AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981) is widely recognized as a classic. No film before it (and few since) have so deftly struck a balance of comedy, tragedy, and horror. In addition the special effect transformation where our young protagonist “becomes” the wolf is generally accepted by most critics (myself included) to be the best old-school “transformation sequence” of all time. This original film holds its own against decades of other lycanthrope films released after it, including its lesser sequel AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS (1997). Of course there simply must be a porno parody of a classic horror movie like this and likely it is someone like Jim Powers (director of Halloween XXX) who would create it. Let us look at AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON XXX and see for ourselves whether or not the “beast with two backs” belongs in everyone’s favorite classic werewolf movie.
One thing is for certain, this parody film has a healthy respect for the original work. Every memorable scene, (even the fantastic dream sequence involving Nazi werewolves) is replicated here and properly sexualized for being included. Also, the fact it was actually filmed in London starring actual English porn stars (Lexi Ward and Sophie Dee) is an immediate testament to its production values. The story follows in the paw prints of its non-porn predecessor; a young man named David Kessler is backpacking across England with his best friend, Jack Goodman. The two stop a local pub and Davis finds himself immersed in tales of the Werewolf from the aged, curmudgeonly proprietor as Jack is in the store room “losing himself” in the barkeep’s comely daughter. They are quickly run out of the bar, and they are attacked on the moor. David is severely wounded, while Jack is killed. It seems that David is now a werewolf who must engage his mad blood lust whenever there is a full moon….also he also has a permanent erection. Thankfully David’s former best friend returns to his bedside (in the form of a rapidly decaying corpse) to explain the rules of the game to him, and to constantly encourage him to kill himself (and thus freeing he and all future victims from limbo). There is also a plot line involving a David’s sexual relationship with a buxom nurse named Alex Price, which, of course, in this film takes things to a whole new level of “graphic” (needless to say, the original’s shower sequence between the two characters is much “dirtier” now). All in all, it is a faithful adaption of the original film’s sexual element and therefore an above average parody that fans of the original should check this out if they enjoy such fare.
My only problems with this film is that some of the simple-but-expected nuances failed to live up to the original film in ways that seemed overlooked. For one, “The Slaughtered Lamb” pub featured in the original film is to horror films what the bar in “Cheers” is to sitcoms, and by that I mean an iconic, necessary part of the film. The tavern in this film (aside from a spot-on replica of the Lamb pub sign (in magic marker) was essentially yet another modern, brightly lit, generic porno room that didn’t even have a working beer tap in it. Also while I fully admit that while most of the gore special effects were easily on par with a modern B movie of today, in the end the “werewolf suit” used in this film by the film’s only true “monster” looked a like a cross between a high school football team mascot and a play suit from the meanest Furry in the world. Perhaps it is too much to hope that a porn parody could be as visually stimulating as the original film from thirty years ago, yet, considering this adult parody film featured an actual chase scene in a modern English subway tunnel, I simply can’t believe that we couldn’t get a more accurate portrayal of the pub or titular beast when so much effort was put into making every other facet of this film look as close to the original (even as it incorporated a few expected porno strokes all its own). As for the sex scenes, they were glossy, shot on digital, and were never an (unwelcome) distraction to the original story but actually served as an extension of it. As the original film had a surreal, playful quality to it, the scenes where everyone has actual sex didn’t seem as jarring as they often do in parodies inspired from more “serious” horror movies.