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This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Past DVD Hardware / Software News |
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An American Werewolf in London |
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DVD Horror-Thriller
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Written by Abbie Bernstein
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Tuesday, 18 September 2001 |
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title:
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An American Werewolf In London |
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studio:
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Universal Studios Home Video |
| MPAA rating: |
R |
| starring: |
David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, John Woodvine |
| release year: |
1981 |
| film rating: |
Five Stars |
| reviewed by: |
Abbie Bernstein |
With hindsight, it’s extremely easy to determine whether a film has
historical significance – if nothing quite like it has been seen before
and tons of projects (other movies, TV series, books and plays) come
along afterwards, it’s had an impact. Such a film is director/writer
John Landis’ "An American Werewolf in London." Made in 1981, "Werewolf"
pretty much pioneered the genre of self-aware horror. It is hilariously
funny because the characters can relate their predicaments to what
they’ve seen in movies. They say what we think, which produces a rare
level of empathy – which in turn makes the story’s dark events not
merely horrific but tragic. Because we can identify with the
characters’ reactions, we can readily imagine these things happening to
our friends, to ourselves. While it remains true that most comedies shy
away from true horror and most horror films get deadly serious and stay
that way, "Werewolf" made it possible for the mixture to co-exist. If
you have fun watching "Scream," are crazy about "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer" or even tune in every week to "Farscape," you can thank Landis
and "Werewolf" for paving the way. Then again, "Werewolf" is something
to be thankful for in its own right.
For those just joining us, "An American Werewolf in London" introduces
us to two personable young Americans, best friends David Kessler (David
Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne), backpacking in the north of
England. Straying from the road, they are attacked by a horrible,
mysterious beast. Jack is killed. David wakes up three weeks later in a
London hospital, where nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) befriends him.
In addition to being grief-stricken by Jack’s death, David has some
very bad dreams. And then Jack comes to visit – with news even worse
than his freshly-killed appearance.
By now, even those who haven’t yet seen "Werewolf" know about the
man-to-monster transformation that won makeup effects creator Rick
Baker his first Oscar, so it’s not giving too much away to say that
David becomes a werewolf. For those who like metaphors with their
horror, "American Werewolf" can be seen as a movie about coping with
dreadful terminal illness. For those who just want major jolts
delivered at regular intervals, "Werewolf" qualifies on that score as
well.
As for the makeup effects, while the end-result wolf is a little stiff,
the transformation (Chapter 12, helpfully labeled "Metamorphosis" on
the sleeve insert) is still as agonizing and amazing as ever, and even
20 years later, it’s hard to imagine how the first-stage death makeup
on Jack could be improved upon.
The DTS track on the new "Werewolf" DVD represents one of the
relatively rare instances in which a soundtrack originally mixed years
before the advent of 5.1 has not only survived but flourished in the
5.1 remix. Landis himself was involved in the remix (see interview in
this issue), along with a team headed by Gerry Humphreys, with
excellent results. The dialogue in the center channel holds up firmly
and clearly regardless of what comes up around it, which is saying a
great deal in a film like "Werewolf."
Chapter 4 moves the (as yet unseen) werewolf through the mains for the
most part but it stalks distinctively through the left rear at one
point. When David and Jack split up during the werewolf attack, the
volume of the creature’s growls changes promptly and appropriately,
depending on how near or far the camera’s p.o.v. is from the marauding
beast. Two shotgun blasts have realistic heft and depth. Chapter 6 has
plenty of volume and dimension on rattling machine-gun fire and the
devouring crackle of real fire, although it also contains the DVD’s
only notable sonic flaws – there are slight level drops on a few
speeches by John Woodvine’s Dr. Hirsch (one or two of his lines in
later chapters also seem a bit dampened).
Chapter 8 has a splendid, encompassing section on a subway, where we’re
surrounded by the shuffling of passengers and the rattle of the train.
Later in the same chapter, we’re treated to a warm, enveloping
rendition of Van Morrison’s "Moondance" over a very sexy sequence, in
which the song’s vocals and instrumentation co-exist smoothly with soft
but (ahem) important breathing sounds on the ambient track.
Chapter 11 treats us to some delicate, directional church bell chimes,
subtle but present, then again demonstrates the soundtrack’s skill at
balancing full-blown music selections with necessary dialogue and
ambience. A CD-quality rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s "Bad
Moon Rising" has all of that song’s full-throttle, foot-stomping vigor
while still permitting us to easily hear what David is saying. Chapter
12 expands on this dynamic further, with Sam Cooke’s velvety cover of
"Blue Moon" floating out of all the speakers as the transformation’s
sounds of stretching bones and agonized screams are vivid and clear in
the center and mains.
Chapter 14 puts across werewolf howls with clarity and has a wonderful,
well-defined punch as an animal roar becomes the roar of the London
subway (which also provides realistic brake sounds in the rears).
Chapter 15 has some delightful surround effects of zoo sounds – bird
calls in one speaker, monkey chatter in another – along with the DVD’s
only noticeable video glitch (the frame freezes briefly as David, back
to his human self, clears the top of a wolf enclosure). Chapter 18 has
some of the most intense, specific and sustained vehicular crash
effects (visually as well as aurally) to be found in any film – the
audio track deposits us in the middle of slamming metal on all sides.
The print is pristine and faithful to the theatrical release (darkened
sequences on the DVD are likewise dark in the original). The DVD is
loaded with supplements – there’s an enjoyable 18-minute recent
interview with Landis, a 10-minute interview with Baker that includes
footage of how the fully transformed wolf was made to move, a
storyboard-to-film comparison of the sequence in which the werewolf
terrorizes Piccadilly Circus and generously illustrated production
notes. There’s also a photo montage, edited to appropriate selections
from Elmer Bernstein’s score, a short making-of featurette from the
time of the film’s original release and a gratifyingly detailed
sequence on Baker and Co. making a mold of Naughton’s arm.
However, perhaps the most entertaining extra on the "Werewolf" DVD is
the audio commentary by actors Naughton and Dunne. "Werewolf" has one
of the most effortless-looking and oddly affecting depictions of male
friendship ever, in any genre; it gives the film an emotional spine
that reasserts itself at the most unlikely moments. Much of this is in
the writing, but it’s in the performances as well. Naughton and Dunne
had never met one another before the start of pre-production on
"Werewolf" – one can only congratulate Landis for casting that resulted
in such lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between his male leads, and
applaud the two actors for playing it so well. Although the actors are
speaking as themselves on the commentary track – and hadn’t seen each
other in years before their reunion in the recording booth – they sound
so much like their characters in overall attitude and in the way they
play off one another that the effect is a little bit like the
in-character commentary on the most recent release of "This Is Spinal
Tap."
One of the more intriguing, singular aspects of "Werewolf" is that it’s
structured less like a comedy or a horror film than a character study.
The reason we may not notice this is that character studies – before,
during and after "Werewolf" – have seldom been this mercurial in mood,
from realistically goofy to heartbreaking to all-out chaotic, without
ever becoming pompous. Landis, however, is a lot less concerned with
getting from plot point A to B – the full moon is going to rise, no
matter what anybody does – than creating delirious yet completely
natural riffs on having an absolutely human reaction to something awful
beyond comprehension. He’s created a context not only for
groundbreaking special effects and effects makeup, but also for a whole
outlook that hadn’t really been captured on film (or much of anywhere
else) before.
While "An American Werewolf in London" has inspired countless other
works, it has never been effectively imitated. It remains unique and
ever-watchable – and it’s now available on a DVD that does it justice.
| more details |
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sound format:
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English DTS 5.1 Surround; English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround |
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aspect ratio(s):
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1.85:1 |
| special features: |
Interview
with Writer/Director John Landis; Interview with Makeup Effects Creator
Rick Baker; Audio Commentary with Actors David Naughton and Griffin
Dunne; Making-Of Featurette; Featurette on Making Cast of Naughton’s
Hand; Outtakes; Storyboards; Photo Montage; Production Notes; Cast and
Filmmakers Biographies; English Closed-Captioning; Spanish Subtitles;
French Subtitles; DVD-ROM Script-to-Screen Feature |
| comments: |
email us here... |
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| reference system |
| DVD player: |
Kenwood DV-403 |
| receiver: |
Kenwood VR-407 |
| main speakers: |
Paradigm Atom |
| center speaker: |
Paradigm CC-170 |
| rear speakers: |
Paradigm ADP-70 |
| subwoofer: |
Paradigm PDR-10 |
| monitor: |
27-inch Toshiba |
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