The Story of An American Werewolf in London
Ep. 242 is live!
Week Two of Howl-O-Ween is here, and we continue our revisit of werewolf fare of the 1980s! This week, our companion episode to last week’s The Howling sees us sticking with great great American werewolves of ‘81 with An American Werewolf in London from infamous director John Landis. I say infamous, as opposed to other adjectives that properly reflect my feelings on the man, to be concise and diplomatic. For a true taste for how I feel about him…just tune in, I don’t hold back. That said, flowers where flowers are due, An American Werewolf in London (abbreviated as AAWL moving forward) is the other half of the 80’s werewolf renaissance. I will say this offering does lean more into the comedy aspect of the horror/comedy genre when compared to The Howling, but there are some plot issues and characterizations that really seem strange in this one…namely the whole love affair of David and Alex. Then again, as we said in the show, this could be chalked up to the whole Florence Nightingale Effect. What truly sets AAWL apart from The Howling is the superior creature effects by Rick Baker; that is to say, completed start to finish by Rick. If you may recall, The Howling saw Baker initially starting on the creature effects for Dante’s lycanthropes, but he left midway to work with Landis. Through lines and similarities between the two can of course be drawn. However, one has to admit the effects in the latter are far more superior than the former.
Now here is something many may not know: This movie has a toy line! No, not a vintage one mind you. For the avid horror, 80’s, and/or toy enthusiast(s) NECA has delivered on several offerings for AAWL related merchandise. Funko has released mini figs related to the movie, Mondo has release soft vinyls of the Nightmare Demons, while Trick or Treat Studios released a highly detailed Demon Mask, which can be seen below with NECA’s action figure s.
I personally don’t need the David and Jack two pack, despite how great the likenesses and details look. I may have to go to eBay and get spendy for that werewolf though. Now, that does bring things to a close for this week’s instalment, but this theme just keeps on rollin’! Week 3 sees us reviewing one of my absolute favorite werewolf movies, and a mandatory spooky season watch. Believe it or not, this is also one I will watch several times of year outside of the Halloween season. Still, a viewing on a crisp Midwest October night is CHOICE! I’m talking about 1985’s Silver Bullet, based the novella Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King. I’m really looking forward to it. In the meantime, leave some feedback, leave a review on your podcast app of choice, or send us an email even! We’d love to hear from you. That’s going to wrap things up this week for Yesterdaze, but come back next Monday. In the meantime, thanks…and enjoy!
-Derek
