An American Werewolf in London 4K Blu-ray Review

An enduring legacy

by Simon Crust

An American Werewolf in London 4K Blu-ray Review

A naked American man stole my balloons

John Landis’ remarkable 1981 horror film, An American Werewolf in London - and make no mistake it is not a horror comedy, whilst it might have comedic elements, it is absolutely a horror film - taps into deep and dark fears; primal fears – even dread. Not that of unleashing an untamed beast, or rage, not that of unfettered urges or dual personality. Not living in a waking nightmare, standing in front of your peers naked and alone, or watching helplessly as loved ones are slain before your eyes. Landis touches on all these, but the one true horror that chills everyone to the bone is very early on – walking into a pub and having the entire place stop and, as a man, in silence, look at you.

Like most films, the gestation period for American Werewolf was many years. And in that time Landis honed his skill and his script to something lean and mean. Every scene has meaning and drives the narrative forward, even the opening scene, that of David and Jack in a van full of sheep – literally a wolf in amongst the sheep. And it doesn’t let up, the immediate chemistry between the two Americans is soon to be ripped wide open when mistakenly taking to the moors off road sees them attacked by huge beast that leaves one dead and the other mauled. Scene after scene builds in tension, with horrific nightmares, or visits from rotting best friends, then a burgeoning love story soon to be cut just as short, all helping to instil urgency; the moon is rising, a change will occur, and a monster will rampage.

There is so much greatness in the film, it is impossible to mention them all; but a few of my favourites are the brashness of the hospital porter, the nightmare within a nightmare, that little bit of flappy skin as Jack eats David’s toast when he first visits, the aforementioned walking into the Slaughtered Lamb and then bam – Rik Mayall!

And we haven’t even mentioned the award-winning effects by Rick Baker, which were (and are) so effective they could be filmed in bright lights and still hold up today!

Despite being visceral, lean, and ostensibly fresh and new, the story harks back to traditional horror; unlike Dante’s The Howling released the same year, which tried to inject the lycanthrope mythos with a new direction, that of the werewolves embracing their change and seeing themselves as top of the food chain, American Werewolf keeps the tortured soul aspect, even hammering it home further with the victims now undead and in limbo, coming back to literally haunt their killer. Unlike The Howling, however, which now looks cheap and campy, American Werewolf, retains that sense of shock and awe – the narrative is tight, the story engaging, the effects gorgeous so that the film is truly horrific and still engrossing, despite its age.

The gestation period for the film might have been long, but the legacy is longer; nothing dates the film and the themes it contains remain relevant today, which makes it as enjoyable now as it was over 40 years ago. There is no way modern horror films will achieve such heights or have such an enduring legacy.

An American Werewolf in London 4K Blu-ray Video

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London was shot on 35 mm film using Arriflex 35 BL cameras and has been purportedly newly scanned, by Arrow, from the original camera elements, to form a 4K DI from which this UHD is sourced.

The disc presents a native 3840 x 2160p resolution image with widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, uses 10-bit video depth, High Dynamic Range, a Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec for HRD10 and Dolby Vision.

We reviewed the Region free UK Ultra HD Blu-ray release of An American Werewolf in London on a Panasonic TX-65HZ1000B Ultra HD 4K TV with a Panasonic DP-UB450 Dolby Vision HDR10+ 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

Balloon strings

Now, although it is touted as new, there is a good chance that this is the exact same 4K scan Arrow did for their previous Blu-ray release, which was clearly no slouch, giving depth, detail and richness to what has always been a somewhat soft and grainy film – well, this new UHD tops the lot and is immediately and viscerally, cleaner, brighter and better than anything previously seen.

Detail is defiant and beautifully crisp, skin texture and clothing weaves are clean and clear, various wall coverings, rain-soaked roads, puddles, leaves against the sky, balloon strings, porridge; everything is pristine with keen edges.

Dolby Vision and the WCG gives a richness to the colours, there is a new depth to the greens of the forest leaves both in the dreams and especially in London Zoo, while the reds are gorgeous, not only blood, but phone boxes and the coat that David steals. Combined with a new, deep black level there is genuine 3D pop in some scenes. Blacks are terrific, check out the alleyway at the climax, the shadows the depth! While the white scale gives a roundness to the image, breathing life into it.

There are no compression or digital issues, and the original source is clean and bright. The grain has been nicely resolved, for a terrific filmic sheen, though the opening scene on the moors as well as that one brief shot in the hospital, still remain the softest and grainiest of the film.

An American Werewolf in London 4K Audio

An American Werewolf in London

The previous DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track was great, a tad front heavy but impactful with decent layering. But something is off with the same track on the UHD. It lacks the presence and impact, layering isn’t so separate, nor is the stereo separation particularly wide and no amount of volume adjustment can compensate.

So, it’s not terrible, and without comparison you’d probably go with above average, but the fact that there is a better track out there, and on Arrow’s own Blu-ray, is a mystery. Now, it could be argued that pervious tracks have ‘beefed’ up effects, such as weather, gun fire and crashing vehicles, that were not part of the original source, and that is true, so this new mix could be viewed as more authentic, but to go back to a something (possibly) more akin to the original, is a little jarring!

Dialogue is clean and clear, and sounds perfectly natural, even that in the See You Next Wednesday film within a film. Weather is given decent enough separation, with rain falling all around. The werewolf’s howls are menacing enough as well. The score is well layered into the mix, particularly the transformation scene. Bass is quite light, with thunder, gunshots and vehicle impacts getting the majority of the LF effects. The whole is somewhat front heavy, though, so the mayhem that occurs at Piccadilly Circus doesn’t feel quite so raw. It is clear and precise but seems to lack punch from any significant bass or higher end treble.

Review System: Denon AVR-X4300H, MK Sound LCR750 and SUR55T, XTZ S2 Atmosphere ceiling mounted, SVS PB-12 Ultra.

An American Werewolf in London 4K Extras

An American Werewolf in London

The extras package is huge, containing just about everything you need to know about the film, with this special edition having even more in terms of tat; unfortunately, it has all been seen before, and this release brings nothing new to the disc. A list of what is included is below:

* Audio commentary by Beware the Moon filmmaker Paul Davis

* Audio commentary by actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne

* Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf, a feature-length documentary by filmmaker Daniel Griffith, featuring interviews with John Landis, David Naughton, Joe Dante and more.

* An American Filmmaker in London, an interview with John Landis in which he reflects on British cinema and his time working in Britain.

* I Think He’s a Jew: The Werewolf’s Secret, a video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976) about how Landis’ film explores Jewish identity.

* The Werewolf’s Call, Corin Hardy, director of The Hallow and The Nun, chats with writer Simon Ward about their formative experiences with Landis’ film.

* Wares of the Wolf, a featurette in which SFX artist Dan Martin and Tim Lawes of Prop Store look at some of the original costumes and special effects artefacts from the film.

* Beware the Moon, Paul Davis’ acclaimed, feature-length exploration of Landis’ film which boasts extensive cast and crew interviews.

* An American Werewolf in Bob’s Basement and Causing a Disturbance: Piccadilly Revisited, two 2008 featurettes filmed by Paul Davis.

* Making An American Werewolf in London, a short archival featurette on the film’s production

* An Interview with John Landis, a lengthy archival interview with the director about the film.

* Make-up Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London, the legendary make-up artist discusses his work on the film.

* I Walked with a Werewolf, an archival interview with Rick Baker about Universal horror and its legacy of Wolfman films.

* Casting of the Hand, archival footage from Rick Baker’s workshop showing the casting of David Naughton’s hand.

* Outtakes

* Storyboards featurette

* Original trailer and teaser plus TV and radio spots

* Extensive image gallery featuring over 200 stills, posters and other ephemera

* Reversible sleeve featuring original poster art and artwork by Graham Humphreys

* Double-sided fold-out poster

* Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions

* Limited edition 60-page, perfect-bound book featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann and Simon Ward, archival articles and original reviews

Conclusion

An American Werewolf in London 4K Blu-ray Review

An American Werewolf in London

John Landis struck gold with his 1981 hit An American Werewolf in London. Although a fairly traditional film in terms of the tortured soul forced to endure the lycanthrope curse narrative, where it scored so high was with the chemistry between its various leads, and the blood and carnage thanks to Rick Baker's award-winning special effects, the transformation sequence being the stuff of legend. The films is tight, succinct, funny, graphic, scary and above all a tremendous horror film, still standing as a titan of the genre over 40 years later.

The 4K UHD set from Arrow, is mostly terrific; the native 4K image is stunning, rich in colour, absolute detail, strong blacks and a filmic glow – in every way topping its previously released 1080p Blu-ray which was no slouch. Things slightly fall away with the sound, however, which, while having decent enough separation, layering and effects, is lacking the depth and presence of previous releases though some might argue this is a return to its origins rather than the ‘enhanced’ tracks of late. And the same is true of the extras which, while extremely plentiful, are all on the previous Blu-ray.

Worth an upgrade? For the image a resounding yes; for everything else... probably not.

An American Werewolf in London is available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™ on 14 March 2022.

Scores

Movie

10

Picture Quality

10

Sound Quality

.
.
.
7

Extras

.
9

Overall

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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