CINEMATOGRAPHY

I found the introduction very surreal to the movie setting because it usually was long shots that didn't move, and let the characters walk from the beginning to the end, The colors of the whole movie are not very vibrant at all. Initially, they are very grey/green with mainly black/dark blue. But as David awakes in London, he is shown in a white/brown fashion and as they explore London there is a lot of vibrancy in hair on the tube or the red busses. The shots of the movies didn't stray away from long introductory shots, but as the movie progresses, there are no POV shots that I could find. The movie never allows the audience to see the face of the werewolf until the very end, or if you caught a sneak peek in the subway. 

The soundtrack was strange. It was not very noticeable whatsoever and did not provide much help to the movie. The only song that helped provide suspense, was the cue music played before the first transformation sequence, it helped provide a sense of horror as clips intertwined with the full moon. 

CHARACTERS

John Landis the director, did an excellent job with introducing characters. He made it feel that everyone in the pub was antisocial and that they didn't like foreigners. Initially, there was a big contrast, between the dull colors of the English men, and the bright jacket colors of the Americans. 

As the movie shifted over to London, the romance between the nurse and David picked up, but it also showed new sides of characters such as the Dr, or the police who were investigating the case. 

The characters of this movie who die come back to haunt David, and their return changes their appearance, it deeply frightens him, but it makes it so much more surreal for him as he must navigate his new life with the undead following. 

CHARACTER - 8/10

CGI

Because this is a 1981 movie, there is no CGI, just lots of practical effects. I researched a little about the practical effects of this movie, and it had a lot of makeup and used half of the animatronic head to show the full wolf at times. 

Because of the time this was created, I was still impressed with the transformation sequence, but it was still very strange and underwhelming compared to horror transformations now. 

CGI - 0/10

THOUGHTS

I found this movie in my recommendations on Amazon Prime Video. I had been avoiding it since I saw it a month ago when watching Invincible season 2. But because I needed to see a movie for this film review I chose it. 

I was supposed to watch it when I got home from work, but man those 10-6 shifts are brutal. I passed out when I got home, then randomly woke up at 3 am and watched it. 

It was a very interesting movie to be watching. Still, because of its age and comedic effect, it was not a movie that I needed to be fully awake for, as I was falling asleep throughout the 97-minute runtime. 

As said before, the movie has only POV shots in the subway, but everywhere else it relies on medium/long shots. They try to get everything in one shot by using pans or dolly tracking, to make the movie seem seamless and all in a continuation. The movie is mainly like that, aside from the transformation sequences. The reason why those parts have cuts is because it is very hard to piece together all the clips together. In the second transformation sequence, there is a second of transformation and then a cut to the police running to the pornographic theater. 

I would give this movie a solid 7/10. Definitely a movie for adults, but a comedic horror film nonetheless. 

Enjoy!

yash.

Stay off the moors boys

A strangely unique story about two American boys backpacking over Britain. 

Instead of starting in Rome to see beautiful girls, the two Americans are in the freezing cold wilderness of Yorkshire. 

Starting off in Northern England of all places, they trek through the roads, not the moors, to a small pub located in East Proctor. 

Interuptting a darts game at a pub, forces their leave, with the attending residents arguing about their leave. 

With the full moon on full display, a shivering howl cuts them down. 

Waking up almost a full month later, the man who survives tries to understand what happened to him and his friend, and of the curse he has been unknowingly given. 

He tries to resolve his issues on his own, but the voices come back, the images come back, and then the hallucinations start. 

Trying to move past his trauma, he lives on for his friend, but as the full moon comes to, he re-lives the night over again. 

Undead walk the world, watching the night repeat itself. 

Watching as more join them at the hand of a beast. 

This time. the full moon shown, the howling comes from within the city of London, with a hungry beast on the prowl. 

SCARY

I found the movie to be not very scary whatsoever, the only actual scary part seemed to be the subway scene. During the first night of transformation, the werewolf entered the tube in London. The clips in the London were suspenseful as they didn't show the werewolf until a very long shot that showed the bottom of the escalator, with a very large grey furred beast slowly walking to his prey. 

This scene actually had the only POV shots in the movie, and it kind of reminded me of Psycho because we didn't see the wolf until the very last part of the sequence of scenes. 

SCARY - 7/10

ANTAGONIST DEVELOPMENT

This movie did not have much antagonist development. If anything, it was a movie about helping the antagonist. The original 30 minutes portrayed the original wolf as the antagonist, and was supported by the pubgoers and the wolf howling, alongside the full moon. 

However, as the curse was passed, it seemed that the development was already shown prior, because everyone could tell that he was to become the new wearer of wolf. 

ANATGONIST DEVELOPMENT - 3/10