An American Werewolf in London(1981)

Name: An American Werewolf in London
Director: John Landis
Released: Aug 21, 1981
Cast: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne, David Schofield

Universal Pictures

TV-14
1h 37m

Release Date: Aug 21, 1981 | Moderate

American college students David Kessler and Jack Goodman on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists. Jack dies. David recovers in a hospital, where he has nightmares.

Releases

Original Release | Aug 21, 1981

View Advanced Data

Box Office Results

Updated as of May 12, 2026 11:39 AM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$3,786,512
Total US & Canada:
$30,565,292
Total International
$285,538
Total Worldwide:
$30,858,814

Current Showtimes

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Sun May 31
Mon Jun 1
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Thu Jun 4
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Sat Jun 6

Director & Top Cast

John Landis
Director

David Naughton
David Kessler

Jenny Agutter
Alex Price

Joe Belcher
Truck Driver

Griffin Dunne
Jack Goodman

David Schofield
Dart Player

Brian Glover

Chess Player

Lila Kaye

Barmaid

Rik Mayall

2nd Chess Player

Sean Baker

2nd Dart Player

Paddy Ryan

First Werewolf

Anne-Marie Davies

Nurse Gallagher

John Woodvine

Doctor Hirsch

Frank Oz

Mr. Collins, Miss Piggy

Don McKillop

Inspector Villiers

Paul Kember

Sergeant McManus

Colin Fernandes

Benjamin

Albert Moses

Hospital Porter

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Mono,Dolby Digital,D-Cinema 48kHz 7.1,Dolby Surround 7.1,12-Track Digital Sound,Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United Kingdom,United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Hiking on a road on the Yorkshire moors of Northern England, American college students David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) come to a small village. They go into the local pub, called the Slaughtered Lamb, where they're coldly greeted by the locals. One of the regulars tells an off-color joke and while everyone, including David and Jack, laughs, Jack asks why the bar has a sort of shrine with candles and a pentacle. The bar is immediately silenced and the locals become even more unfriendly, prompting David and Jack to leave. Before they leave, the locals tell them to stay on the road outside and not to wander into the moors.As Jack and David walk along the road it begins to rain and the fog surrounding them grows thicker. Subsequently, they drift off the road and find themselves disoriented on the moors. They hear the ominous baying of an animal in the distance and Jack suggests they return to the village. They then hear a low growling nearby and catch sight of a large animal, which is circling them. They hurry off in the opposite direction, only to find that the creature has flanked them. Hurrying faster, they break into a run and David trips and falls. While they laugh over David's accident and Jack helps him up, Jack is attacked by a large wolf, which savagely mutilates him. David had run off but runs back when he hears Jack screaming. He finds Jack's body ripped apart and is himself attacked by the wolf, which bites and scratches him on his face and shoulder. Gunshots are heard; the villagers from the Slaughtered Lamb have appeared and have shot the wolf. Before he falls unconscious, David sees the bloodied body of a naked man lying next to him.David wakes up in a London hospital. His doctors and nurses inform him that he's been unconscious for three weeks since the attack and that Jack is dead. The police have also informed his parents about his condition. David is distraught at the thought of Jack's murder and the doctors sedate him. Later, he's visited by a chief of police and a representative from the American Consulate. They question him about the incident where Jack was killed. David doesn't have much to tell them except that Jack was killed by a large and powerful animal. The policeman tells David that he'd talked to the patrons of the Slaughtered Lamb and they'd told him that Jack was killed by a recently escaped murderer.David begins to experience strange dreams that become nightmares; in one, he runs nude through the forest and comes to a bed. He sees himself lying in the bed; when the bedridden David opens his eyes, they appear animal-like and he snarls. After a few days in the hospital, David sees an apparition of Jack, still mutilated. Jack has come back as a spirit to warn David that they were attacked by a "lycanthrope" a werewolf. Worse, David will be doomed to transform into a werewolf himself at the next full moon, a few days from then. Jack also tells David that he must kill himself to break the werewolf's bloodline, or he may attack others and continue the cycle. Jack is incredulous, thinking that his trauma from the experience is affecting his mind. Jack assures him that the curse is very real.One of David's nurses, Alex Price (Jenny Agutter), becomes very attracted to David and invites him to stay with her at her London flat after he's released. The two become lovers. Late one night while Alex is asleep, David wakes up to use the bathroom. He is startled by Jack, whose spirit form has begun to decay. David is still unwilling to believe Jack's warning, even when Jack tells him that he may harm Alex. Jack disappears and David is left still believing he's losing his mind.David is left alone in Alex's apartment when she goes to work. That night, David suddenly begins to scream in pain and he slowly transforms into a wolf. Loose in the city, he first stalks a man on the London Underground. The man hears David's growling and begins to walk quickly away, eventually running as David chases him. He makes it to an escalator and slips, and David kills the man. In another part of the city, David attacks a group of homeless men and kills them all. He also lures a couple out of their house and attacks another couple on the street killing them as well.David wakes up, thinking he suffered another nightmare, and finds that he's naked and in the wolf's pen at a zoo. He steals some balloons from a child & an overcoat from a woman. He rides back to Alex's flat on the Tube.In the meantime, David's doctor, J. S. Hirsch (John Woodvine), travels to East Proctor. Having been suspicious of David's wounds when he was admitted, Hirsch questions the townsfolk there, asking them why David's injuries were fully cleaned & dressed when they turned him over to the medical professionals. The townsfolk are reluctant to answer the doctor's questions, however, one of them meets the doctor outside the pub and tells him what happened and that David is cursed. The doctor returns to London and asks Alex about her new relationship with David. He tells her to keep an eye on him and that she might be in danger.Alex and David go out for a day in London. While they're out, David spots a paper that tells of the murders he committed and how they're going unsolved. David realizes that Jack is right and tries to have himself arrested, even shouting statements that are offensive to Brits. Eventually, he becomes so upset that he runs off, leaving Alex behind.David winds up in a porno theatre at Piccadilly Square. Jack visits him again and introduces him to the ghosts of the people he murdered. They're all quite angry with David and all try to convince him to commit suicide immediately. David suddenly transforms into the wolf again and bursts out of the theatre, attacking people on the street and causing several violent car crashes. He's hunted by the police to a dead-end alley. Hirsch and Alex find him there and Alex tries to calm David down and help him transform back. With some recognition of Alex in his eyes, David leaps at her, feigning an attack. The police shoot him dead immediately.===================2 American backpackers are touring around Europe and have arrived in a desolate part of the UK. Before long they are warned by the Locals of The Slaughtered Lamb to avoid the moors at night. Shortly afterwards they are attacked by a mysterious beast which kills one of them and wounds the other. the beast is subsequently killed by the locals and then the fun really begins. After coming round in hospital, David meets Nurse Price and begins to have disturbing dreams. He is visited by his now-dead friend Jack who tells him that they were attacked by a Werewolf and that David will soon become one himself. Shortly after leaving the hospital and moving in with Nurse Price a series of grisly murders takes place. And David realizes that his dead best friend may be right.

Storyline

Two American college students are on a walking tour of Britain and are attacked by a werewolf. One is killed, the other is mauled. The werewolf is killed but reverts to its human form, and the local townspeople are unwilling to acknowledge its existence. The surviving student begins to have nightmares of hunting on four feet at first but then finds that his friend and other recent victims appear to him, demanding that he commit suicide to release them from their curse, being trapped between worlds because of their unnatural deaths. — John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> Two American friends David & Jack and taking a walking holiday through Northern England and are attacked by a Werewolf . Jack is ripped to shreds and David survives but is badly scarred. David wakes up a week later in a hospital in London and is upset to hear of his friends passing. He begins to have nightmares and visions of running wild through the woods. He becomes very close to one of the nurses, Alex, and when discharged he stays with her in her flat in London. He begins to get a visit from his dead friend Jack who warns him that he will become a Werewolf at the next full moon and must take his own life. Thinking he's crazy he ignores all of Jacks warnings. Sure enough he transforms when the moon is full and goes on a murderous rampage through London. — Rob Higgins David and Jack, two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he's plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast. — Jwelch5742