An occasional series where I platform film writing I love, by critics I admire

Alex Cox ‘American Werewolf in London’ Moviedrome Introduction

Alex Cox: ‘An American Werewolf in London is part of a very honourable cult genre: the werewolf/vampire film. The rules of these films are standardised. Vampires are blood-drinking, living corpses whose mere bite can make you one of their number. Werewolves are people who turn into wolves, or wolf-like humanoids, at every full moon, and their bite turns other humans into werewolves. Vampires can only be killed by fire, removal of the head or a stake through the heart. Werewolves can only be killed by a silver bullet or the SAS.

An American Werewolf in London was directed by John Landis, an American whose most notable cult feature is The Blues Brothers. An American Werewolf in London was influenced by Dead of Night, the classic 1945 British horror film, and it contains every conceivable song in which the word ‘moon’ appears. It features a nice cameo by Mr Frank Oz – Muppets genius and director of the very funny Dirty Rotten Scoundrels– as Mr Collins, the man from the US Embassy. You can also spot Rik Mayall playing chess in a pub called The Slaughtered Lamb, and Brian Glover, who is a very good actor.

It’s a weird mixture of naive comedy and apocalyptic violence with an abrupt ending. If you sit through all the credits, you will see that the film is dedicated to ‘Their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales on the occasion of their marriage’. Only an American could be that patriotic’.
Alex Cox’s original introduction for Moviedrome. Also published in Moviedrome: The Guide (BBC, 1990). With thanks to moviedromer.tumblr.com

As part of the BFI London Film Festival Emerging Critics application I was asked to name a piece of film criticism about a film I admired and explain why I enjoyed it – in 150 words! Quite an ask, to do justice to a piece of writing I admire in such a short word count! These were my thoughts on Alex Cox’s intro to American Werewolf in London.

‘I love Alex Cox’s introduction to American Werewolf in London because it’s irreverent, laugh out loud funny and different to other pieces about one of my favourite films. His tone is conversational and it feels like he’s talking to me personally.

Alex cuts to the chase without wasting time on detailed plot/opinion on what the movie means. That’s not why I’m reading, I want to know what he thinks and read some little known lore about the movie. He doesn’t disappoint. I’m delighted to get a brief logline, very funny explanation of werewolves and how to (or not) kill them and some really interesting facts e.g. – I didn’t know about the Frank Oz cameo or the Muppet connection. I also knew to sit through the end credits for the reference to Lady Diana, and I laughed out loud at the line about Americans being more patriotic than the British!’