Tag Archives: An American Werewolf In London

MOV076: “If You Put It In Your Mouth, Then You’d Be Sure Not To Miss.”

In celebration of Halloween, the boys head back in time to revive John Landis’ classic “An American Werewolf in London”. They head to the theater to see if “Paranormal Activity 3” produces as many scares as the previous PA movies (heehee…I said PA). As for trailers, they review “Contraband” – an upcoming Mark Wahlberg and Kate Bekinsale heist movie. In movie news, Redbox increases prices, Channing Tatum relives his life as a stripper, Tim Burton gets back into animation, and more news about the “Evil Dead” reboot. It’s COL Movies Reel 76…“If you put it in your mouth, then you’d be sure not to miss.”

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News:

The Past: An American Werewolf In London

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Fresh, 76% Audience

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Director: John Landis

Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne

Trivia:

  • All the songs in this film have the word “moon” in their titles.
  • At the close of the credits is a congratulatory message for the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (as Lady Diana Spencer). It was included because during the scene when David is trying to get arrested, he shouts, “Prince Charles is gay!” The film was shot months before the preparations for the couple’s July 1981 wedding.
  • John Landis originally wanted three other songs to add to the soundtrack: Cat Stevens wouldn’t allow “Moonshadow” to be used because he had stopped allowing his secular music to be licensed for films following his conversion to Islam; Bob Dylan wouldn’t allow his version of “Blue Moon” to be used in an R-rated film, as he had just begun his brief conversion to Christianity; and Elvis Presley’s version of “Blue Moon” proved unavailable due to the ongoing lawsuits involving his estate.
  • The legal disclaimer in the closing credits reads, “Any resemblance to any persons living, dead, or undead, is coincidental.” This was also placed at the end of another John Landis project: Thriller, which was reportedly inspired by (and held several allusions to) this film.
  • David Naughton was reportedly cast because John Landis had seen him in a television commercial for Dr. Pepper.
  • In 1997, the movie was re-recorded as a Radio drama by Audio Movies Limited for BBC Radio 1 in Britain. It was broadcast during Halloween that year, in short snippets throughout the day. Brian Glover, John Woodvine and Jenny Agutter reprised their roles from the movie.
  • Studio executives hoped John Landis would cast Dan Aykroyd in the role of David and John Belushi as Jack. John Landis refused.
  • John Landis wrote the screenplay for this film while he was a gofer on the Kelly’s Heroes shoot.
  • John Landis came up with a film following an incident while shooting Kelly’s Heroes in the countryside of Yugoslavia. While driving along a country road with a colleague, Landis encountered a gypsy funeral. The body was being buried in a massively deep grave, feet first, while wrapped in garlic, so as he would not rise from the dead.
  • The scene when the werewolf runs riot in Piccadilly Circus was filmed at that busy intersection when police stopped the normal traffic and the public. Everyone took their places, it was filmed with multiple cameras and it was all cleaned up within the half hour. It was the first time in many years that filming had been allowed in Piccadilly Circus, due to lingering resentment over an unannounced smoke bomb which director Michael Winner set off while filming a scene for The Jokers, after which he sped off in a taxi with the film magazine while other members of the crew were arrested; however, John Landis’ cordial experience in working with the Chicago police on The Blues Brothers helped overcome official reluctance to approve the filming, especially as he had completely worked out a plan, using a scale model of the area, whereby traffic would be minimally disrupted.
  • When trying to call home, the telephone number that David Kessler gives the operator (516-472-3402) contains a Long Island, New York, area code. It is also an unusual case in which an actual phone number is used.
  • The London Underground station used in the film is Tottenham Court Road. It was refurbished in the late 1980s. The platform with the train arriving and departing is the northbound Northern Line platform. This is NOT Aldwych station as previously reported.
  • The tube station used in the film is Tottenham Court Road, Northern Line branch. The sign for Tottenham Court Road can clearly be seen in some shots.
  • The location filming of the front of Alex’s flat and surroundings was filmed on or around Lupus Street in Pimlico, London (lupus is Latin for wolf).
  • Humphrey Bogart can be seen in two posters in Alex’s apartment. There is one for Casablanca on the front wall in the living room, and there’s a black-and-white solo shot of Humphrey Bogart in the kitchen.
  • The episode of The Muppet Show playing on the television during David’s nightmare sequence is indeed a real episode, but the portion shown was never shown in the US. This is why it was considered a fake episode and why Miss Piggy (Frank Oz) and Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) are credited.
  • The wolves used in the London Zoo scene were kept privately by Roger Palmer in the UK and appeared in several TV programmes and in adverts. Roger went on to found the UK Wolf Conservation Trust which keeps wolves to this day.
  • Because of this film, makeup and industry technological contributions became recognized by the Academy Awards in 1981. Makeup artist Rick Baker was the first to receive an Oscar in the new category. William Tuttle was the first makeup effects artist to receive an Oscar (being an honorary one) for his work on 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
  • This is the first film to earn the Academy Award for Best Makeup. That category was created in 1981.
  • The final look of the werewolf beast was based on make-up creator Rick Baker’s dog Bosko.
  • When David calls home to speak to his family, he speaks to his sister Rachel. During the conversation, they talk about their brother Max. Max and Rachel are the names of Director John Landis’s children.
  • David Naughton reported that the hospital bed in the forest scene was the most difficult and painful one. Back then, they used glass contact lenses.
  • In an interview with Mick Garris on “Take One,” John Landis stated that in a preview, he included a scene in which you saw more of how the three bums in the junkyard were killed. People reacted so strongly, and loudly for the rest of the preview, that he was afraid that people would miss some of the key plot points at the end of the film. He added that he felt it was a bad idea because it might have made the movie stand out more.
  • John Landis has reported that when he was approving a high-definition transfer of the film for DVD in the mid-2000s, he was taken aback by how gory the film actually was.
  • John Woodvine was cast at short notice after the first two choices left the project.
  • The total duration of composer Elmer Bernstein’s original score for the film is a total of seven minutes much to the surprise of film music aficionados who have wanted for a release of this music for years. The music is more in the vain of transitional orchestral cues in between the pre-recorded songs featured throughout the film to give the film more dramatic weight where needed.
  • The scene inside the subway (or train) while the commuter is running from the werewolf one of the movie posters on the wall is Dance Craze, the documentary of the British ska music scene that was going on at the time the move was filmed.
  • The hospital scenes where David was brought to after he was attacked by the werewolf, were filmed in a disused hospital. Room 21, Floor 4, Princess Beatrice Hospital, in London. Now used as a homeless clinic.
  • The Werewolf howl that was used for the film was a combination of a actual wolf and an elephant, it was also said it was played backward by the producer George Folsey Jr. in the “Beware the Moon” documentary. Director John Landis also stated in the documentary that the Howl was a combination of seven or eight different animals.
  • While John Landis was trying to get this film made, Rick Baker became tired of waiting (over eight years) and decided to use what he had been planning for this film on The Howling. Eventually Landis called Baker and told him, “I have the money. Let’s make ‘American Werewolf’!” to which Baker replied that he was already doing a werewolf picture. Landis started yelling at Baker over the phone. Baker decided to leave The Howling in the hands of his protégé Rob Bottin and would only consult on that film, leaving him free to do this one. Reportedly, Rick Baker’s initial decision is something for which John Landis has never forgiven him.
  • At one point David screams, “I’m a fuckin’ werewolf, for God’s sake!” For television, David Naughton screamed, “I’m a famous werewolf, for God’s sake!” The latter phrase was looped in post-production.
  • During a preview of the film the marquee said, “From the Director of Animal House.” Because of this, many people in the audience thought they were seeing a comedy. Reportedly, people ran out of the theater when they discovered it was a horror film because they were frightened.
  • Michael Jackson was so bowled over by this movie – most especially by the the makeup and special effects – he insisted on hiring the responsible personnel for his planned music video Thriller. When John Landis agreed to direct (his first music video), he brought on board his foremost “werewolf” crew including, Robert Paynter (cinematography), Elmer Bernstein (“creepy” music), Rick Baker (special makeup effects) and his wife Deborah Nadoolman (costume design).
  • The clip from The Muppet Show shown in the film is the one in which puppeteer and ventriloquist Señor Wences was the guest star.
  • Unlike most motion pictures it was filmed in sequence, with the opening scenes filmed first and the closing sequences filmed last.
  • The opening scene of the movie – also the first scene filmed – depicts friends David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) on a walking tour of Yorkshire, Northern England, traveling on foot toward the nearest town. Because of the cold and dampness of the location, Dunne’s nose was running. While delivering a line of dialogue, Naughton glanced over at Dunne just in time to see Dunne catching and wiping away a stream of snot running from his nose. Naughton laughed at the sight of Dunne’s discomfort, making Dunne begin to laugh while responding to Naughton’s line of dialogue. Because of the spontaneity of the shot – and because the scene was largely improvised anyway – director John Landis decided to use that imperfect shot in the film’s release print.
  • Only four American work permits were requested of the British government for the production: for director John Landis, makeup artist Rick Baker, and actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne. The first three work permits were granted by the British government without question. But the British office of Actors’ Equity questioned the necessity of a work permit for actor Dunne, claiming that there were already plenty of young American actors living in Great Britain who could portray the role of Jack. It was only when director/screenwriter Landis threatened to rewrite the script and re-title the movie “An American Werewolf in Paris” that the equity office reconsidered the application and granted Dunne his work permit.
  • Much of the British cast, including actor John Woodvine, playing the role of Dr. Hirsch, were appearing in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s London stage production of “Nicholas Nickleby”, simultaneous to the film’s production.
  • John Landis sought the permission of musician Cat Stevens to use the performer’s hit song “Moon Shadow” on the soundtrack. Stevens refused, reportedly because of a belief in the occult that included acknowledgment of the actual existence of werewolves.
  • Jenny Agutter, John Woodvine and David Schofield went on to rejoin John Landis for Burke and Hare almost 30 years later, on yet again, an exclusive UK location shoot.
  • Director/screenwriter John Landis advised actor Griffin Dunne that the key to the character of Jack Goodman was that he was always to be encouraging, optimistic, and cheerful as a member of the undead, no matter what his stage of ghastly corporal decay, deterioration, and decomposition.
  • John Landis initially wanted to keep the werewolf’s screen time to a minimum, having it only appear in a couple scenes, just enough to give an impression of something huge and ferocious. The long shot of the werewolf cornering Gerald Bringsley on the Underground escalator was an example of this. Landis’ decision to show the werewolf as much as it was shown was based on the fact that Landis loved Rick Baker’s design of the monster.
  • Griffin Dunne helped puppeteer the “zombified” version of his character Jack in the porno theater scene, saying his lines at the same time.
  • Rick Baker and John Landis had several disagreements over what the design of the werewolf should be. Baker wanted it to be a two-legged werewolf saying he thought of werewolves as being bipedal. Landis wanted a “four-legged hound from hell”.
  • John Landis: appears briefly near the end of the film. He is the bearded man who gets hit by a car and thrown through the plate glass window in Piccadilly Circus.
  • The porno film showing when David meets Jack and his zombie friends. A poster for the film appears in the London Underground when the man is killed.
  • Frank Oz, The Miss Piggy/Yoda creator/voice talent plays Mr. Collins of the American embassy, who attempts in vain to console David. His voice is also heard later, during a Britian-only excerpt of The Muppet Show. He appears in all of Landis’s films as a good-luck charm.
  • When Jack is killed by the first werewolf, makeup artist Rick Baker told Griffin Dunne to be careful with the wolf’s head as it was new and quite delicate. During the first take Griffin rip the foam rubber off the head. Rick was so irritated by this that he considered putting hard teeth in the wolf but instead used the backup head to ‘beat the crap out of Griffin’.
  • The woman whom David runs into at the zoo was not told that David Naughton would be nude, but she was told that a man would come out and say something.
  • Rick Baker performed the action of the werewolf biting off Inspector Villier’s head.
  • John Landis had a bit of a communication issue on the set with the effects crew. He told them to take the head of Inspector Villiers and throw it across the hood of a car. They looked at him in puzzlement, and after he picked up the head and threw it himself, they replied, “Oh, you mean the bonnet.”
  • Dr Pepper Commercial.

Talking Points:

  • The practical effects!!!
  • Comedy vs. Horror

What We’ve Learned:

  • Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors. Beware the moon, lads.
  • If you put it in your mouth, then you’d be sure not to miss.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Meh, it was okay, but just okay. Gotta admit, if this was the reason John Landis got hired to do the Thriller video, it’s gotta be good. See it at least once.
Ray: Classic, looking a little dated these days, but was in a league of its own originally.
Steve: Classic! Practical effects are great! Of course, it’s kind of confusing being a bit of a comedy, but still one that is memorable. Definitely one a horror fan has to see.

The Present: Paranormal Activity 3

Rotten Tomatoes: 70% Fresh, 69% Audience

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Starring: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and Christopher Nicholas Smith

Trivia:

  • Towards the beginning of the film, Julie takes a picture of young Kristi standing in the driveway shortly before a group picture is taken. The photo being taken appears in both Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 as an indication that the demon has started haunting them.
  • Mark Fredrichs previous played the Psychic in the first Paranormal Activity, which took place nearly two decades after the events in this film.
  • Most of the scenes in the trailers are not in the actual movie.

Talking Points:

  • #2 was 52% rotten & 52% audience, #1 was 82% Fresh, 56% audience
  • Use of camera angles, like the “fan” camera
  • More standard scares?

What We Learned:

  • Believe your children!
  • Don’t play Bloody Mary.
  • Don’t piss off your kid’s imaginary friend.
  • If the baby sitter runs out of the house when you get home, assume something went wrong.
  • If your mother-in-law looks like a witch, she probably is.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I was absolutely terrified during the entire movie. If you like that, go see it, if not, stay away.
Ray: I loved it up until the end… then it lost me!
Steve: Enjoyed it, but not as much as the others. Think they’re trying to force scares now. Also…the audience makes a huge difference for this kind of film.

The Future: Contraband

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi and Kate Beckinsale

Summary:

Chris Farraday long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs, Chris is forced back into doing what he does best;running contraband-to settle Andy’s debt. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his rusty skills to successfully navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife, Kate, and sons become their target.

Trivia:

  • Remake of Reykjavik-Rotterdam (2008)
  • Filming took place in New Orleans, Louisiana and Panama City.

Talking Points:

  • Same ol, same ol?
  • Had no idea that was Kate Beckinsale!

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Same old, same old, schtick. Guy goes legit, is brought back in to do once last job to protect family. While I wanted to see Gone in 60 Seconds, this one doesn’t have the cars.
Ray: Lol, at first I was like… is this “The Fighter 2?” Yawn.. maybe if it gets decent reviews, but I’m not jumping to see it.
Steve: Woo hoo…a heist movie involving someone who got out of the game, but gets pulled back in to do “just one more”! Never seen one of those before. (yeah, that’s sarcasm)

Coming Attractions

The Past:
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The Present

The Future

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