movies

81. An American Werewolf in London

/ Chase Clark / Leave a comment

Two American travelers, David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), get attacked by a wolf out in the Yorkshire moors, leaving David bedridden for weeks and killing Jack. David appears to be healing up rather quickly according to Dr. Hirsch and the nurse, Alex, but he’s convinced he’s getting worse. He and Alex fall in love and sleep together at her apartment. When she goes to work for her night shift, David transforms into a werewolf in one of the most excruciatingly long scenes ever, and then attacks people night after night. His reign of terror on London is ended when the police corner him in an alley behind an adult movie theater. The movie is funnier than you might expect, but it’s also truly horrific, with jump scares and intense shadows. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best monster movies of all time.

An American Werewolf in London revived the monster movie subgenre of horror, which had been on the decline in the US since Creature from the Black Lagoon. Monster movies still had a following in the UK thanks to Hammer Studios, but the US was beginning to become infatuated with slasher films. An American Werewolf in London was so beloved by Michael Jackson, that he hired director John Landis and famed makeup artist Rick Baker to work with him on his “Thriller” music video. Baker’s effects in this movie, specifically the horrific transformation scene, have become points of reference for all future practical horror effects.

On my copy of the movie, it comes with a video essay from Jon Spira called, “I Think He’s A Jew: The Werewolf’s Secret”, which puts the film in the frame of Jewish identity in a foreign land. David’s jewishness was not something I really caught on to on my first watch of the movie, and this video (plus confirmation from the director) helped me to catch little references to the Londoners’ infatuation and fear that is buried in David’s subconscious. This angle elevates the movie from simple horror schlock to a movie worth investigating. I recommend An American Werewolf in London to anyone who can handle some gross prosthetics and slight nudity.

Bonus Review: The Thing

John Carpenter’s best film takes place in Antarctica, where an American research team witness a helicopter blow up in pursuit of a dog. R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) investigates and finds an unusual-looking body, which he brings back to base to have investigated. However, it soon becomes clear that the body is that of an alien creature taking the form of a human. As the revelations about the aliens abilities come to fruition, MacReady and the others realize, in their isolation, none of them are safe. The alien could be impersonating any one of them. That paranoia of who is who they say they are drives the movie to it’s explosive end. Kurt Russell’s performance and the special effects, which are still quite impressive if not disgusting, make this film a must-watch.

But that’s looking at The Thing through a modern lens. When it was originally released, the movie bombed at the box office, particularly because of the grotesque effects. I can’t sugarcoat it; the effects are excessively gory, and I know that can be a turnoff for some people. So, if you have an upset stomach, maybe avoid it. But for those of you who can handle it, the story is really what makes The Thing so great. Based on a novella written in the 1930s, Who Goes There?, The Thing is essentially a sci-fi horror reimagining of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Because the alien creature can imitate the form of anyone in the camp, no one is able to trust each other, and their attempts to prove who the alien is imitating are suspenseful to say the least. John Carpenter’s only truly-great film is a psychological masterpiece.

Guess Who’s Back? Back Again.

/ Chase Clark / Leave a comment

Yikes. It’s been months. Look, let’s just cut to the Chase. I’ve got several legitimate excuses as to why I dropped off the face of the Earth for a bit, but who wants to hear that? Instead of boring you with a “life update”, I intend to just apologize for my absence, go ahead and apologize for my future absence, and explain what I’m going to be doing in between those.

First, I sincerely apologize for my lack of posts these past few months. I know it’s what most of you live for and I’m sorry I’ve deprived you of random lists of movies that have some vague thematic connection between them or reviews of movies you weren’t going to see in theaters anyways because either you had no interest or it’ll be available on streaming eventually. All I can say is that I intend to do better – nay, to be better – but I can only do so much. I’ve already alluded to the fact that I will be going on hiatus in the near future, so what else is there to say? Hopefully, this isn’t the last series of posts I will be making on this website, and maybe one day I’ll pick up the laptop again, dust it off, and return with great indifference as if I was never gone. But we’ll see. On to the important stuff…

In my circle of friends, I’m known as “the movie guy” – a badge I wear with great pride. I have no problem with having forsaken genuine education like math and science, not to mention basic life skills like how to do my taxes or talk to people, and replacing them with random movie factoids that will get me nowhere in life let alone with most acquaintances. And so, because of this label and notoriety, I get a surprising amount of requests for movie recommendations. If those who ask don’t have a specific idea in mind of what they’re interested in, I typically just pull from my favorites and throw one out there. However, I’ve never on this blog really addressed what my favorite movies are. I have reviewed some and even more have made a list of some kind, but I haven’t outright said, “these are a few of my favorite things.”

So, with my remaining few months of freedom (sounds ominous, don’t it?), I intend to run the gamut and run the gauntlet of movie recommendations by serving up reviews for my Top 100 Movies. To up the ante even more, I intend to include a mini review with each one of a similar or companion film if you want to explore a little more or have yourself a double feature. That means 200 movies in total. Which also means at least one review per day. Woof.

Anyway, we’ll see how this goes. I don’t know when I’ll start, but each review will be numbered, so you’ll know it when you see it. And hopefully, I will not completely flake on this.