cult classics

Number 23 of My Top 31 Horror Movies : Two American friends on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists : It’s impossible to quantify how much an effect AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON had on me whilst growing up, in love with the genre and especially the early days of Universal’s Horror Movies, such as The Wolf Man from the early 40s : From that opening pub scene when everybody just stops and stares at the two boys like their from another world, the pentagram hanging on the wall of the pub, Jenny Agutter’s Nurse Price (like many I crushed hard and still do) to Rick Baker’s ground breaking special effects An American Werewolf in London is quite simply Horror Perfection : my favorite scene in the movie (apart from when David changes of course) is the London Underground chase scene, it still freaks me out & scares me good & proper, and I do love the moments in the seedy adult cinema where Jack who’s slowly decaying introduces David his victims from the night before…. so good : with a budget of $6 Million An American Werewolf in London Won the Oscar for Best Makeup and became a box office success and has since become a Cult Classic, the film’s script from Landis is outstanding, so funny & cleverly dark at times, the film’s score including three tracks cut perfectly to their respectives scenes are bloody brilliant, these include Van Morrison’s Moondance, Bobby Vinton’s version of Blue Moon and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising : I always revisit this movie around Halloween and each & every time I applaud, scream and laugh my way through this horror gem from director John Landis ★★★★★

In the near future, Cyrus a charismatic leader summons the street gangs of the Big Apple in a bid to rule. When he is killed, The Warriors are blamed and now must fight their way home while every other gang in the city are hunting them down : Based on the novel by Sol Yurick The Warriors hit the screens back in 1979 and was directed by Walter Hill : It’s one of my favourite movies of Hill’s with it’s incredible photography by First Blood’s Andrew Laszlo, the shoot takes place in the night in New York City and when you rewatch the movie as many times as I have you realise how incredible Laszlo made the city look for the screen and so perfect for Hill’s vision in creating this movie, from it’s deserted subway stations decorated with grafitti, the wet floors that illuminated the shadows to the cities dark grimy street’s lowly lit to enhance the mood, Laszlo really deserves more credit for the way The Warriors came to life on screen : I also loved it’s cast including James Remar’s Ajax, David Patrick Kelly’s slimy Luther but especially Michael Beck who plays Swan the strong and respected leader of The Warriors & the film debut of Deborah Van Valkenburgh who is astonishing as the sexy, confident & tough Mercy who rolls with the Orphans a weaker gang in the city led by Sully : I can’t praise both actors enought for their deliverance of two strong characters, similar in many ways, leaning on each other in adversity, for me Swan & Mercy are amongst my favourite film characters in movie history : one of my favourite moments in the movie is where we are introduced to some of the rival gangs preparing to chase down The Warriors and over the radio blasts Nowhere To Run by the wonderful Arnold McCuller now this is truly and utterly ICONIC, a film scene I can watch on rerun all day long, I also found The DJ played by Lynne Thigpen and voiced by Pat Floyd to be a fabulous addition to the film, the DJ giving regular updates on The Warriors chase down referring to the city’s gangs as “boppers” : The Warriors was the third movie from Walter Hill and armed with a budget of $6 Million the film hit No.1 at the box office on it’s release and has since gone on to become a cult classic : the film is nothing short of SENSATIONAL “Can You Dig It?” ★★★★★