, shocking and romantic, this unforgettable horror classic has it all. Tom Holland's Fright Night (1985) remixed the formula with vampires, as did Landis himself in Innocent Blood (1992). A disappointing sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, followed in 1997. --Gary S Dalkin

Video Description
DVD Special Features:

Actors' Commentary
Behind the Scenes
Outtakes
Interview with John Landis
Interview with Rick Baker
Focus on Technical Effects
Storyboard to Film Comparison
Stills Gallery
Four Page Booklet with Production Notes

Subtitles: English for deaf and hard of hearing
Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Picture: 16:9 anamorphic widescreen

Synopsis
In John Landis' (THE BLUES BROTHERS, ANIMAL HOUSE) dripping black comedy, two American students (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) on a European vacation wander into a creepy local pub in Northern England and are quickly thrown out. Stranded and alone in the dark countryside, the pair get lost in their search for warm lodging. Little do they know that they are about to be changed forever by an ancient terror as they walk along the moors on a moonlit night. Only one of the students survives a deadly attack by a supernatural beast--at least he thinks he survived, until the next full moon rolls around. Terrific makeup effects (by Oscar winner Rick Baker), clever editing, and raunchy tongue-in-cheek humor made this suspenseful and thrilling horror effort an instant classic.

Customer Reviews

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
The opening scene, on i presume the Yorkshire Moors, will be with me forever. This is a classic film with a blend of humour and horror neatly rolled into one. The special effects were cutting edge at the time.

I can't believe it's more than twenty five years old. Quick, get me a wheelchair !!

A GREAT WEREWOLF HORROR/COMEDY


After discovering that his boss,' Professor Irwin, (Guy Vieg) new formula is a failure, Walter, (Allen Lee Haff) discards it down the drain. When Professor Irwin comes to check on him, and inquires about the work he's supposed to have done. As he continues working, his friends Alicia, (Leah Rowan) Gary, (Richard Peterson) Burke, (Derek Hoffman) Chelsea, (Alexandra Townsend) and Frank (David Bradley) go over to the lab where he works to take him out partying. When they get there, he informs them that the test rats have been acting weird all day. Worse, the staff at the lab is disappearing, and the lab rats they've been testing on have gotten bigger. Fearful that giant rats are on the loose inside the lab, Walter locks it down, much to their dismay. Splitting up to go find the lost rat, the group is slowly picked off one-by-one by a giant rat. Down now to only a few survivors, they now have to face off against the vicious rodent to get out of the lab alive.

The Good News: It's weird to say this, but this wasn't an all that bad movie. What I really liked the most about it was that the film kept up some high level of suspense all the way through, once we've discovered the threat. The fact that all of the elements of suspense come together in these last twenty minutes are a rare fact that not too many films of its type are like: people you care about trapped together in a cramped area with a known killer. The actions of the group, the situations that they get into, and even the music itself all make it an effective amount of time. In fact, the last twenty minutes are easily highlights of the film. It has the traditional suspense scenes as well as plenty of action and tons of gore. In fact, there is lots of gore splattered throughout the film. I was actually surprised. We get several people eaten alive by the rats, one other has his eyeball pulled out, another has half their face eaten away, and another is decapitated. There is still more though, and that is what was so surprising. There is a great dignity in having a very low-budget film with an ending that comes completely by surprise. I really do enjoy the last thirty minutes of this great film.

The Bad News: The low-budget really shines through in the special effects of the film. There are only a few gags that are believable in the film, and with so many of them, that can be a bit of a downer. It can seriously detract from the enjoying of the film. Also, the design of the giant rat and its execution is almost as laughable as the plot and the acting in the film. I really don't know what else I can comment on, as I did enjoy this one.

The Final Verdict: I really don't know what to say; I liked this one. It definitely falls in as a guilty pleasure and it is a film that not all will want to see. Check this out if you're in the mood for a giant killer rodent film, as well as those that like a lot of cheese with their movies and don't take whatever they see with a grain of salt.

An American Werewolf in My Nightmares
As a huge fan of the horror movie genre, I have seen enough of them to know which have scared me the most, this is one of them. There have been enough horror films that I have found scary but out of all of them, this is the only one that after more than twenty years later, is the only one that I can remember having nightmares over and to this day I can still remember that night when I had those nightmares and I can tell you that I have never wanted the next morning to arrive so much in my life. The funny thing is that I had aready seen this with my dad about a year before in the days of video rental and although it was scary the first time, it was nowhere near as scary as the second time when I was sort of on my own watching this on BBC1 in the living room at night with the lights off although not alone in the house thankfully, I was too young anyway, which proves to me again that to get the most out of horror films, they have to be watched at night with the lights off, I have a rule now that I must watch them in this way at least once.

This film is scary but it is also funny, if I had just seen the funny parts of this film, I wouldn't have believed that it was a horror movie and this is probably one of the reasons which make the scary parts really scary. I also think that I found this film really scary at the time because I hadn't seen many horror films that were filmed in England and so it felt very realistic.

There are so many timeless moments in this horror classic, for example the moors and slaughtered lamb scenes, the incredibly creepy London underground scene and those horrific nightmares David (David Naughton) has.

I am not going to waste my time explaining the story as I am sure that even if you have never seen it, you will have an idea as to what it is all about, so all I will say is, if you like horror films and have never seen this, then as a horror film fanatic myself I can't recommend this highly enough. DON'T HAVE NIGHTMARES.