David Kessler (Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Dunne) are Americans in England for a holiday. Backpacking across the Yorkshire Moors, they are attacked by a wolf, where Jack is killed. David wakes in a London hospital, being cared for by a beautiful Nurse (Seagrove). As he recovers from his injuries, he is visited by the ghost of Jack, who tells him that he was bitten by a werewolf, which he, himself will become at the next full moon, and he must take his life before the killings start again.
This film is a contemporary retelling of the classic horror movie - innocent guy caught up in supernatural happenings, reinforced by the "fish out of water" of having Americans in England. Sold as a comedy, it's not really, it is funny in parts, but really it is a clever satire of the genre, and set the scenes for films such as Scream that came after it. Well directed by John Landis, the characters are unbearably likeable, which makes you feel even more sorry for all of these people caught as victims of circumstance. The horror, whilst shocking in its time, is rather tame by today's visceral standards, but the tension and shocks through the movie still stand up well today.
The make-up and special effects in particular are still impressive today, Rick Baker (planet of apes) does the metamorphosis so well, modern cgi just doesn’t compare in realism.
My biggest complaint about this movie is that it's not long enough. We don't really see that much of the Werewolf in London, a few more set pieces wouldn't have gone amiss, and David's realisation of what he is comes too quickly to be truly satisfying. There are some great set pieces - the cinema sequence with his victims
Presented in an impressive 2-disk gatefold package, the movie picture is quite grainy throughout, a little disappointing for an anniversary special edition. The remastered DD5.1 sound is very good though, and particularly spooky during the moors and Piccadilly circus sections. The commentary track is quite funny, insightful in places, though a Landis commentary track is sorely missing. It is also available as a text only track, a feature that I am a big fan of as it lets you watch the film as normal and take note of the key aspects of the production. This is made up for in parts by an excellent interview featurette with the man himself, which gives a real insight in to the movie, from a man who is very enthusiastic about his craft. You also get a behind the scenes featurette from the time, which is more promotional than informative.
Rick Baker's interview is insightful, looking in to the development of the creature effects that led to his Academy award. It covers new ground and shows excellent unused footage of the team working the puppets and distorting the face during the metamorphosis scene. The outtakes featurette has some excellent footage of bloopers and pre-shot preparation, and makes for an interesting watch, though the sound of the projector running for most of it is a little annoying. You do get the impression though, that shooting a film with John Landis is a lot of fun (check out the last scene to see what I mean). The focus on technical effects is raw footage of them creating a cast of David Naughton, which is interesting but is covered elsewhere. Storyboard to screen comparison is interesting for real fans, as is the image gallery of promotional shots from the movie in colour and black and white.
Overall, it takes a lot of time to get through all of the supplementary information in this package, and is a delight for any DVD collector. Buying this set is to own a classic movie, and Universal really deserve a pat on the back for their efforts in delivering to the fans a package that celebrates this great movie.