An American Werewolf in London & Death Ship

Have Yourself a Nasty Little Christmas
John Landis’ AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
(US, R, 1981, 97 min)
7:00 p.m. (-ish)
Blending the macabre with a wicked sense of humor, this is the terrifying story of two American tourists who find their lives forever changed when a vicious wolf attacks them during a full moon. Who can forget the Nazi uniform-wearing werewolf packing a machine gun in the infamous dream sequence?  It's easy to see why American Werewolf has become a modern horror favorite.

DEATH SHIP
(US, R, 1980, 91 min)
Begins 15 minutes after the end of American Werewolf
After a mysterious, black freighter rams and sinks a passenger liner, a handful of survivors boards the unmanned hulk but soon discover their terror has just begun.  They’re now cruising on a derelict German freighter from World War II that served as a floating Nazi torture dungeon, and its corridors and bulkheads have become possessed by the forces of evil! 

What Jim says…
Believe it or not, American Werewolf has never screened at Retrofantasma.  (It did screen as part of a Nevermore fundraiser several years ago.)  What with December being filled with happy holidays and family gatherings, I wanted this month’s program to be fun, and not necessarily a gore-fest better-suited for October. Originally, The ‘Burbs was gonna play as the 2nd half of this month’s bill.  Then I recalled Death Ship, a grisly 1980 thriller I’d been keen to show, but had never managed to find a place to program. (I almost paired Death Ship with Terror Train in January 2011.)  Death Ship is a forgotten film, never released on DVD, but one that’s quite memorable, given half a chance.  Think The Shining meets Das Boot. Okay, I’ll admit that pairing American Werewolf with Death Ship and using a Nazi motif to connect them is indeed a bit of a stretch, but it doesn’t help to overanalyze this stuff as much as it does to imagine whether or not you’ll be entertained.  Nazis for Christmas and Hanukkah, what more could you want?

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