An American Werewolf in Paris

Starring: Tom Everett Scott, Julie Delpy, Vince Vieluf, Phil Buckman, Julie Bowen
Directed by: Anthony Waller
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Romance, Thriller
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An American (Tom Everett Scott) saves a woman (Julie Delpy) in Paris, and when he seeks to befriend her, he finds himself involved with a group of werewolves.

Review:

Tim: This is a strange movie. Coming 16 years after An American Werewolf in London, it feels like a movie that shouldn't really exist. Yes, the original movie was pretty excellent (it's one of my favorite horror movies), but why make this sequel, so long after the first film? It wasn't like audiences were clamoring for it. It feels out of place- it's certainly a sequel, but it's only loosely tied to the original.

Most people will claim that An American Werewolf in Paris isn't nearly as good as the original, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I don't think this movie is completely worthless, either. It is a decent film. It simply looks a lot worse when you place it in the shadow of the first movie. While it's not exactly good, I still had an enjoyable time watching it.

Because I liked the first movie so much, I tried not to compare this one to it too much. Of course, this is impossible, but I wanted to see how this movie stacked up on its own. The film has an interesting story, a few entertaining characters, and some fun werewolf action. I actually really liked the casting of Tom Everett Scott. He's an enjoyable everyman character, and I thought he was interesting here. He makes for a good protagonist. I didn't really like Julie Delpy, though. She just seems like such a bland, boring actress to me. She did nothing memorable in the role. It was also fun seeing Julie Bowen in a small supporting role as well.

One of the big complaints about this film involves the werewolf transformations. While the original featured jaw-dropping makeup effects that won an Academy Award, this film features mostly cheesy, poorly done CGI transformations. That certainly hurts the film. I didn't think it was a fatal flaw, but it definitely decreases the quality.

The story itself is a bit redundant and has far too many werewolf cliches. The movie is just entertaining enough to keep us interested, but the plot feels tired. There's a lot of parallels between this movie and the original, and in some ways, it almost feels like a poorly constructed remake. I didn't hate the story, but it did just enough to hold most (but not all) of our attention.

I didn't hate An American Werewolf in Paris, but I recognize that it represents a huge drop in quality from the first film. It is a movie that probably shouldn't have been made, but it's still fun to see a sequel that feels like it belongs to a different time and place than the original. I didn't mind watching this film, and I appreciate the uniqueness of its existence.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
An American Werewolf in London