John Landis directed National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers and then, our next film, An American Werewolf in London (1981). The special effects were created by Rick Baker, who won his first Oscar for them (he has since won 6 more and been nominated 5 other times!) The film also features Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover, Frank Oz and, in a tiny non-speaking role, Rik Mayall. For once this is a highly-rated horror film that delivers. Hooray/finally!

It’s not the scariest film, but it’s certainly not the least scary either. It’s great fun and the story goes along at a decent pace. It really quite funny in places and overall there’s a lot to enjoy.

Benjamin, have you ever been severely beaten about the face and neck?

What are the best bits (intentionally-vague slight-spoilers)? The special effects are great; particularly the variations on Jack and the transforming werewolf. You know the special effects are great because they are often shown in full light and don’t have to be obscured by dark or dingy light to smooth the edges. It’s really quite amusing with even the film-within-a-film “See You Next Wednesday” being really quite funny (as well as bringing some horror-standard gratuitous nudity).

What are the worst bits? The actual “full” werewolf is the weakest special effect, but it’s still not terrible. The narrative is not particularly believable (the actions of the doctor, the main nurse and all the people who want to crowd around the werewolf seemes unlikely) but that’s not massively important, because the movie isn’t taking itself too seriously. The film doesn’t include Warren Zevon’s hit Werewolves of London, which is a shame.

One of the better ones then? Definitely.