Quick Rating:  ****

 
 

John Landis's homage to the earlier days of horror films, but with new effects and gore.  A somewhat simple story starts out with two American college guys backpacking through northern England.  They come upon a small village, and stop in at the local pub for some food and drink ... or so they thought.  Instead, they get strange looks, and an unwelcome feeling.  They leave the bar and continue on their road.  Of course, it's nighttime.  And of course, they stray from the road, even though the townsfolk warned them not to.  This proves to be a fatal mistake.  One of the friends is killed, and the other injured by a giant wolf-like creature.

The survivor wakes up in a London hospital, trying to piece everything together.  He is visited by the undead and told he is a werewolf.  At the next full moon, we get proof that he's a werewolf.  The only way to end his curse, so he is told, is death.

Like I said, the story is relatively simple, but Landis keeps it interesting, with a few well-placed laughs, along with some spectacular special effects.  The transformation scene is touted as the best all time.   I like the references to earlier horror films too - The strangers in the local pub, the fog in the moors, the hiding of the creature until near the end of the movie.  

All in all, it's a good ride, but nothing truly groundbreaking except for the special effects.




 
 

Quality: 6.5  Visuals: 9.0  Intensity: 7.5  Gore: 5.0
OVERALL RATING: 7.0