favorite movie #44: an american werewolf in london

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #44 - An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Director John Landis served up a movie that was equally funny, scary, and gross — and extremely entertaining. The special werewolf transformation effects changed make-up and movies for years. Today it's all computers, but there is something to be said for the movie magic of a slowly deteriorating Griffin Dunne, who keeps visiting his pal David Naughton to urge him to end his reign as a newly-minted werewolf. Jenny Agutter is lovely as always, and lends some real pathos as someone who has unwittingly fallen in love with a monster. And the clever movie soundtrack* keeps things light in a movie monster story that, taking its cue from classic horror films, can't really have a happy ending.

*Soundtrack includes multiple versions of "Blue Moon" (Bobby Vinton, Sam Cooke, The Marcels), "Moondance" (Van Morrison), "Bad Moon Rising" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

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