Greetings to the first volume of Halloween related goodness. This is where I will place reviews of old horror movies.. I will post new blogs til Halloween as I attempt to cover as many horror movies as possible. Think of it as Cinemassacre's Monster Madness in blog form. Out of chronology. With a rating. Without any further ado, I give you my first review...

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Ah. An American Werewolf in London. A great werewolf film that takes the genre and tweaks it to near perfection. The plot is as follows. Two American students, David and Jack,  are taking a tour of London on a full moon night. A large animal attacks, killing one and leaving the other in a hospital.Jack is soon visited David's ghost, who tells him he must kill himself before a full moon, which will turn him into a werewolf. The movie then deals with whether or not Jack is insane, and if he is not what he should do about it. It manages to be a complex and emotional story and builds a lot of tension leading up to the eventual transformation, which remains one of the most well done and popular today. The movie is dark and grim, but also has a lot of humor and irony to keep it entertaining. The special effects are well done, with no CGI bullshit and still holds up today. The acting is above average, especially for a horror film.

The ending is well done, and while it is a little abrupt, it is satisfying and brings things to a good close. The only thing that could have improved the film a little bit is if the title was not "An American Werewolf in London". With a title like that, you are waiting for the werewolf to come and there is no doubt in your mind that Jack is not insane. While the werewolf only comes in near the end. With a more clever name, this could have been a great psychological film and been a better experience overall. This is just nitpicking, and really is not that big of a deal.

Overall, this is one of the best horror movies ever. It is scary, funny, complex and entertaining as hell. If you like werewolf or horror movies, it is a must see. I would even recommend it to those who do not care for horror movies. 

9 out of 10

Thanks for reading and comment if you wish. Until next time.

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written by Daffy , September 07, 2008

Good review. I also think they did a good job with making the friend look a little more decayed every time he appeared.

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