This is best exemplified in the scene in which Jack ( Griffin Dunne) first appears after having died, sending David into a muted shock. While the film is super depressing and largely plays on a real downbeat as we wait for David ( David Naughton) to either turn into the werewolf or die, Landis will throw a joke in every so often to cut the tension. His take on the mythology of werewolves remains tragic like most others, yet his particular sarcastic and wise-ass brand of comedy makes this new take a breath of fresh air. By this point, he was recognized as one of the most promising and exciting directors coming up in the business, and with a repertoire that bolstered a few comedies and a monster movie, it seemed like the perfect time to get rolling on his long gestating werewolf picture.Īn American Werewolf in London is regarded by Landis as a straight-up horror film, but the man should give the film's comedic bits more credit. He started things out with a low budget horror-comedy, Schlock, followed by 3 comedies in a row, Kentucky Fried Movie, Animal House, and The Blues Brothers. In this time, he would make a few films that would give him some real credit as a director and build up the kind of resume that would eventually prove An American Werewolf in London as a movie worth financing. This was the late 60s though, and Landis had never directed his own feature, so he opted out for slowly fleshing out his idea over the course of a decade. He began working on film sets in his late teens and, while working in Europe, came up with the idea for An American Werewolf in London. Landis grew up a fan of adventure movies like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, a picture that kick-started his love for movies and, more specifically, monsters in movies. The road to this update on the werewolf subgenre was a long one.

Monsters in the Movies by John Landis