The Red Circle

John Landis spent a little over ten years working on getting this project to the screen. I can only imagine that a good part of this was fine-tuning the movie into a masterpiece of character, mood and music. Essentially following two American college kids who take a trip to London during vacation time, American Werewolf tracks them as one becomes the titular beast and the other his walking, rotting conscience.

And maybe this sounds a little farfetched, but it’s those two guys that sell the picture. John Landis made a groundbreaking decision to have David and Jack act like real people who are really best friends. From the first minute they step out of that sheep truck, up to the minute their lives take a turn for the hairy, these guys simply ARE two college kids backpacking in England. There are no “clever” jokes or banter about pop culture. It’s two guys enjoying each others company. Even up to the point where they are being stalked by the werewolf, they react exactly as humans do. Nervously singing out loud* and cursing when that doesn’t work. Questioning one another with questions they don’t have answers to. It’s, in a word, perfect.

It’s so hard to write a “mini” about one of my favorite movies of all time, so I will try to condense this now so that I may take a longer look later on. Everything in this film, from David’s fever dream (within a dream) in the hospital, to the shockingly brutal attacks on the English – the tunnel chase being one of the best examples of tension in modern horror. Let’s not forget the porno theater full of the undead werewolf victims all yelling at David to kill himself so that they can finally rest in peace.

And then there’s the music. The flick is probably just as well known for disincluding Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves of London’ as it is for what it does include. Sure, virtually every song choice has the word moon in it, but it all works, especially the legendary transformation scene. Nowadays when a character morphs into a werewolf it’s all guitar metal music or suspenseful chords. Oh, no. Not here.

Set to the staggering soul of Sam Cooke’s “blue Moon,” we get to listen as every inch of passion is sung out of Sam as every inch of flesh, tendon and bone is pulverized within David. A juxtaposition for sure, but one that doesn’t feel like its playing opposites. In keeping with the feel of the whole movie, this feels just perfect.

*I think this is an integral and weird part of human nature. It’s as if, in defense against some unseen or perceived but unacted threat, we begin singing something so happy or ridiculous that it makes our brain create the parallel reality where “Nothing could ever happen right now. We’re singing ‘Just Dance’ and there is no logical reason for anyone to get killed why they are singing Lady GaGa.”

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