Is An American Werewolf in London Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 5 out of 10. It's a horror comedy with jump scares, real gore and one long transformation scene.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
5 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
It fades by morning, though you may avoid the moors for a while.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, and no dog dies.
Ruling: Funnier than it is frightening, with gore that is still real. Bring a strong stomach.
An American Werewolf in London runs ninety-seven minutes. Two American students stop at a pub on the North York Moors, get a hostile reception, take the advice to stay on the road, and then walk off it.
The premise, briefly
An American student is injured in an attack on the moors and wakes up in a London hospital, where nobody agrees on what attacked him.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
David turns into a werewolf again, kills more people across London, and is cornered by police in an alley. Alex tells him she loves him, the werewolf lunges anyway, and the police shoot David dead.
The scene you're dreading
The attack on the moors, early on: a creature mauls Jack to death and badly hurts David before pub regulars shoot it. David passes out and wakes up next to a naked dead man instead of an animal.
The dog
No dog dies. A couple of dogs appear and none of them are hurt, though a deer is killed in a dream.
An American Werewolf in London is a black comedy with jump scares and some gore, and the ending is sad.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
The pub says stay on the road
David Kessler and Jack Goodman are American graduate students hiking across the North York Moors. At nightfall they stop at a pub called the Slaughtered Lamb, where Jack asks about the five-pointed star on the wall and the regulars turn hostile, so the two of them leave. As they go, the regulars tell them to keep to the road, avoid the moors and watch out for the full moon. They wander off the road almost at once, and something attacks them in the dark. This is the scene people brace for, and it comes early: the creature mauls Jack to death and badly injures David, and some of the pub regulars who followed them shoot it dead. David then sees a naked dead man beside him where the animal should be, and passes out.
Three weeks after the attack, David comes to in a hospital in London. Inspector Villiers tells him the locals blame an escaped lunatic for the attack, and David insists it was a rabid dog or a wolf. Then Jack turns up again, dead but still walking around, to explain that they were attacked by a werewolf. David was bitten, so he is now one too, and Jack is stuck in limbo until the wolf's bloodline ends. His advice is that David should kill himself before the next full moon. Meanwhile Dr. Hirsch visits the pub to look into it. The regulars deny knowing David, Jack or any attack, although one of them privately tells him David will be a danger to other people when he transforms.
The full moon makes an appearance
Once David is out of the hospital he moves in with Alex Price, the nurse who looked after him. She worries about his mental health, since he keeps having vivid nightmares. Jack comes back, more decayed than before, and warns David that the change will happen the following night, repeating his advice that David should end his own life. David doesn't believe him, until the full moon rises and he painfully turns into a werewolf in Alex's flat. He roams the streets and the London Underground and kills six people. In the morning he wakes in the wolf enclosure at London Zoo, naked and with no memory of the night, and he goes back to Alex's flat.
Bad advice at an adult cinema
David learns about the murders from the night before and works out that he is responsible. He tries to get himself arrested in Trafalgar Square and fails. He phones his family to tell them he loves them, and then he can't bring himself to cut his wrists with a pocket knife. Outside an adult cinema he spots Jack, whose skeleton is now partly visible, and follows him inside. There Jack introduces him to the people David killed the night before. Some of them are furious with him, and they offer their own ideas about how David could kill himself so that they can finally move on.
The ending, explained
David changes into a werewolf again while still inside the cinema. He beheads Inspector Villiers and then tears through the streets, killing motorists and bystanders, until the police corner him in an alley. Alex runs down the alley and tells him she loves him. For a moment David's own mind surfaces and recognizes her, then the werewolf takes over and lunges at her, and the police shoot him dead. His body turns back into a man in front of Alex, who mourns him.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, and no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is An American Werewolf in London scary?
Yes. An American Werewolf in London is a 5 out of 10: a black comedy with jump scares and real gore, built around a long transformation scene, and the dread is gone by the next morning.
How does An American Werewolf in London end?
David turns into a werewolf again and kills several more people before police corner him in an alley. Alex tries to calm him by saying she loves him, but the werewolf lunges and the police shoot David dead.
Does the dog die in An American Werewolf in London?
No, no dog dies in An American Werewolf in London. A couple of dogs appear and none of them are hurt. A deer is killed in a dream sequence.
Is there a post-credits scene in An American Werewolf in London?
No. An American Werewolf in London has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What happens to Jack in An American Werewolf in London?
Jack is mauled to death in the attack on the moors. He then keeps visiting David as an undead friend who looks worse each time, and he explains that David is now a werewolf and that Jack is stuck in limbo until the wolf's bloodline ends.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of An American Werewolf in London is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't need to wait for the full moon to know how An American Werewolf in London goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the rest of the internet's horror for you.
