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Brenda's Review of An American Werewolf in London 1981 *Spoilers* · Brenda's Horror Movie Reviews

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, this is Brendan.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back with another episode.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're gonna be reviewing an American werewolf in London from 1981, but first I need to throw it in reverse.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you listened to my episode from last week about George C.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Scott's The Changeling, I made a comment about how I hoped him and Claire's character would actually become a romantic couple, but they remain friends in the movie.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Come to find out, we're married in real life.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how this tidbit got by me after I went on and on about the movie being rated R and them not becoming more than friends.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: If I miss something like this again, please feel free, shoot me an email and call me out on it at bstudios at myyahoo.com.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about myself.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now we'll go ahead and jump into an American werewolf in London.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: It stars David Naughton, who I remember from the Dr.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Pepper commercials.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you watch the movie and like it and you want to know a little bit more about him, go over to YouTube and type in making it 1978.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: There is a disco hit on there you don't want to miss.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Online it says he's 5'10, and I don't want to say that they're lying online.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm six feet tall, and I was actually walking behind him at Spooky Empire in 2021 thinking he's not as tall as I thought he was.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe it's just because I feel like Gulliver anywhere I am.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: They also have Griffin Dunn, who played Jack.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some might know him from playing Mr.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Bixley, the teacher, in 1991's My Girl.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he also went on to do some directing.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: He directed Addicted to Love with Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick from 1997, and also Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in 1998.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then one I have to point out is Frank Oz, who is known for his puppeteering, and he is also in this as Mr.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Collins, who um I think he kind of works for the American Embassy.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, gosh, his voice, his natural voice to me sounds like a cross between Fozzie Bear and Burt from Sesame Street.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So he had a little small part in there.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Our opening scene is Jack and David getting out of the back of a sheep truck, and the gentleman driving the truck tells them to keep off the moors and to stick to the roads.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: We learn early on that Jack and David are on a three-month trip backpacking through Europe.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: They stop at a pub called the Slaughtered Lamb, and I would so go there to have a beer.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody in the pub seems to be giving Jack and David the stink eye, and then we see a familiar face sitting in that pub.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have a big part in the movie, but it's Rick Myall who played Fred from Drop Dead Fred.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jack seems to upset everybody at the pub when he asks what the five-pointed star painted on the wall is, and you can tell they're feeling a bit uncomfortable, so as they leave, they're told to stay on the road, keep clear of the moors, and beware the moon, lads.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The barmaid wants them brought back, telling everybody in the bar that it's murder to let them go.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's raining outside, they're not paying attention, and of course they end up off the road.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: When they try to head back to the pub, they realize that they're lost.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: They hear something circling them in the darkness.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: A wolf attacks Jack and kills him and it bites David.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The wolf is shot, and of course it looks human when it's lying on the ground.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: David starts to wake up in a hospital and he's calling out to Jack.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's having dreams of running naked and eating animals.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: One of the dreams he has, the Muppet Show is actually playing on the TV in David's dream, and there's an army of zombies that come in and start shooting everybody and catch the house on fire.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of a dream within a dream.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jack appears to him with wounds and he tells him that he is walking in limbo and that David needs to kill himself before he kills anybody else.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: The nurse that was taking care of him, Alex, they have an attraction for each other, and she ends up letting him stay at her apartment, and we see why this movie's rated R.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jack shows up again at the apartment, he's looking worse, he's decaying more, and he tells David that he's one of the undead and that David himself is a werewolf.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jack tells him again that he has to kill himself before the next night's full moon.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: The doctor takes himself to the slaughtered lamb and tells everyone of David's claims, but they won't talk.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: He runs into a man outside who does tell him that the boy is in danger.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Something is going on with David now.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: A dog barks at him, a cat hisses at him.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like he's another animal.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: He snarls at himself in the mirror, he's bored, he's not hungry, he's pacing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have the full moon and David starts to change.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's burning up, he rips off his clothes, there's that famous scene where his hand is extending, he grows body hair, his feet extend, his body shape changes, his teeth and eyes change, his ears get pointy, his snout extends, and so now he heads out for a night on the town.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: He kills a couple that's on a date, he kills three men on the dock, and he kills a man in the subway.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: After his wild night, he wakes up naked at the zoo in the wolf cage, so he steals a bunch of balloons from a kid and a woman's coat to cover himself.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: David is well aware of what he's done, but he's feeling really good the day after.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: He tries to get himself arrested.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: He even calls home to tell his family that he loves him, and he tries to slice his wrist but just can't do it.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He sees Jack again, and Jack is looking even worse.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's bloody and his skin is hanging off.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Jack introduces him to all the people that he killed the night before in a porn theater.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're all sitting in the seats and they're all giving him suggestions on how to kill himself.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: He starts changing again, he kills the movie usher, the police are called, he bites a man's head off, he causes car accidents and a bus accident, and Alex goes to get him.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Even after all that chaos, she tells him that she loves him.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: He goes to attack and is shot, and after he dies, we see the human David again.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see how many wine glasses I'm gonna give this movie.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Eerie?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'll give it a wine glass.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I like the eerie moors that they show at night.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Same with the environment, I've gotta give it a wine glass.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love the slaughtered lamb.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Evil, yeah, I'll give that a wine glass too.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of killing going on.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know my empathy goes with children and animals, and the only animal we really see in this, aside from the ones hissing and barking at David before he turns, the three men that he kills on the dock originally had a dog Winston, but Winston runs off and we never hear from him again, so I'm gonna assume he's still alive and he went on to live his best life.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So no wine glass for that.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Entertaining?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'll give it a wine glass.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those predictable werewolf movies, but there's something about it.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's the actors or just the cute little storyline.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's predictable, but love it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this one gets four wine glasses.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: The moral of this movie is just stay off the moors.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's all it was.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if they'd have got to finish their three month trip if they'd have just stuck to the roads.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's all it is.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Stick to the road.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is coming up this Saturday.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And my next movie review is gonna be on the thing from 1982.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So until then.