Product Details

• Actors: Jenny Agutter, Sean Baker, Joe Belcher, Michele Brisigotti, Anne-Marie Davies
• Format: Color, EP, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (256 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304286953
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,615 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Remember back in the early 1980s when special-effects makeup artists were tripping over themselves to create the next big effect? The Howling boasted a fantastic werewolf transformation scene courtesy of makeup wizard Rob Bottin. Then along came Bottin's mentor, Rick Baker, with his own spectacular effects in this popular horror comedy directed by John Landis. An American Werewolf in London is more of a makeup showcase than a truly satisfying movie, but the film is effectively moody when David Naughton discovers that a wolf attack has turned him into a bloodthirsty lycanthrope. Jenny Agutter plays his love interest (watch out, he bites!), and who can forget Griffin Dunne as Naughton's best friend, an undead corpse who progressively rots away as the plot unfolds? All things considered, it's easy to see why An American Werewolf in London became a modern horror favorite. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest Werewolf film ever!, July 13, 2004

By	Ryan Harvey "Wolf Shadow" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: An American Werewolf in London (DVD)

1981 was The Year of the Werewolves...the furry fiends leaped onto movie screens in three major films: "The Howling," "Wolfen," and the classic of the genre, "An American Werewolf in London." There has never been a greater werewolf film, there has never been a better transformation scene, and few horror movies can match the entertaining mixture of humor and scares that writer/direction John Landis ("Animal House," "The Blues Brothers") achieved here.

Although there had been humor in horror films before this movie, "An American Werewolf in London" showed once and for all that having comedy in a horror film didn't mean that the film would lose out in the scare department. Landis makes it clear that the film is NOT a comedy -- the horror scenes are carried with dead-seriousness and shocking impact -- but there is so much quirky humor surrounding these scenes that the film becomes incredibly likable and buoyant. Most of the laughs come from seeing the old movie werewolf premise dropped into the modern day and watching the characters try to deal with it.

Actors Griffin Dunne and David Naughton, neither of whom had been in a movie before, create a wonderful 'ordinary guy' feeling to their characters of two young American boys backpacking through Europe. In rural England, they have a nasty encounter with a legendary monster, and Naughton faces the consequences of being bitten when he returns to London and takes up living with a pretty nurse (Jenny Agutter).

The transformation scene is justly famous and a milestone in visual effects. Make-up wizard Rick Baker lets the viewers watch a real-time twisting of a human body into a wolf shape: limbs stretch, snouts pop, hair grows, the body contorts...it's amazing to watch. (And on DVD, you can watch it over and over and over again). Even computer graphics can't achieve an effect as startling as this one.

This DVD offers some nice extras. The image is good, and the 5.1 Surround Sound is decent (although there's not a lot of back speaker sound). Actors Naughton and Dunne do feature commentary on the film, and provide some interesting information and sound as if they were having a great time reliving the experience. I wish that Landis had been on the commentary as well, but you can hear his thoughts on the film in an 18-minute interview. Landis is an absolute hoot to listen to; the guy is as funny as his movie, and he absolutely bursts with ideas and observations. To go along with the Landis interview is an 11-minute interview with make-up maestro Rick Baker. He provides a fascinating look at crafting what he calls "the coolest werewolf film ever made." Also included is a vintage featurette on the making of the film, although it's only about five minutes long (but you get more of wise-cracking John Landis), ten minutes of archival footage of Baker making a cast of David Naughton's hand, and an assortment of storyboards, outtakes, and production photos.

"An American Werewolf in London" is a major turning point in horror films and visual effects -- and even over twenty years later, it is still one of the most entertaining movies of its decade. It hasn't aged at all, and this DVD lets you experience it the way it should be seen (and in the company of wild-man John Landis!)

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE SCARIEST MOVIES EVER MADE!!!, January 17, 2004

By	JR Pinto (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: An American Werewolf in London (DVD)

This is one of the few movies that have consistently given me nightmares since I was a child. It is at least a decade ahead of its time. Most of the negative criticisms that I have read use the word "uneven" a lot. Even Roger Ebert, whom I admire, claimed that the humor and the horror were an uneasy mix. This was years before he gave the movie Scream a positive review. Now I LIKE the movie Scream, but there is no way that one can claim that it gets the balance right whereas Werewolf gets it wrong. Scream simply benefits from occurring in the cynical nineties - Werewolf suffers from being avant guard. .

The new DVD has a few good extras on it - especially a new interview with Landis. Even after all these years, the film still holds up. Unlike most films, I see more things in it the more I look. What, for instance, is up with the townsfolk of East Proctor and what is their relationship with the original werewolf? My guess - they brought it on themselves somehow. Maybe one of their own ran over a gypsy and was cursed. Instead of killing the bloke, they all decide to hide beneath the pentangle in The Slaughtered Lamb every full moon.

I am recently returned from England and this movie is listed in Fodor's as one of the films that best showcases London. I heartily agree. I visited the infamous tube stop at Tottenham Court Road and it still looks much the same as when the David made his kill there. And as I walked, alone in the countryside, beneath the light of the full moon, I had to ask myself, "Am I crazy?" Fortunately, I made it to the pub. There I waited, beneath the pentangle, for my friends to walk me home.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Werewolf in London: An instant classic., September 12, 2001

By	Greg E. Garcia "Greg_7_00" (Victoria, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: American Werewolf in London [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The first time that I saw An American Werewolf in London I was about 9 years old and scared out of my mind. Needless to say that I didn't finish seeing the whole film. I recently viewed the movie again now that I'm older and I have to say that it is one of the best werewolf movies I have ever seen. Humerous and gorey, but not to a nausiating point, this film kept me in suspense and I really thought that David Naughtan pulled of the confused American fecade brilliantly. The transformation seen was very believable and earned make-up guru Rick Baker a much deserved Oscar.

The story of two young american men out for a stroll on the moors of England during a full moon was brilliantly orchestrated by John Landis, and the plot was very smooth and not too unpredictable. Griffin Dunne makes a wonderful corpse in the movie after he comes back from the dead to warn Naughtan about his little secret. With a great mix of comedy, horror and superior special effects, An American Werewolf in London is a great way to spend your halloween. Anyone who sees this movie is sure to fall in love with lycanthropes all over again. Also, I think this calls for more sequals.