Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3683 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
• 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

Great DVD release of a great film
This film is one of those that everybody likes. It's funny, it's scary, it's got special effects that were way ahead of its time, and it's British. The two stars may be American, but everybody else in the film is English, it is all filmed in England, and it feels English. John Landis included some very un-American ploys in the making of this movie - for instance, the music includes three different versions of Blue Moon, plus Bad Moon Rising and Moondance. It's all set in current time (well, 1980), unlike the Hammer Horror and Lon Chaney werewolf films that people were used to. The hero ends up running around London zoo, naked, after waking up in the wolf's cage the morning after a night of rampage and violence. And that's another point - the hero is the bad guy. He's the werewolf in the story, but you're on his side. Nobody is on Freddy Krueger's side, or Michael Myer's side, in the American horror films that have been released over the last 20 years.
This is one of those films where you notice something different each time you watch. Be it Rik Mayall playing chess with Brian Glover in "The Slaughtered Lamb", the further decomposition of Jack each time he comes back to visit David, the inclusion of the Muppet Show in one of David's most horrendous dreams (plus Frank Oz, the voice of Miss Piggy and Fozzy Bear, as the man from the American Embassy), the really bad acting on the porno movie that's playing in Piccadily circus, the fact that Landis plays one of the London crowd who gets run over when the werewolf escapes from the cinema at the end, the offer of congratulations to Charles and Diana on the announcement of their engagement that rolls past as the end credits roll.
This 21st anniversary release contains a second disc showing how the movie was made, how the special effects were created, trailers, and loads more besides. And the commentary by the two lead actors as the movie is playing reveals just how much in awe of Jenny Agutter they were.

picture quality not up to much
i wasn't impressed with the picture quality on this dvd. the definition is poor and the picture grainy looking. the picture also noticeably jumped in the first 10 minutes or so, not what you'd expect from a professional remaster

given a second chance, i'd wait for a future release bcause this one looks like it has been run through a couple of simple picture restoration processes and put out to dvd.

a great movie. deserves great treatment

A HORROR STORY TO DIE FOR...
Written and directed by a young John Landis, this 1981 release was a hit and rightly so. It is a smart, sharp, scary, and ultimately satisfying horror flick with a dash of romance tossed into the brew. Boasting a young and energetic cast, it succeeds brilliantly in what it sets out to do: entertain.

David Naughton (I'm a Pepper; you're a Pepper) is terrific as a young American backpacking along the moors in Northern England with his friend, played with comic deftness by Griffin Dunne. They are advised to stay on the road and off the moors. When they come upon a strangely named roadside in, they stop in for refreshments, only to get a very odd and funny reception upon their arrival. Feeling unwelcome, they decide to move along, but not before being told once again to keep to the road and off the moors.

Though they are able to see the road, as there is a full moon, they carelessly wander off onto the moors. No sooner do they do so that they start to hear the baying and howling of some creature. Scared and realizing that they have wandered off the road, they start running for it, when suddenly "it" is upon them, killing Griffin almost instantly before attacking David. David is saved by those very folk who had made them feel unwelcome in the inn. How they do it makes for a great scene.

The unconscious David finds himself waking in a London hospital several weeks later, remembering that he and his friend had been attacked by a viscious wolflike animal, a story at odds with what the police had been told by the local villagers. David begins to have some disconcerting dreams and visits by his now dead friend, who claims to be part of the undead. David, who thinks he is going crazy, is looked after in the hospital by an interested doctor, played by John Woodvine, and a lovely and caring nurse, played by a very young Jenny Agutter. David and Jenny happens to fall in love and upon his release from the hospital, he goes and stays with Jenny in her apartment. It is there that, during a full moon, David experiences what he has become.

What happens next is both frightening and, at times, humorous, due to the wonderful script penned by Landis. The doctor, intrigued by David's claims that he was bitten by a wolf like animal, coupled with a bizarre series of murders where the victims are found half eaten, travels to where David had been attacked and discovers the same roadside inn, where he encounters a reception similar to that which David and Griffin had received. Returning to London, he sets about trying to help David. Meanwhile David is himself confronted by what has happened, though he has no recollection of having done anything. What happens next, however, will keep the viewer riveted to the screen.

This is a great horror film, well acted by the entire cast. The special effects won make up artist, Rick Baker, the first of his six Academy Awards for special makeup effects (Star Wars, The Nutty Professor, Planet of the Apes, Men in Black, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The DVD itself provides a crystal clear picture with excellent sound, as well as a number of special features. It also provides an interesting featurette on the making of the film, as well as a wonderful interview with John Landis. Among some of the other features is a commentary by cast members David Naughton and Griffin Dunne which is mediocre. They should stick to acting. There are also the usual storyboards and outtakes, though the outtakes have no audio. All in all, the DVD offers enough features to make it a value laden DVD and well worth having in one's collection.