Movie Review: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

An American Werewolf in London (1981) written and directed by John Landis

Two young Americans, David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), are hiking in northern England when they are attacked on the moors by a beast. The locals don't admit what's really going on, even though David is killed and Jack is sent off to a London hospital. Jack finally wakes up three weeks later. He's told they were attacked by a lunatic, which he flatly denies. Jack starts having horrible dreams and waking visions of a slowly decomposing David, who tells him he's become a werewolf and needs to commit suicide or else he will kill others. Also, David cannot move on to the afterlife until the line of werewolves is destroyed (the creature that attacked them was killed by the local villagers). Jack has a hard time dealing with all this, though not a hard enough time that he doesn't start flirting with one of the hospital nurses, Alex (Jenny Agutter). She takes him in when he's released from the hospital and they have sex at her apartment. But the full moon is coming soon, and the pressure from the dreams and from David's reappearances starts to mount.

The movie is a classic because of the comic tone and the famous transformation scene when Jack turns into a werewolf in Alex's well-lit living room. It's a harrowing sequence and still looks great even 45 years later. Landis is able to balance the tone of the film, blending the horror pretty tightly with the comedy. Jack may not know if he is crazy or actually a werewolf but viewers remember the title so we know how doomed he is. Side characters like his doctor and his family (not sure why they couldn't make it to England in three weeks to see their comatose son?) throw some humor and pathos into the story. His nightmarish life is rough but compelling. 

Recommended, though this is not kid-friendly: in addition to the extended sex scene between Jack and Alex, the movie ends with a confrontation at a London adult theater. For some reason, they have to show what's on the screen though it is completely unnecessary.

Book Review: Werewolf by Night: New Wolf Rising by Taboo et al.

Werewolf by Night: New Wolf Rising written by Taboo and B. Earl, art by Scot Eaton and Scott Hana

This 2020 reboot of the classic Marvel horror series has Jake, a teenaged Native American living the life of the lycanthrope in Arizona. He uses his transformations to scare off bad guys from the reservation where he lives. A new, stronger set of bad guys shows up--monsters with technology enhancements from a local bio-tech company. Jake is going to need more help than from his girlfriend. Luckily, some sympathetic government agents (who know about monster activity) show up and want to help him understand and develop his powers and take down the bio-tech business.

The storytelling puts some effort into explaining the werewolf condition using Native American mythology. I found that interesting. The rest of the plot was not so interesting. The corporate bad guys are cliche and not that menacing. The fight scenes are lackluster and don't give any sense of peril or higher stakes involved. Jake's struggle to control his werewolf form is not convincing because he is always guiding the action or keeping the wolf from going too far. The creators play it too safe and wind up with a bland product.

Not recommended--apart from the Native American mythology, the story is uninteresting.

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: Werewolf by Night Vol. 1 by G. Conway et al.

Marvel Masterworks: Werewolf by Night Volume 1 written by Gerry Conway and Len Wein, pencils by Mike Ploog

Jack Russell turns eighteen and discovers a horrible family secret. His father lived in Europe and was secretly a warlock with a curse...the curse of lycanthropy! Jack turns into a werewolf when the full moon rises for three nights a month. His father died years ago and his mother remarried....to a cad! The step-dad sold the European castle (which got moved to an island just off southern California) and is abusive to the mom and the kids (Jack has a younger sister named Lissa). Jack's mom dies in a mysterious accident, though Jack (in wolf form) saw the chauffeur messing around under the hood. Jack has plenty of things to deal with: protecting his sister, getting revenge on his step-father, and finding some way to deal with the wolf within.

After an initial three-issue appearance in Marvel Spotlight 2-4, Werewolf by Night got its own comic which continued Jack's adventures. The castle has his father's book of magic, the Darkhold, which Jack gets ahold of but can't read because it's in Latin. He enlists a monk to translated it though things don't turn out well for the monk. Jack wanders about, running into adventures. This collection ends with an issue of Marvel Team-Up where the Werewolf is paired up with Spider-man.

The book has an interesting narrative and style. The story is told mostly from Jack's perspective, with him narrating what's going on, especially when he is in werewolf form. Each of three nights of the full moon are chronicled, along with some daytime stuff to fill in the narrative. The wolf version of Jack can't talk or think but Jack has memories of what happens. The wolf is occasionally influenced by Jack's memories and desires. The wolf's main desire is to hunt in the forest for food. He kills some bad guys but surprisingly few and happily eats none of them. Jack gets out of bad situations through accidents or brute force. Neither Jack nor the wolf are very clever. They have the earnestness that has been part of the werewolf mythology since Lon Chaney's version. The visual style is very much a 1970s horror comic, with dark panels and sinister drawings. The stylistic exception is the Team-Up story, which is dominated by the wisecracking Spider-man. The web-slinger visits San Francisco to get away from Gwen's death and winds up in a whole other adventure, first fighting then allying with the Werewolf. Typical Marvel fare. 

Mildly recommended--this is probably more interesting for comic book fans than general readers. I liked it more than the TV show.

TV Review: Werewolf by Night (2022)

Werewolf by Night (2022) directed by Michael Giacchino 

Ulysses Bloodstone, a famous monster hunter (at least, famous in the covert monster-hunting community), has died. His main weapon is the Bloodstone, an artifact of incredible power that would normally have passed on to his daughter Elsa (Laura Donnelly). She left the family long ago and only comes back to the funeral to claim what's hers by birthright. Ulysses had other plans--he organized a hunt with the greatest monster hunters from across the Earth. They gather at the funeral and are ready to do whatever it takes (including fighting each other) to win the Bloodstone. All they have to do is defeat a monster who has the Bloodstone attached to him.

While inspired by the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, the movie wobbles between serious and silly at the beginning. The set-up scene for the hunt unfortunately invokes Young Frankenstein rather than Frankenstein, making the proceedings hard to take seriously. The 54-minute running time does not give enough space to set up tension and horror, only a few gory moments and maybe two thrilling scenes. This show looks like it's just another Marvel action show, albeit shot in black-and-white. The labyrinthine garden where the hunt takes place is not used to any great effect, a lost opportunity. The show does have one interesting twist, some character revelation, and one menacing scene with the titular monster. But overall, it doesn't satisfy.

Barely recommended, this is more like cheap Halloween scares.

Currently (October 2022) only streaming on Disney+.

Book Review: Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland by Bill Willingham

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland by Bill Willingham

Bigby Wolf (that's the Big Bad Wolf, who's a bit of a reformed character in the Fables universe) is out looking for a new location to move the fairy tale creatures from Fabletown. He goes to Story City, Iowa, which is fairly isolated from other towns. He soon discovers it's been taken over by werewolves. An old friend from World War II runs the town by keeping the various factions in balance, which is tough since they all have heightened animal instincts.

The back story of the town (which ties into Bigby's back story) is interesting. Bigby is an American and was fighting behind enemy lines trying to disrupt the enemy during World War II. His big problem was the lack of military intelligence, i.e. he never knew which targets to hit because he didn't know their value. During one raid, he runs across Sergeant Arthur Harp who has just the information he needs. They work together for a while. At the end of their partnership, they go to Frankenstein's Castle (yeah, that Frankenstein). The Nazis are trying to recreate Frankenstein's monster (actually a whole bunch of them) to fight as supersoldiers. The Nazis capture Bigby and Harp is accidentally infected with Bigby's blood during the fighting. The castle is blown to bits with Harp inside. Bigby assumed he died because he didn't know Harp had become a werewolf. Fast forward 60 years and now Harp has a town full of werewolves who are trying to live peaceably by themselves.

Now that Bigby is there, most of the townfolk take him for a god, since he is their progenitor. Some expect him to provide miracles or leadership. Harp sees trouble as does Bigby. Things go from bad to worse in a hurry.

I found the set-up of the story interesting and Bigby is a complicated protagonist. The story seems a bit like Yojimbo or A Fistful of Dollars, where a loner drifts into town and mayhem ensues. It's not nearly as good as those films, though, since the action is more bloody and violent than smart. The wolves make some plans, but they are very basic plans without much cunning. The action is exciting enough but not spectacular. I wanted a little more depth to the story or interest in the rest of the characters.

Parental Advisory: In addition to lots of bloody violence (including decapitations and missing limbs), there's also a lot of nudity (I guess the werewolves don't want to ruin their clothes) and one fairly graphic seduction scene with nudity. This is not a comic for kids.