An American Werewolf in London (Blu-Ray)
UNIVERSAL
MOVIE A-
SPECIAL FEATURES A
DVD GEEK FACTOR 9.5
(OUT OF 10)
Writer-director John Landis and makeup man Rick Baker uncorked
something flat-out incredible when they put this movie together.
Landis, who’d made his mark with comedies such as The Blues
Brothers and Animal House, showed that you could combine
R-rated laughs with first-rate scares. Baker, who played King Kong in
the 1976 remake, won the first-ever Oscar for makeup.
And, boy, did Baker deserve that Oscar. The werewolf transformation
scenes still stand up today, 28 years later. When David Naughton, the
guy from the old Dr. Pepper commercials, screamed that he was burning
up, tore off his clothes and watched his hand elongate, cinema history
was made, and a high watermark was set for what could be done with
conventional makeup effects. On top of the tremendous werewolf effects,
honest scares and torrents of gore, the movie is devilishly funny.
Naughton and Griffin Dunne play David and Jack, two Americans
touring England on foot. After a stop in a pub called The Slaughtered
Lamb, the two fail to follow the advice of the creepy patrons to stay
on the roads and beware of the moon.
A beast kills Jack and leaves David alive. As it turns out, he is
the last of the werewolf bloodline, a fact he finds out when the undead
Jack comes back to tell him. The nauseating makeup on Dunne during his
zombie scenes was enough to get Baker an Oscar.
When I popped in the Blu-Ray to watch the film for the first time in
almost a decade, I figured I’d find some of the special effects dated.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Baker’s work still amazes,
especially in the moment when Naughton’s face literally pushes forward
to form the werewolf’s snout. Landis sought to make the werewolf
transformation seem painful, and to film it in bright light. He
succeeded on both fronts.
This one is the daddy of all horror comedies. Films like Evil
Dead and Shaun of the Dead owe their existence to
London. Landis, who hasn’t made anything of worth in many years,
topped out with this one, which makes sense, because his work here is
pretty hard to beat.
Of course, there’s a remake of this film in the works, as well as
the long-delayed The Wolfman starring Benicio Del Toro. Baker
did the makeup for Wolfman, and it would have to be some pretty
powerful stuff to top what he did nearly three decades ago.
SPECIAL FEATURES: The highlight is a mammoth documentary,
featuring participation from Landis, Baker and all the major stars of
the film. The doc examines the film practically scene by scene, in
chronological order. Other features include a recent interview with
Baker, and holdovers from prior editions, including a terrific
commentary from Naughton and Dunne.
Army of Darkness: Screwhead Edition (Blu-Ray)
UNIVERSAL
MOVIE B-
SPECIAL FEATURES C+
DVD GEEK FACTOR 5.75
(OUT OF 10)
Even though this is the weakest of the Evil Dead films, it does
contain Bruce Campbell’s best work in the series. Director Sam Raimi
shoots for too much with too little, especially in the movie’s final
battle scenes involving an army of skeletons. The weak effects make a
good argument for CGI, which became prevalent shortly after this film
was made in 1992.
Campbell stars as Ash, who time-traveled to 1300 A.D. at the end of
Evil Dead 2. Trapped in the past, he makes the most of it,
throwing wisecracks at knights and romancing the ladies. Campbell is
much better than the movie surrounding him.
There have been many releases of this film on DVD. This is not the
director’s cut that ran 96 minutes. This is the original, 78-minute
version featuring a happier ending.
There’s been a lot of talk about an Evil Dead 4, and it would
be good to see Campbell in the role again. Alas, it’s all just talk at
the moment.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Unlike past versions, this one doesn’t have
a Raimi or Campbell commentary. It has a new feature about the making
of the movie’s skeleton warriors and the original “slept too long”
ending. For certain, there will be even more versions of the film on
DVD in the future.
The Office: Season Five (Blu-Ray)
UNIVERSAL
SHOW A-
SPECIAL FEATURES B
DVD GEEK FACTOR 7
(OUT OF 10)
It’s hard to believe this show has already been running for five
seasons. Steve Carell, despite his movie stardom, has stuck around, and
that’s a good thing. This season kicked off with the staff at Dunder
Mifflin losing weight in a politically incorrect corporate contest. It
also saw Carell’s Michael starting his own company, Pam (Jenna Fischer)
going to art school and Jim (John Krasinski) proposing to Pam. The
Office is the only place where Rainn Wilson (as the prodding
Dwight) is consistently funny.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentaries, a celebration of the 100th
episode, deleted scenes and gag reels are among the features.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.