David, what big teeth you have!
- The signature scene of the movie is pure unadulterated nightmare fuel: a painful transformation that would give the one from The Howling a run for its money. Here's the scene.
- Indeed, The transformation sequence is very frightening. The sheer body horror of it all is subtle that it makes the whole even more terrifying. David Naughton's acting sells it. It's almost as if the whole sequence is a deconstruction of the very idea of a werewolf transformation sequence.
- When the transformation is nearly complete (and we see the last of it before the scene cuts away), the werewolf, now having lost just about the last of its humanity, is growling and panting as it slowly ambles to its feet, as if it's revving up for the night of carnage it's about to inflict. We then cut to the full moon, and once again, we hear the hellish howl we heard at the beginning of the film - night has fallen, and the nightmare can begin.
- The "Undead", which are more like living zombies than ghosts; Jack first appears to David with most of his skin still torn off from the Werewolf attack, and he just keeps decaying from there until his last appearance is... gah.
- That little flap of skin that's just barely hanging on by a thread to Jack's neck during the scene in the hospital.
- The nightmare sequences. Some screenshots should not be on rental video cases available to six-year-olds. The Nazi monsters attack David's home with automatic rifles and knives, blowing away David's family and slitting their throats (and ultimately David's). What's worse is that the Nazi monsters are making awful screeches, that at times feel fractured into cackling, almost as if they're enjoying the carnage they're inflicting on the innocent people they're slaughtering.
- The NECA toy calls the zombies "nightmare demons." With how Jack confirms the "forces of darkness" are real, one could interpret the sequence in hindsight as not just being nightmares - these are actual demons here to sadistically plague the newest member of the forces of darkness in his mind! Maybe even spirits of real Nazi soldiers subjecting David to one helluva Kick the Dog due to his Judaism.
- The first attack. Imagine you're walking with your friends in a pitch black and seemingly endless field, you hear howls getting closer and closer. Shortly after that you hear the growls of the beast from the darkness that surrounds you and you know it's circling you.
- Another thing that makes this scene terrifying is just the very sound the werewolf makes, this genuinely unsettling howl echoing off in the distance. The fact that it's in the distance on some hostile moors at night somehow makes it even scarier than it would be close up.
- The fact the two main characters actually see the werewolf in the distance, and try to convince themselves that it must be a dog or something.Jack: Oh, shit. What is it?
- When the pub-goers are asked about the pentagram on the wall, they become very hostile and the boys decide to leave. However, they insist that the boys avoid the moors, stay on the road, and beware the moon.
- After the boys leave, we see that the pub-goers, apparently regulars, have barricaded the doors of the pub and drawn their weapons. The barkeep insists they shouldn't have let them leave, but is rebuffed. Then we hear the most hellish, demonic howl in the distance, and all the pub-goers look up at it. The howl continues. The barkeep begins losing her composure and begs the pub-goers to go after the boys. The others refuse, too afraid to leave. One says "it's in God's hands now." The pub doesn't get much screen-time, but damned if this scene didn't make you afraid of the unknown.
- The scene where one of David's victims is stalked through, and eventually killed on, the London Underground. We never, ever see the werewolf, save for one moment where we're given a very brief glimpse; a wide bird's eye POV of the man being carried up the escalator, and the werewolf emerges from the tunnels - the scene cuts to a different angle before we can fully register what we're looking at. The guy's terrified reactions are more than enough.
- Indeed, the very angle of the shot as the camera closes in on the cornered victim is frightening, because it's effectively a werewolf's-eye-view of the creature's approach. And the angle, together with the previous bird's-eye glimpse and how high the man's gaze was turned when he spotted his attacker at the start of the chase, confirms that it's fucking huge.
- The Werewolf design in general. Built like a tank and covered in fur and lacking in sheer humanity, this werewolf is frightening.
- It all goes down in the very recognisable Tottenham Court Road Station; watching this scene and then having to travel through that station late at night is not pleasant.
- The climax in Piccadilly Circus.
- The inspector goes into the theater where he finds David already feeding on an unfortunate victim. He then books it to the entrance where people are already gathering to see what the commotion is, and he's having the doors to the theater barricaded as much as possible… only for David to start smashing against the barricade, and all the poor inspector can do is fruitlessly scream at people to run as he quickly fails to hold his ground. There is a very pissed and hungry werewolf that is quickly fighting its way through the barricade, and it's terrifying to hear the animal angrily throw everything it has into tearing through…
- David rips through the wall and bites the head off the intervening inspector in front of hundreds of terrified people. All hell breaks loose as dozens of terrified citizens try to avoid his monstrous form, crashing into and mowing down one another as they try to escape. It's arguable that the citizens do more damage than the werewolf due to the sheer panic that ensues.
- One unfortunate passenger gets thrown out of a bus and gets his head crushed under the wheels of a car.
- The Nightmare Face that David makes in one of the dreams he has (page image).
- The theatrical poster works thanks to, again, fear of the unknown. It depicts Jack and David looking off into the distance uneasily, with the full moon overhead. The tagline reads, "From the director of Animal House... a different kind of animal." The poster really puts you in the moment as if you're the unfortunate soul looking off in the distance as you hear the howl of the approaching werewolf.
- The original teaser trailer. No voiceover, none of the cast. Just a dark, murky swamp at night set to an increasingly ominous score. Then we see blood making it's way through the water, around the reflection of the moon… and then the paw of the werewolf splashed down over the moon with a frightening growl. And then we get the title. So much done with so little.
- Towards the end of Jack's first visit, he gets serious when it's clear David isn't buying what he's saying, and tells David that "the forces of darkness" and the supernatural are Real After All and it's why Jack is stuck as the undead and David will become a werewolf. It's terrifying enough to have confirmation that there really are evil forces out there.
- Just think of what other monstrosities are out there if werewolves and restless spirits are real. Vampires? Demons? Zombies? The possibilities are endless and terrifying.
- The NECA toys of the werewolf and the nightmare demons do a terrifyingly good job at capturing the ghouls.
