Werewolf Wednesday #2: An American Werewolf in London (1981)! This movie is such a masterpiece, one of the first real horror-comedies (though Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein might be the actual first), and the movie that put practical werewolf effects on the map with effects genius Rick Baker (the Academy Award category for Best Makeup was created because of his work on this movie, and hes won it 11 times!) my second watch-through made me recognize all the Christ-like imagery- the pub being called “the slaughtered lamb”, comments on him being a Jew, being told to sacrifice himself to save people’s souls from eternal damnation, yelling “Jesus Christ!” when he first starts transforming, the nightmare scene involving Nazis,
the final shot of him with two puncture wounds in his side. Though this is one of my favourite werewolf movies, my love of it diminished quite a bit when i discovered one year later director John Landis was charged with manslaughter after the deaths of two child extras after a helicopter crash on the set of the Twilight Zone Movie. In 2009 he also signed a petition in support of Roman Polanski, so he didn't exactly develop an overarching redememption arc over time. All this is to say, excellent werewolf movie but maybe dont become a Landis stan !
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