History YMMV / AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon

** The fact that the climax starts up in a porno theater with a movie playing is supposed to be intentional SoundtrackDissonance, but it's completely impossible to take seriously. Listening to [[TheImmodestOrgasm a girl aggressively moaning]] as the werewolf gorges itself on a ticketer's corpse is bound to take anyone out of the film with how silly it is
* OlderThanTheyThink: Many believe the movie invented the closet mirror JumpScare for Jack's more decomposed looking ghost (Creator/EdgarWright openly stated to have recreated it in ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' as a homage), but in reality Creator/RomanPolanski did it first in ''Film/{{Repulsion}}''.

** The fact that the climax starts up in a porno theater with a movie playing is supposed to be intentional SoundtrackDissonance, but it's completely impossible to take seriously. Listening to [[TheImmodestOrgasm a girl aggressively climaxing]] as the werewolf gorges itself on a ticketer's corpse is bound to take anyone out of the film with how silly it is

* {{Narm}}: For some, the ironically upbeat songs picked for the soundtrack kinda ruin the moments they accompany. A Website/YouTube commenter once remarked on a clip of the transformation scene they nearly left the page after starting because they thought the clip, featuring David's horrific transformation accompanied by jazzy, romantic crooning, was a parody.

** It is worth noting that the effects crew (and especially Baker himself) were only expecting to use the werewolf for quick shots and built it around that before John Landis saw it and decided to shoot more scenes with it.

** Jack telling David to not cry after the latter starts breaking down after Jack reveals to him the predicament that's he's in and to commit suicide to prevent him from harming others.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Jack telling David to not cry after the latter starts breaking down after Jack reveals to him the predicament that's he's in and to commit suicide to prevent him from harming others,

* HarsherInHindsight: When David and the spirits of his victims discuss the ways he can kill himself, David suggests that he can hang himself. Jack dissuades him from using that method, pointing out that it could go wrong and, instead of a quick neck snap, he could instead suffer a slow and painful choking to death. In 1982, Creator/GriffinDunne's younger sister Dominigue was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend; the coroner estimated that it took her at least four minutes to die.

* ValuesDissonance: Jack's remarks about how Debbie Klein, a young woman back home, has "no choice" but to have sex with him conveys ''far'' more of a StalkerWithACrush vibe today, when sexual harassment is much less tolerated even in jest, than it did when the film was made.

* ShootTheMoney: Retrospectively, John Landis admitted that the transformation scene could've been shortened and sped up for better pacing, but he wanted to show off how intricate and detailed Rick Baker's effects were.

** The NECA toys of the zombies from David’s nightmare calls them “nightmare demons”. With how Jack confirms that the supernatural and forces of evil are real, someone could interpret, [[{{Retcon}} with the benefit of hindsight]], that the nightmare isn’t just a nightmare - it’s an actual psychic attack from real demons there to terrorize David.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Discussing suicide? Disturbing. Discussing suicide with several bloody corpses (including your rotting friend)in a porno theatre while some of the undead cheerily throw out suggestions for how to do it, from hanging to throwing yourself in front of a tube (subway)? [[BlackComedy Hilarious.]]

** SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/WerewolfOfLondon'' and ''Film/TheWolfMan1941''.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Discussing suicide? Disturbing. Discussing suicide with several bloody corpses (including your rotting friend)in a porno theatre while some of the undead cheerily throw out suggestions for how to do it, from hanging to throwing yourself in front of a tube (subway)? [[BlackComedy Hilarious.]

SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Jack telling David to not cry after the latter starts breaking down after Jack reveals to him the predicament that's he's in and to commit suicide to prevent him from harming others,

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Discussing suicide? Disturbing. Discussing suicide with several bloody corpses (including your rotting friend)in a porno theatre while some of the undead cheerily throw out suggestions for how to do it, from hanging to throwing yourself in front of a tube (subway)? [[BlackComedy Hilarious.]]

SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Jack telling David to not cry after the latter starts breaking down after Jack reveals to him the predicament that's he's in and to commit suicide to prevent him from harming others,

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven:
** Creator/GriffinDunne had to endure hours in the make-up chair, especially for the "phase two" stuff. The rotting teeth were especially difficult to say his lines with. He's described the make-up as "like being eaten by bugs".
** David Naughton as well was performing half the movie fully nude, including one lengthy sequence in a zoo that ran over schedule and had actual members of the public crowding around to watch. For the transformation scene, he had to spend the day in a hole under an elevated floor after five hours of make-up application.
--> "I was not one of those actors who said,' OK that's it, I'm done'. I was really a team player, which means I'd stay there and keep shooting until John was happy."

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Discussing suicide? Disturbing. Discussing suicide with several bloody corpses (including your your rotting friend)in a porno theatre while some of the undead cheerily throw out suggestions for how to do it, from hanging to throwing yourself in front of a tube (subway)? [[BlackComedy Hilarious.]]

** The titular werewolf itself is pretty hokey looking at times. It doesn't blink and barely changes expression, a metal rod can be seen poking out of the prop in a few shots, and at one point, Baker can be see operating the puppet as it bites the inspector's head off.

* IdiotPlot:
** If David and Jack has just ''stayed on the road as they were told to do several times,'' instead of deciding to travel across the moors at night, they wouldn't have been attacked by the werewolf and the rest of the plot wouldn't have happened. However, that was more a case of them not realizing that they had left the road than them simply neglecting the warnings. Besides, it's not as if werewolves can't cross roads.
** They're also early examples of the stupidity of the Ugly American in action. It never occurs to either of them that the locals are anything more than superstitious hicks.
** The locals at the pub are likewise complicit, as there's no particular reason why they ''had'' to boot the two young tourists out into the rain. If they'd only used the same "it's traditional" HandWave to explain the pentagram and let the pair drink their tea in peace, nobody - not even the ''original'' werewolf - would have had to die.
** Not that it would've avoided a violent mess once he's transformed, but if David wanted to get arrested so bad, he could've assaulted that police officer instead of cursing a lot.

** The Cockney taxi driver who warns David and Alex about the murders around London is played by Alan Ford, who would be best known from Creator/GuyRitchie's gangster films, Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels and Film/Snatch

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Some believe David (in his werewolf form) [[spoiler: pulled a SuicideByCop at the end after [[LoveRedeems Alex]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaches out to him.]]]]

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Discussing suicide? Disturbing. Discussing suicide with several bloody corpses(including your your rotting friend)in a porno theatre while some of the undead cheerily throw out suggestions for how to do it, from hanging to throwing yourself in front of a tube(subway)? [[BlackComedy Hilarious.]]