#7 - An American Werewolf in London (1981)
1981 was a good year for werewolves - between this film and Joe Dante's The Howling, the classic monster was brought into the modern era. Of course there have always been a ton of werewolf movies (most of them bad), but these two films made an important leap forward - the characters in them already know about werewolf movies, and the idea of turning into a monster sounds as silly to them as it does to us. This allows the stories to move beyond the basic concept and explore new territory.
What sets this film apart from others in the genre is that it focuses on the curse rather than the creature. There are only a few scenes with the actual werewolf, and most of the film's genuinely scary moments happen during David's nightmares. This film also has a wicked sense of humor - my favorite scene is the one where David meets all of the werewolf's victims in a porno theater and they try to convince him to commit suicide. It's hard to think of a better example of dark comedy in any film.
If you haven't seen this one, I highly recommend that you seek it out. I compared it to The Howling, but I think that this one is by far the superior werewolf movie. Equal parts funny, scary, and gory make this a classic of the genre.
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