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Rating: Full moon night, what do I see?
Let's go for a classic: a nice dated horror, preferably from the 80s, and if it's about werewolves and directed by John Landis, even better. It would seem difficult to put together all these requests, but there is a solution: "An American Werewolf In London," the right film for a full moon night. From the title, it could either seem like a B-movie horror worthy of a late-night on channel 4, or a horror-comedy, the latter being perhaps the most likely, although it’s precisely suspended between horror and comedy where there are both bloody scenes (it won the Oscar for best makeup thanks to the genius of Rick Baker) and the usual love story spiced with ironic and improbable situations that will elicit more than one laugh.
Okay, we start with the film, the very old "Blue Moon" (not by accident) opens the credits while the eerie landscapes of the English moors are framed, two guys (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) with backpacks, pass through these desolate lands and stumble upon a pub called "The Slaughtered Lamb," where they meet the strangest and shadiest types imaginable. Continuing their journey, heedless of warnings like "stay on the road" or "beware the moon," the two hear howling, attempt to escape but are attacked by a large unidentified animal: Jack dies while David is injured and bears a harsh legacy.
Despite relying on horror genre clichés, Landis succeeds in making irony, just look at the characters: from the grumpy figures in the pub, to the sweet nurse (Jenny Agutter), to Jack in increasingly decomposed zombie form encouraging David to commit suicide, up to the real highlight of the film, which is the transformation into a werewolf shown in all its rawness.
As with any horror film worth its salt, the atmospheres and landscapes must create a sense of disorientation and terror, and here the night shots on the moor are a true spectacle for the eyes and help to create the right atmosphere. In the year when London serves as the backdrop for the marriage of Charles and Diana, this film reveals the darker and more mystical side of the capital, delving into the most fascinating folklore, Landis shows us a bleak, gray, and mysterious London.
The dark humor is another great trademark of the director, just think of the sequence in the zoo, or the one in the subway, even the protagonist's nightmares are always approached with a veil of irony, culminating in a tragic finale that will leave many puzzled.
A little cult movie, for many overrated, for others essential, certainly, it can be said that this way of making horror no longer exists today, and it didn't exist then either, a film that enjoys playing with paradoxes, in an intelligent and brilliant way without ever sounding off-key, as a whole a fascinating film that also boasts great performances, or rather characterizations.
This is one of those films that visibly shows the passage of time, but in this case, it's not a flaw, it shows us how cinema of the same genre has evolved poorly (also because of computers), and for this it gains value every year that passes.
And here the end credits are already rolling (once again accompanied by the melancholic "Blue Moon"), as I remove the DVD from the player, I seem to hear a howl coming from outside, but maybe it's just "a sheepdog."
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