5.
American Werewolf in London is a masterclass in horror and comedy but I think the comedy is less about gags and more about just the back and forth between friends. It’s also brilliant in the way that Landis sets up his characters at the beginning of the film and we get to know and like them in a very short space of time. Then suddenly this phantasmagorical cataclysm happens and you’re just in. It’s just a brilliantly made and brilliantly performed film.
Griffin Dunne is just amazing as Jack who comes back in various states of decay and David Naughton as David is also brilliant. Jenny Agutter too of course in a very, um, teenage-boy friendly role; I seem to remember being very in love with Jenny Agutter in that movie. And there’s loads of gore as well. It [was] just a really, really great formative film for me. It’s one I watched on VHS in my friend Chris’ house at lunchtime during the school holidays. None of our parents knew and we watched it with the curtains closed and it was awesome and it still is! It made me a huge John Landis fan which was obviously a big deal when I got to work with him in 2010 on Burke and Hare.
