Customer Reviews

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE - By: Nevs, 19 Sep 2007
The opening scene, on i presume the Yorkshire Moors, will be with me forever. This is a classic film with a blend of humour & horror neatly rolled into one. The special effects were cutting edge at the time.

I can't believe it's more than twenty five years old. Quick, get me a wheelchair !!

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A GREAT WEREWOLF HORROR/COMEDY - By: stuart, 08 Aug 2007


After discovering that his boss,' Professor Irwin, (Guy Vieg) new formula is a failure, Walter, (Allen Lee Haff) discards it down the drain. When Professor Irwin comes to check on him, & inquires about the work he's supposed to have done. As he continues working, his friends Alicia, (Leah Rowan) Gary, (Richard Peterson) Burke, (Derek Hoffman) Chelsea, (Alexandra Townsend) & Frank (David Bradley) go over to the lab where he works to take him out partying. When they get there, he informs them that the test rats have been acting weird all day. Worse, the staff at the lab is disappearing, & the lab rats they've been testing on have gotten bigger. Fearful that giant rats are on the loose inside the lab, Walter locks it down, much to their dismay. Splitting up to go find the lost rat, the group is slowly picked off one-by-one by a giant rat. Down now to only a few survivors, they now have to face off against the vicious rodent to get out of the lab alive.

The Good News: It's weird to say this, but this wasn't an all that bad movie. What I really liked the most about it was that the film kept up some high level of suspense all the way through, once we've discovered the threat. The fact that all of the elements of suspense come togetherin these last twenty minutes are a rare fact that not too many films of its type are like: people you care about trapped togetherin a cramped area with a known killer. The actions of the group, the situations that they get into, & even the music itself all make it an effective amount of time. In fact, the last twenty minutes are easily highlights of the film. It has the traditional suspense scenes as well as plenty of action & tons of gore. In fact, there is lots of gore splattered throughout the film. I was actually surprised. We get several people eaten alive by the rats, one other has his eyeball pulled out, another has half their face eaten away, & another is decapitated. There is still more though, & that is what was so surprising. There is a great dignityin having a very low-budget film with an ending that comes completely by surprise. I really do enjoy the last thirty minutes of this great film.

The Bad News: The low-budget really shines throughin the special effects of the film. There are only a few gags that are believablein the film, & with so many of them, that can be a bit of a downer. It can seriously detract from the enjoying of the film. Also, the design of the giant rat & its execution is almost as laughable as the plot & the actingin the film. I really don't know what else I can comment on, as I did enjoy this one.

The Final Verdict: I really don't know what to say; I liked this one. It definitely fallsin as a guilty pleasure & it is a film that not all will want to see. Check this out if you'rein the mood for a giant killer rodent film, as well as those that like a lot of cheese with their movies & don't take whatever they see with a grain of salt.

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An American Werewolf in My Nightmares - By: Lando Malak, 19 Jun 2007
As a huge fan of the horror movie genre, I have seen enough of them to know which have scared me the most, this is one of them. There have been enough horror films that I have found scary but out of all of them, this is the only one that after more than twenty years later, is the only one that I can remember having nightmares over & to this day I can still remember that night when I had those nightmares & I can tell you that I have never wanted the next morning to arrive so muchin my life. The funny thing is that I had aready seen this with my dad about a year beforein the days of video rental & although it was scary the first time, it was nowhere near as scary as the second time when I was sort of on my own watching this on BBC1in the living room at night with the lights off although not alonein the house thankfully, I was too young anyway, which proves to me again that to get the most out of horror films, they have to be watched at night with the lights off, I have a rule now that I must watch themin this way at least once.

This film is scary but it is also funny, if I had just seen the funny parts of this film, I wouldn't have believed that it was a horror movie & this is probably one of the reasons which make the scary parts really scary. I also think that I found this film really scary at the time because I hadn't seen many horror films that were filmedin England & so it felt very realistic.

There are so many timeless momentsin this horror classic, for example the moors & slaughtered lamb scenes, the incredibly creepy London underground scene & those horrific nightmares David (David Naughton) has.

I am not going to waste my time explaining the story as I am sure that even if you have never seen it, you will have an idea as to what it is all about, so all I will say is, if you like horror films & have never seen this, then as a horror film fanatic myself I can't recommend this highly enough. DON'T HAVE NIGHTMARES.

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Theres a bad moon out tonight........ - By: R. Mullaney, 26 Feb 2007
Two young American backpackers are attacked by a wolf on a hike over bleak English moors. One is savaged to death but his friend survives. When he recovers he begins to suffer from terrible nightmares & hallucinations.

Although this film is over a quarter of a century old, it still remains one of the scariest films I've ever seen. It has a streak of black comedy running through it & isn't intended as an out & out horror but still gives me the creeps every time I watch it. It begins with the boys visiting The Slaughtered Lamb, a local pub for local people where they soon realise something is very wrong on the moors. The people are perculiar & make sure the two friends feel so unwelcome they quickly leave on foot under the light of a full moon. A few of the towns men head out with shotguns when they hear the wolfs howl & arrive justin time to save David (Naughton) but it's too late for Jack (Dunne). When David wakes up he isin a London hospital where the doctor tells him he was attacked by a madman but can't seem to explain the claw & bite marks on Davids body. He begins to have terrible nightmares where he runs naked through the forest killing deer with his bare hands & eating the flesh. When he is discharged he goes to stay with a beautiful yound nurse (Agutter) with whom he formed a close friendship during his stayin hospital. He is then visited by the decomposing body of his friend Jack who explains that he is now a lycanthrope & must commit suicide before the next full moon. David thinks he is going insane & ignores the hallucinations until it is too late.

The transformation effects are amazing considering there was no CGI. Rick Baker won an academy award for his special effects. It's also interesting to see Jack rotting away more & more with every appearance. The film gets very bloody as David (as a wolf) stalks London tearing people to pieces. There is a brilliant scenein the deserted London Underground where the wolf attacks a commuter. The poor guy manages to make it to the escalator & turn justin time to see the beast slowly emerge into the light from the dimly lit catacombs. Meanwhile, Davids doctor has started to suspect his ravings may have some substance to them & has taken a drive north to visit The Slaughtered Lamb. He realises that there really is a curse & returns to London to stop David.

Veering wildly from tonguein cheek horror to gory violence with a rock n' roll soundtrack of songs about the moon, An American Werewolf In London is a brilliantly stylish oddity. Avoid the rubbish sequel, An American Werewolfin Paris.

Like This? Try: The Lost Boys

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The best Werewolf - By: S J Buck, 21 Oct 2006
For a longtime this was my favourite film of all time, its not anymore, but it is still a genuine classic film, that deserves a place amongst the greatest horror films ever made.

The reasons for this are threefold:
Firstly the special effects by Rick Baker are amazing. Remember this was made 25 years ago, there was no digital effects then, what you see on the screen was either done with make-up or animatronic puppets. Rick Baker won an Oscar for his work on this filmin 1982.

Secondly the blend of horror & comedy. If you watch the extras you will hear the director Jon Landis state that the film is not a comedy, although he admits it is funny. Some of the scenes are very funny & this comedy, sometimes black comedy works really well against the horrorin the rest of the film. The horrorin this film is brilliantly done with the double nightmare sequence being a particular favourite of mine.

Thirdly of course its a love story. The ending to the film is ultimately all about the love story, but once again John Landis confuses our emotions by immediately playing The Marcels great version of Blue Moon over the end credits.

The scenein the Slaughtered Lamb is a direct reference to the multitude of classic Hammer Films that featured a Pub that went silent went our hero entered it. You will spot quite a few well known facesin the Slaughtered Lamb including a fresh-faced looking Rik Mayall.

The extras on this edition are pretty good, with both Rick Baker & Jon Landis having some interesting things to say. Perhaps the most surprising was that Jon Landis wrote the script for this filmin 1969. There's also some fascinating stuff on how Rick Baker created the amazing special effects.

Beware of the moon.