An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Finally got Bethany to see this!  Only took three years!  Reposted 01 Jul 2017.  Why does it seem like I am always showing this to people who have never seen it before?  This have changed since 2012 but some things remain the same, like the number of sheltered people who have been deprived of seeing this film until they met me.  With that said, I'm going to introduce two new characters to this blog:  Tyler, my new boyfriend, and Bethany, my work wife.  Neither one of them has ever seen this movie because they are millennials and just don't know what they're missing.  Well, I managed to fix one of them.  Bethany, you are next!  I'm keeping a list in order to further your education.  Anyway, below is my original review.  It still stands.  Especially the shunning.  Originally posted 15 Jul 12.   

Now we're back in business!  While Rob is busy going where no man has gone before (and boldly, at that), I am taking a moonlit stroll right into werewolf country.  I had bought the Legacy editions of Dracula and The Wolf Man a long while ago and am very excited to finally break into the latter.  Of course, Rob has never seen the original Lon Chaney, Jr. classic and I'll show it to him, never you fear.  But I wanted him to see this one first, since it's basically the gold standard of transformation scenes.

Two American tourists, David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), are backpacking through the English countryside when they are attacked on the moors by a vicious beast.  David is the only one who survives and is taken to London to recuperate.  While there, he starts seeing smoking hot nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter) and also having severe nightmares about monsters.  Also, his dead friend Jack keeps showinig up and telling him to kill himself.  David ignores him because, hey, there's no reason for both their vacations to be ruined, amirite?  Then David turns into a bloodthirsty mindless beast and terrorizes the city.

This was clearly a labor of love for John Landis, who wrote and directed it.  Rick Baker did amazing work making the werewolf look menacing instead of like a plush toy but, to me, his real genius came with the makeup work for Jack as he goes through various stages of decomposition.  It looks fucking disgusting and awesome which is exactly how it should look.

Own this movie.  Or I will shun you.