39,327
edits
An American Werewolf in London: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (Dai-Guard moved page An American Werewolf in London (Film) to An American Werewolf in London over redirect: Remove TVT Namespaces from title) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 6:
''AWiL'' was not particularly successful in its initial run. Critics were reportedly confused about whether to regard it as a comedy film with horror elements or a horror film with comedy relief, though Landis himself regards it as entirely in the vein of the old Universal [[Universal Horror|monster films]] of the Forties. (There are also striking similarities between the Landis film and a 1941 British film, ''The Night Has Eyes,'' starring James Mason.) Since the Eighties, the film has [[Vindicated
''AWiL'' has infuriated some Britons, particularly [[Oop North|Northerners]], with its somewhat cartoonish and stereotypical depictions of life in the UK; it is possible that this was a deliberate echoing on Landis's part of the [[Did Not Do the Research|sketchily researched]] versions of Britain found in the Universal horror cycles of the Thirties and Forties.
Line 35:
* [[The Dead Have Eyes]]: Apparently, eyes don't rot.
* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: Not so "boring" after all, it would seem.
* [[Death
* [[Developing Doomed Characters]]: One of the film's great successes is actually making David and Jack likable before the werewolf appears.
* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|David's love interest confesses her love to him while he's in wolf form. She actually seems to get to him a little, but he still dies in the end.}}
Line 59:
* [[Our Lawyers Advised This Trope]]: "[[This Is a Work of Fiction]] -- any resemblance to actual persons living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental."
* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: The werewolf in this film is a definitely quadrupedal, oversized animal, looking rather like a Huskie that has swallowed a large barrel, with limbs set more like a crocodile's than a wolf's; moreover, it has a howl like a train-whistle.
* [[Or Was It a
* [[Painful Transformation]]: As in, bone-cracking. One of the best, most definitive examples of all time.
* [[Real Song Theme Tune]]: "Bluuuue Mooooooon..."
Line 67:
* [[Sex Is Violence]]: Both Alex and David are shown biting each other repeatedly as foreplay.
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** As Jack says of the pentangle at ''The Slaughtered Lamb'': "Universal Studios and Lon Chaney, Jr., maintained that's the mark of ''[[The
** The pair also toss fictional references back and forth when they hear the howls:
{{quote| '''David:''' [[Sherlock Holmes|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]?<br />
'''Jack:''' [[Melody Time
'''David:''' [[Wuthering Heights (
'''Jack:''' Heathcliff didn't howl.<br />
'''David:''' No, but he was on the moors. }}
Line 80:
* [[Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror]]: Roughly around the middle somewhere. John Landis said it's not a comedy, but in context he seemed to have been committing an equivocation fallacy between "comedy" as opposed to "drama" and "comedy" as opposed to "tragedy".
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: To the extreme, particularly in the ending. The songs were all apparently chosen for having "moon" in the lyrics rather than fitting the mood of the scene.
* [[Stay
* [[Stylistic Suck]]: The porn film ''See You Next Wednesday'' that David and Jack watch features some delightfuly absurd scenes that go nowhere. In one scene, an angry man bursts in on the copulating couple to accuse his lover of cheating on him. Both the man and the woman have no idea who he is, so he apologizes and leaves. Later, the naked woman answers a phone call, but it's a wrong number, so she hangs up. David comments, "''Nice'' movie!" leaving it unclear whether he's being sarcastic or if the film is intentionally some sort of Dada porno.
* [[Take That]]: One line, "Sean, I think there are some hooligans in the park again," (spoken as a werewolf is ripping some people apart) is a parody of a remark reportedly made by [[Margaret Thatcher]].
* [[This Was His True Form]]: The monsterous werewolf that attacks David is revealed to be a small, bald old man in his true form.
* [[To Serve Man]]: The werewolf cuisine of choice, though venison is apparently David's dream-food.
* [[Town
* [[Transformation Trauma]]: One of the most famous werewolf [[Transformation Sequence|transformation sequences]], courtesy of Rick Baker -- and this is ''without'' CG.
* [[The Undead]]: Those killed by a werewolf haunt him in the form of rotting, but sentient corpses. It is left somewhat uncertain whether they are actual material beings or not.
| |||