Horror Movie Review: An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)

There are many horrors that are considered classics, untouchable & in no need of a sequel. One such film is the 1981 comedy-horror, An American Werewolf in London. A movie that combined bloody violence, fantastic effects (the werewolf transformation is still considered one the best), a gripping story & some great tongue in cheek comedy.

It’s a classic (you can read a review here) & a movie that never needed a sequel. It still got one though.

Andy, an American tourist is in Paris with his pals, Brad & Chris. The trio are a bunch of dare-devils & sneak up the Eiffel Tower after closing time. Brad & Chris tease Andy about the bungee chord he has in his bag & wanting to prove them wrong he goes about setting up for a jump.

He ends up being interrupted by Serafine, a young woman who leaps off the tower. Andy jumps after her saving her life thanks to the bungee chord but is knocked unconscious.

Waking in a hospital Andy finds he has fallen madly in love with her & is determined to find & help her. Unknown to him though Serafine is a werewolf & unwillingly part of a society that uses ‘Club de la Lune’ as a cover for the werewolves to feast on tourists. These clubs are run by Claude who gets Andy & his friends to attend under the impression that Serafine will be there.

It’s at this party that Andy is bitten by a werewolf beginning his own eventual transformation into a werewolf.

Side stories regarding Claude & his buddies attempts to get a drug that means they can transform whenever they want are all wrapped up in Andy & Serafine’s love story (Serafine is the daughter of David & Alex from the first film), the over-riding point of this movie. It might not be such a big deal if it wasn’t for the average acting, terrible comedy & horrific visuals.

It doesn’t seem possible that this sequel could get so much wrong starting with the most obvious, the thing that you’ll instantly notice…the comedy.

An American Werewolf in Paris takes the subtle silliness of ‘London & ramps it up to slapstick levels along with cartoonish sound effects. It’s not helped by the lack of competent acting, Andy is pretty awful & has just two facial reactions…perplexed & horny, neither fits most of the scenes.

Where as London’s comedy felt smart, here it appeals to the lowest common denominator with eyeballs falling out gags & dogs humping legs. It makes the whole experience far tougher to watch as you’ll spend much of the film groaning loudly.

If that wasn’t enough the visuals are embarrassingly bad.

Now by today’s standards (2016) CGI from 1997 isn’t going to look good, that is fine. However an American Werewolf in London was made in 1981 & looks 100 times better then the werewolves in ‘Paris. Why? Practical effects over CGI.

The werewolves & transformation scenes are all CGI. They look terrible, moving unnaturally & exuding such little threat. For a film based around werewolves it does them terribly…just another thing this terrible sequel gets completely wrong.

There is nothing to recommend, just go watch An American Werewolf in London instead.