Director: John Landis
Cast: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, John Woodvine
Have I Seen it Before: Never.
Did I Like It: I hesitate to start a review focusing on elements ancillary to the film in question, but on the other hand, the impulse has never stopped me, so:
John Landis is an asshole.
He raised (or, I suppose, failed to raise, and only really succeeded in over-validating) an unrepentant sexual assaulter. He killed three people*. And if you happen to have seen the recent episode of The Movies That Made Us, focusing on Coming to America (1988), he absolutely has a ridiculously inflated view of himself** for someone who hasn’t made a demonstrably watchable film in over thirty years.
So, where does that leave this film? Celebrated as a great of the genre, I am going to—with the above context certainly making an argument that my criticism may be coming from a certain perspective—push back on that narrative.
This film is one exquisite werewolf transition, surrounded by an hour and a half of a movie that barely registers. The travel story is pedestrian. The relationship between David (Naughton) and Alex (Agutter) is preposterous from the moment they first see each other straight through to its tragic end. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. If Landis doesn’t know what it is, I’m not particularly inclined to help him find out.
And that werewolf transition? Entirely the work of Rick Baker, who deserves all the plaudits. Forget John Landis. For that matter, feel free to only enjoy clips of the film. Your life will be better for it.
*I probably ought to mention that he was found innocent of any criminal responsibility for the Twilight Zone (1983), but any reading of the details of that incident paint a fairly clear picture that he created the atmosphere where safety took a back seat to getting the shot done.
**He refused to identify who he was during his interview, after which the makers of the series helpfully introduced a supercut of other directors over the course of the series helpfully introducing themselves, many of them far better filmmakers, happily introducing themselves in deference to the form.