History Film / AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon

** As Jack says of the pentangle at ''The Slaughtered Lamb'': "Universal Studios and Lon Chaney, Jr., maintained that's the mark of ''Film/TheWolfMan!''"

''[=AWiL=]'' has infuriated some Britons, particularly [[OopNorth Northerners]], with its somewhat cartoonish and stereotypical depictions of life in the UK; it is possible that this was a deliberate echoing on Landis's part of the [[DidNotDoTheResearch sketchily researched]] versions of Britain found in the Universal horror cycles of the Thirties and Forties.

* AmbiguouslyJewish: It's never confirmed that the two guys are Jewish, but they have Ashkenazi-sounding names and use a bit of Yiddish, though they're both from New York. A nurse suspects that David is Jewish after checking out his package, but Alex says that circumcision is no longer strictly a Jewish thing.

* [[HelloNurse Hello, Nurse!]]: As Griffin Dunne remarks in the DVD commentary ''à propos'' Alex's treatment of David: "I want to stay in ''that'' hospital!"

* [[OrWasItADream Or Was It A Dream?]]: David awakens from a nightmare only to find himself in a DreamWithinADream.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The main characters, when they are attacked are taken from the Yorkshire Moors, in the North of England, where there are any number of good hospitals, to London, which is in the South. The contrast between the Moors and a northern city wouldn't have been as severe as with metropolitan London.

* TheLondonUnderground: Where Gerald Bringsley has an unfortunate encounter.

* SinisterSubway: TheLondonUnderground is suddenly quite empty when a werewolf comes prowling.

** As Jack says of the pentangle at ''The Slaughtered Lamb'': "Universal Studios and Lon Chaney, Jr., maintained that's the mark of ''TheWolfMan!''"

* Actually, they don't wander off the road intentionally. They're unnerved by the reaction of the locals and they start joking to calm themselves down. When they leave the road, it is a complete accident and they don't even realize it until it's too late.

* CatchPhrase: Each of Landis's films works in the phrase, "See You Next Wednesday" somewhere. In ''[=AWiL=]'', it serves as the title of a porn film advertised in TheLondonUnderground.

* TheFlorenceNightingaleEffect: How Nurse Price falls in love with David. She finds him handsome and "sad."

'''''An American Werewolf in London''''' is a [[TheEighties 1981]] {{Universal}} comedy/horror film written and directed by John Landis. (It was advertised with the {{Tagline}}, "From the director of ''AnimalHouse'', a different sort of animal.") Starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter, and John Woodvine, the film featured special effects by master make-up artist Rick Baker. (Frank Oz also made a cameo appearance, as did [[TheMuppetShow Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy]] -- not to mention Landis himself.) It was shot on location in the UK, with Wales standing in for the Yorkshire moors, and "The Black Swan" pub in London for "The Slaughtered Lamb." The background music consisted of a number of cannily deployed popular songs (all of which have "moon" in the title), bolstered with some eleven minutes of moodily atmospheric music by ElmerBernstein.

* DeveopingDoomedCharacters: One of the film's great successes is actually making David and Jack likable before the werewolf appears.

* TwentyMinutesWithJerks: One of the film's great successes is actually making David and Jack likable before the werewolf appears.

* CelebrityParadox: Frank Oz appears as an American consulate. Miss Piggy also appears in a dream sequence, which is voiced by Frank Oz.

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Because Americans have never heard of Leeds.
** To be fair, the movie does start out in Northern England, with Englishmen that don't possess London accents.
*** [[FridgeLogic Which really just raises the question]] of why they unnecessarily drove hundreds of miles for a hospital.
*** Perhaps the people at the more local hospital would have known for sure what the cause of injury was and they thought they'd rather risk further injury or death to one person than to draw too much attention. Remember how reluctant they were to try and save his life in the first place until the very last second.
* BritishStuffiness: The reason David cannot get himself arrested in Trafalgar Square.

* CreditsGag: ''See'' OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope'', below.''

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: David's love interest confesses her love to him while he's in wolf form. She actually seems to get to him a little, but he still dies in the end.]]
* DreamWithinADream: ''See'' AllJustADream'', above''.

* TheFlorenceNightingaleEffect: How David falls in love with Nurse Price.
** It's also strongly implied that one of the very few perks of becoming a werewolf is that you are now a [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Bad Boy.]]

* HopeSpot: The three seconds where it ''looks'' like [[spoiler: Alex is about to save the day with the PowerOfLove.]] [[ItGotWorse And then the ending happens.]]
* [[HulksCooldownHugCorollary Hulk's Cooldown Hug Corollary]]: [[spoiler: Happens to David and Alex at the end, although it's debatable whether or not she was actually getting through to him.]]
** Especially debatable since [[spoiler: Were-David freaks out and tries to attack Alex first, ''causing'' the police to open fire. A true HulksCooldownHugCorollary would have the police becoming TriggerHappy first.]]
* IdiotBall: The two young Americans came to a pub with a picture of a wolf on the sign-board, saw a pentagram on the wall inside, and even associated it with ''TheWolfMan''. They were told to "beware the moon" and stay on the path as they crossed the moors. After leaving the path they hear an otherworldly canine howl on the moors near them. Gee, what could be going on? They ''still'' have no clue.
** Or neither one can bring himself [[NotUsingTheZWord to use the W word]].

* MirrorScare: An early example.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "''The Slaughtered Lamb''"?
** Although as a British Pub name it's not that bad.

** Fun facts: The distinctive howl can be heard at the beginning of the Halloween Party scene in ''DonnieDarko''.
* [[OrWasItADream Or Was It A Dream?]]: See DreamWithinADream, above.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The main characters, when they are attacked are taken from the Yorkshire Moors, in the North of England, where there are any number of good hospitals. To London, which is in the South.
** Possibly the title ''An American Werewolf in Whitby'' was felt to lack "oomph." (Though what a missed chance for a link-up with ''{{Dracula}}!'')
** Also, the Slaughtered Lamb folk probably would have wanted to get the guy as far away from themselves as they feasibly could. A nearby hospital would have raised too many questions. You saw how guarded they were about outsiders later in the film.
** Or David's parents could've fallen prey to this trope themselves, and raised a stink by way of the American embassy about not wanting him treated anywhere but London.

* SinisterSubway: ''See'' TheLondonUnderground'', above''.

* SoundtrackDissonance: To the extreme. Notably, all the songs used have "Moon" in their titles.
* StayOnThePath: "Beware the moon... and stick to the road...oops."

* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The monster that attacks David is shot, and the last thing he sees before passing out is a dead naked human rather than a beast.

* TwentyMinutesWithJerks: One of the rare cases in which this actually ''works''.

* UrineTrouble: "Those sheep shit in my pack."
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: First, Jack tries to get David to believe him: "Goddammit, David, please believe me! You'll kill and make others like me! I'm not having a nice time here."
** He could have fooled me.
*** Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's boring!
**** And then David tries the same with Alex and others.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: First, Jack tries to get David to believe him: "Goddammit, David, please believe me! You'll kill and make others like me! I'm not having a nice time here." (He could have fooled me.) And then David tries the same with Alex and others.

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: David's love interest confesses his love to him while he's in wolf form. She actually seems to get to him a little, but he still dies in the end.]]