History YMMV / AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon

* MemeticMutation: A comparison picture between a cute Labrador dog standing next to the nightmarish, ghoulish werewolf with his fangs bared has become a popular meme (usually with something calm being represented by the dog and something worse represented by the werewolf, for example).

* MemeticMutation: A comparison picture between a cute little dog and the nightmarish, ghoulish werewolf with his fangs bared has become a popular meme (usually with something calm being represented by the dog and something worse represented by the werewolf, for example).

** Griffin Dunne 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".

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival's "Bad Moon Rising" makes a huge impression, somehow, despite the fact that not much really happens while it is playing. (The great transformation scene does '''not''' take place to this tune, but to Music/SamCooke's version of "Blue Moon.") Also, Music/ElmerBernstein composed about eleven minutes of music for the film, which was so good that the technoband Meco based an entire album on it.

* {{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 because they thought the clip, featuring David's horrific transformation accompanied by jazzy, romantic crooning, was a parody.

* RealSongThemeTune:
** "Bluuuue Mooooooon..."
** All the soundtrack songs deal with the moon: "Blue Moon," "Moondance," "Bad Moon Rising."

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Rick Baker, so much that he won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1981.
* WhatAnIdiot: On a multi-person scale; near the end of the movie, after David's transformed in the porno theater and the security guard's frantically slid down a security door to try and prevent the werewolf from escaping, a crowd of curious people gather around the door to investigate the commotion that's going on in front of the theater, despite the guard shouting at them to get back (for their safety, of course).

** Gerald Bringsley is played by Michael Carter, who would go on to play Bib Fortuna in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and Radu Molasar in ''Film/TheKeep''.

** Gerald Bringsley is played by Michael Carter, who would go on to play Bib Fortuna in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* WhatAnIdiot: On a multi-person scale; near the end of the movie, after David's transformed in the porno theater and the security guard's frantically slid down a security door to try and prevent the werewolf from escaping, a crowd of curious people gather around the door to investigate the commotion that's going on in front of the theater, despite the guard shouting at them to get back (for their safety, of course).

* SpecialEffectFailure: 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.

*** 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.

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

* 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.
** 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.

** Creator/RikMayall plays a patron at The Slaughtered Lamb.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The titular werewolf itself is pretty hokey looking at times. 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.

* OlderThanTheyThink: While the closet mirror JumpScare for Jack's more decomposed looking ghost is mostly attributed to this movie (Creator/EdgarWright openly stated to have recreated it in ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' as a homage), Creator/RomanPolanski actually did it first in ''Film/{{Repulsion}}''.

** That was more a case of them not realizing that they had left the road then 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 UglyAmerican in action. It never occurs to either of them that the locals are anything more than superstitious hicks.

*** 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.

* WhatAnIdiot: Near the end of the movie, after David's transformed in the movie theater and the security guard's frantically slid down a security door to try and prevent the werewolf from escaping, a crowd of curious people gather around the door to investigate the commotion that's going on in front of the theater, despite the guard shouting at them to get back (for their safety, of course)

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Rick Baker, so much that he won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1981.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The titular werewolf itself is pretty hokey looking. 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.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The titular werewolf itself is pretty hokey looking, and at one point, Baker can be see operating the puppet as it bites the inspector's head off. 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.

** Was David even a werewolf at all, or just someone with a serious mental illness who thought he was? Note that the wolf in the opening scene doesn't become human after it's killed, and after the lovingly detailed transformation earlier, there's no similar one at the end. Alex's reaction also seems a bit underplayed for actually seeing him transform.

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

* SignatureScene: The {{painful transformation}} sequence, of course!

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival's "Bad Moon Rising" makes a huge impression, somehow, despite the fact that not much really happens while it is playing. (The great transformation scene does '''not''' take place to this tune, but to Sam Cooke's version of "Blue Moon.") Also, Music/ElmerBernstein composed about eleven minutes of music for the film, which was so good that the technoband Meco based an entire album on it.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Rick Baker, so much that he won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1981.