How is it that I had never seen this movie? I guess because in 1981 it was rated R and I wasn't. But Dad took me to see The Thing just a year later. And I remember Werewolf playing on Showtime over at my nemesis, John's house. In this life it's all about timing, I guess.
If you liked Shaun of The Dead, you'll like this funny-scary movie too. A young Griffin Dunne plays the throwaway banter between two college-age buddies just right. Jenny Agutter, as nurse Alex Price, is a natural. Her performance is so strong, David Naughton appears to fumble when he switches gears from screwball to serious. But his screwball has enough movement to get you swinging.
The Academy created the Best Makeup category specifically to acknowledge Rick Baker's work, which still looks dynamite. Well, most of it. The transformation is great, but the closeups look a bit like a drugstore Halloween costume. And the animatronic werewolf at the foot of the escalator might as well have a giant hand behind it, pushing*, "rrraaar." But the effect is kind of like seeing Bruce full-on for the first time. He looks hokey, but he's eating Quint alive, dammit.
And as you're closing in on the ending, you wonder if John Landis is going to stick to the bargain or wiggle out at the last minute. John, Landis not my nemesis, keeps his word. 4 stars.
*One of the making-of featurettes reveals that the quadripedal werewolf effect was created by laying out the (not animatronic) werewolf performer on a board with wheels and pushing him, wheelbarrow style, into the shot. Rrrraaar, indeed.
If you liked Shaun of The Dead, you'll like this funny-scary movie too. A young Griffin Dunne plays the throwaway banter between two college-age buddies just right. Jenny Agutter, as nurse Alex Price, is a natural. Her performance is so strong, David Naughton appears to fumble when he switches gears from screwball to serious. But his screwball has enough movement to get you swinging.
The Academy created the Best Makeup category specifically to acknowledge Rick Baker's work, which still looks dynamite. Well, most of it. The transformation is great, but the closeups look a bit like a drugstore Halloween costume. And the animatronic werewolf at the foot of the escalator might as well have a giant hand behind it, pushing*, "rrraaar." But the effect is kind of like seeing Bruce full-on for the first time. He looks hokey, but he's eating Quint alive, dammit.
And as you're closing in on the ending, you wonder if John Landis is going to stick to the bargain or wiggle out at the last minute. John, Landis not my nemesis, keeps his word. 4 stars.
*One of the making-of featurettes reveals that the quadripedal werewolf effect was created by laying out the (not animatronic) werewolf performer on a board with wheels and pushing him, wheelbarrow style, into the shot. Rrrraaar, indeed.
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