I don’t know how much bile this will work up among our readers here, but word is out that The Weinstein Bros. have, according to Bloody Disgusting, haggled away the remake rights to An American Werewolf in London remake from John Landis. My memory of the movie — which was one of the best horror movies of the 80s — is fuzzy, but for the miraculous (especially for the time) werewolf transformation, which I believe Rick Baker was responsible for, who was the make-up and effects man who, along with Tom Savini, basically kept Fangoria in business. I must have watched the transformation on an old VHS at least 100 times.
Of course, the movie hasn’t done a lot of favors for writer/director John Landis; the last time I saw his name was as director of an episode of “Psych.” If you exclude Blues Brothers 2000 (and you should), he hasn’t had a legitimate feature film since 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop, so it’s really no wonder that he finally let go of the rights. But then, does anyone even remember the stars of Werewolf in London? I had to look it up, and Griffin Dunne is the only name I remember. Clearly, Rick Baker was the real star of that movie.
But, as I suggested a few weeks ago, now that vampire movies are making yet another comeback, it was only a matter of time before werewolves (a central focus of the next Twilight film) would do the same, first with a Teen Wolf remake and, now, perhaps the most iconic of all werewolf movies. I have no doubt that the Weinsteins will screw it up.
I loved this movie the first time I saw it. It Scared the ever-loving shit out of me an I couldn't sleep for a week. That goddamn werewolf was hiding around every bend; I could see it out of the corner of my eye. Give me a break, I think I was eight at the time.
Posted by: admin at June 30, 2009 9:53 AM
Just like my love for the classic shambling Romero zombies, I much prefer the "humanoid" werewolf over the kind that's just a big wolf. That's the whole point! It's a man and a wolf combined!
If you're just a big wolf then you're clearly only a shapeshifter or something.
They should have teamed up with the people doing the teen wolf remake. Cast MJ Fox again in the titular role, and it could be about an aging wolf moving to London who encounters a young, evil wolf and teaches him about morality (and Parkinsons). Eventually the young wolf moves back to America and then the sequel can be about a British wolf trying to fit into American High School life and also, ya know, being a wolf.
Posted by: Fantasysage at June 30, 2009 9:56 AM
I have a vivid memory of this giant monster stalking a man in a subway station and there was an overhead view of the guy on an escalator and this thing slowly coming into view.
It was horrifying.
And now I'm reading The Terror and I probably won't be able to leave my house for days.
Posted by: annoyingmouse at June 30, 2009 9:56 AM
I think it was the (Michael Caine voice) "flying cuisinart" in Twilight Zone: The Movie that performed the primary role of "not doing any favors" in the career of Mr. Landis.
Posted by: laredo at June 30, 2009 9:58 AM
the beauty of AAWIL will be ruined with the inevitable CGI transformation. it will be van helsing retarded. mark my words this day on your calendars.
on a side note: if you haven't seen griffin dunne's performance in after hours, go find it NOW.
or i will kill you with a plaster of paris bagel with cream cheese paperweight.
Posted by: gp at June 30, 2009 9:59 AM
I have The Howling, and its transformation at the top of my list, but this one is a strong second, most definitely. One of my favorite movies.
Posted by: Rykker at June 30, 2009 9:59 AM
GP:
At first I thought you meant a retarded version of Van Helsing, which I thought impossible; then I realized your true intention of a comparison and calmed down a bit.
Posted by: Fantasysage at June 30, 2009 10:00 AM
Posted by: Fantasysage at June 30, 2009 9:56 AM
I would pay money to see that. Not real money; maybe confederate money or something, but still. That's not a bad idea.
This is another example of Hollywood running out of ideas. This movie is still effective and does not need to be remade. I'd rather see them rip it off then remake it. They're only doing this so they can cash in on the title.
When you remake a movie that doesn't need it, you pretty much make it so that newer generations will not see it.
Posted by: Jim at June 30, 2009 10:04 AM
The original movie had several pee-your-pants moments, and was pretty awesome for the time. I'd be happier if they just left it there. Does everything have to be updated? Gah!
Posted by: Tarn at June 30, 2009 10:07 AM
So, even though the sequel (yeah, that's right, sequel) barely registered, they are still going with the remake thing. Huh.
And yeah, the Twilight Zone movie scandal pretty much got Landis blacklisted for years. So it wasn't like he simply faded away, more like folks just acted like he did.
It's funny, I've never seen the movie but I have seen the transformation scene. I wonder how that happened.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way to vampfangs.com to check out their "realistic" wares.
Posted by: Kolby at June 30, 2009 10:12 AM
CGI werewolf transformation in a remake of this film will be a smeary blur of ones and zeros easily mistaken for a slug rolling in loose cat fur, only not as menacing.
On the upshot, the latest issue of cinefex features an article about the recently released old school effects film Moon. To see images in that magazine of people adjusting models on a miniature lunar surface in this day and age is weepy and refreshing.
It could have easily been 12 pages of Sam Rockwell in a spacesuit on a greenscreen stage, followed by one shot of a guy at a computer workstation looking smugly at the action figure on one of his monitors.
Posted by: laredo at June 30, 2009 10:13 AM
I remember being terrified and laughing my ass off over this one.
Posted by: Cindy at June 30, 2009 10:14 AM
1994’s Beverly Hills Cop
Wait, he directed the third one? The one nobody saw?
John Landis had a lifetime pass for directing this, The Blues Brothers, Animal House, Kentucky Fried Movie, and Trading Places. Hell, even Thriller! Then, he started to whore himself out, aka Blues Brothers 2000, Spies Like Us (although I do have a soft spot for Three Amigos)....
BUT DON'T FUCK WITH AWESOME!!! AWiL was perfect, just the way it was. The most "realistic," if you can ever say that, transformation I have ever seen--where the change looked really, REALLY fucking painful, Jenny Agutter at her hottest, Griffin Dunne falling apart throughout.....
Not to beat the old 'aren't there any new ideas in Hollywood anymore' drum, but for serious, AREN'T THERE ANY NEW IDEAS IN HOLLYWOOD ANYMORE? It feels like, instead of nurturing visionary screenwriters, studios have a room full of high school sophomores going through old stacks of VHS tapes with one directive: What would be cool to watch, only imagine it with Shia Leboeuf and a CGI monkey in the lead?
Posted by: Clee Shay at June 30, 2009 10:38 AM
Pffft. "Spies Like Us" squashes "Three Amigos" like a grape, plus it has a better theme song.
If El Guapo wasn't there...oh I daren't even imagine it.
dammitjanet said: the change looked really, REALLY fucking painful
This is exactly what I was going to say. Watching the transformation makes me squirm mightily, not just from the way it looks, but because I can feel it in my own bones. No slick CGI work will recapture that sensation. Further, much of the real horror in this movie is watching the lead spiral downward as he realizes he's in the grip of something he can't control.
Besides that, they'll cast some emo douchewaffle as the lead and replace Jenny Agutter with Megan Fox.
Posted by: appwitch at June 30, 2009 10:41 AM
But will the remake have the nightmare imagery of the werewolf/zombie shock-trooper dudes with the Uzis? Because THOSE guys were scarier than the werewolf. I caught the movie recently again and was surprised that I STILL don't know what those guys were about.
Um, hello?! How do you not remember David Naughton and the lovely Jenny Agutter? Not to mention Frank Oz? And all the old guys at the pub? This movie has what may have been the first full frontal male nudity I ever saw in a mainstream movie. And that transformation! All done by hand. Beautifully done by hand. And the filming! The foggy moors of England late at night, and the subway scene, and that movie theater scene. The Slaughtered Lamb. If ever I open a pub, that's what it will be called. Oh, and yeah, American Werewolf in Paris? Shitballs retarded much? This movie was scary as hell and hilarious! This movie is one of the first ones that made me want to do special effects makeup form the time I was 12 up until I was around 23! I fell in love with Rick Baker because of this movie. Guh! what the hell, man?! I can't. I just can't.
See? This is how much bile this will raise, at least in this reader. I can't even form complete sentences anymore.
My mom and I bonded so much over this movie, by the way. Maybe I'll call her and see if she wants to watch it this week...
Fuck you Weinsteins!!!! This is one of those movies like John Carpenter's The Thing, Aliens, Videodrome, or Eraserhead that you just don't remake! (Yes I know Carpenter's movie could be called a remake, but he was more loyal to the original short story).
The make-up still holds up today and trying to re-do it is just gonna shit on a good memory. The werewolf is already fucking killer. American Werewolf in Paris and that pig-fucker from that stupid Wonders movie already proved that an updated wolf looks like the inside of a dead rhino's asshole. And you can't fucking tell me that the Griffin Dunne, face torn way the fuck open and bleeding make-up still doesn't look A.Maze.Ing. I fucking hate hollywood. I hope the Weinsteins crash into a fucking liquified natural gas truck or meet the unfriendly end of a horny clydesdale. fuck. Fuck. FUCK!!! I want to jam my weenis into there eyes until I'm fucking them in their pons.
On an effects note....
As a student of Tom Savini I can say this about Werewolf transformations...
Dudeman Tom is willing to pay a ton of money to the guy who can come up with a viable live execution werewolf transformation make-up. But here's the rub....no cuts from the camera and absolutely NO CGI.
Only thing i can think of is using a super skinny person in full-body make-up with the werewolf make-up underneath the full-body prosthesis. Then using air bladders and invisible line (a la Reagan's facial cuts in Exorcist) you make the tranformation happen.
Posted by: PissBoy at June 30, 2009 11:09 AM
"And his hair was perfect".
But really, I think the ... Oh. Wow. Almost made a mistake there. I thought it said Wachowskis. Not Weinsteins. I was gonna say the Wachowskis could kick some ass with the effects, at least.
Posted by: Optimus J. Rhyme at June 30, 2009 11:16 AM
And I love you Pissboy.
Posted by: Optimus J. Rhyme at June 30, 2009 11:18 AM
Mutual love OJR. Mutual.
Posted by: PissBoy at June 30, 2009 11:20 AM
Yes, David Naughton was quite the hottie in his time. I was wondering what happened to him, and was considering googling him, when I decided that maybe I would be better off remembering him as he was then.
See, Corey Haim IS good for teaching something.
Posted by: Drake at June 30, 2009 11:23 AM
I'm loving AvB and Rhyme. And Lon Chaney walking with the queen.
Group hug!
*grabs queen's ass*
Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 30, 2009 11:27 AM
the Griffin Dunne, face torn way the fuck open and bleeding
YES! Yes. PB, yes. Just the worsening and worsening throughout the film. Fantastic.
That whole scene on the moors scares the shit out of me to this day. Just the sound of the thing getting closer makes me break out in a cold sweat. Oh yeah, that fucked up nightmare sequence where those creatures brak into his house and kil his family...Can't be remade...Can't be.
Posted by: EastCoastUgly at June 30, 2009 11:49 AM
"Having you tried talking to a corpse? ...It's boring."
Posted by: PissBoy at June 30, 2009 12:13 PM
"A naked American man stole my balloons!"
*squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak*
LOL!
I'm gonna clean up the mess I just snorked all over my desk, then I'm gonna go buy this on DVD, like I've been planning to do for years...
Posted by: Rykker at June 30, 2009 12:25 PM
The soundtrack you people..CCR, Warren Zevon, Sam Cooke, Van Morrison, The Marcels! All my favorite 'moon' songs in one go.This was also one of the first movies I bought on DVD, just so my son could experience it. I still watch it every now and again.
American Werewolf in London is one of my favourite horror movies, easily my favourite werewolf movie, and just like American Werewolf in Paris, I will blissfully ignore this remake's existence.
Posted by: Lisa at June 30, 2009 1:06 PM
I absolutely love the first time Jack comes to talk to David (who was the Dr Pepper guy in those old commercials I think) and picks up a little Mickey Mouse figurine and says in a high, squeaky voice "Hi David!" while waving its hand at him.
I really hate to think what will happen to this in a remake [sigh]
Yeah, Landis's career seems to have stopped about the time he got Vic Morrow decapitated
Posted by: canology at June 30, 2009 4:23 PM
I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper, wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too?
THE QUEEN IS A MAN!
Bah-ba-ba, Da-dinga-dong-ding, ba-boom-ba-ba-ba
Blue Moon, You saw me standing alone, without a love in my life, without a love of my own.
Posted by: BWeaves at June 30, 2009 5:57 PM
The 2007 horror film industry mockumentary, Brutal Massacre, provides a reasonably passable taste of 21st century David Naughton for those in need. (There's also some tasty Gunnar Hansen profanity)
Posted by: laredo at June 30, 2009 7:00 PM
If they promise to get someone as hot as Jenny Agutter and get her naked they have my permission to remake this film but if and only if. If they get anybody out of the stunningly ugly current crop of starlets then all bets are off.
Posted by: OscarTamerz at June 30, 2009 8:53 PM
Why London gots to be importin' werewolves? Don't they have any werewolves of their own?
Posted by: Daniel Hall at June 30, 2009 9:19 PM
Video ads popping up after each page view? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
I loved this movie the first time I saw it. It Scared the ever-loving shit out of me an I couldn't sleep for a week. That goddamn werewolf was hiding around every bend; I could see it out of the corner of my eye. Give me a break, I think I was eight at the time.