An American Werewolf in Paris

An American Werewolf in Paris

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Anthony Waller
Produced by Richard Claus
Screenplay by
Based on Characters
by John Landis
Starring
Music by Wilbert Hirsch
Cinematography Egon Werdin
Edited by Peter R. Adam
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
  • October 31, 1997 (1997-10-31) (United Kingdom)
  • December 25, 1997 (1997-12-25) (United States)
Running time
 102 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • Netherlands
  • Luxembourg
  • United States
  • France
Language
  • English
  • French
Budget $25 million[2]
Box office $26.6 million[2]

An American Werewolf in Paris is a 1997 comedy horror film directed by Anthony Waller, co-written by Tim Burns, Tom Stern, and Waller, and starring Tom Everett Scott and Julie Delpy. In development for six years,[3] it follows the general concept of, and is a loose sequel to, John Landis' 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. The film is an international co-production between companies from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United States, and France.

The title of this film has its roots in the production of its predecessor; when production of the original London film ran into trouble with British Equity, director John Landis, having scouted locations in Paris, considered moving the production to France and changing the title of his film to An American Werewolf in Paris.[4]

Plot

Andy McDermott is a tourist seeing the sights of Paris with his friends Brad and Chris. When Serafine Pigot leaps off the Eiffel Tower just before Andy is about to bungee jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued – unaware that she is the daughter of David Kessler and Alex Price, the couple seen 16 years earlier in the first film. That night, Andy, Chris, and Brad attend a night club called "Club de la Lune". The club's owner, Claude, is actually the leader of a werewolf society that uses the club as a way to lure in people (preferably tourists) to be killed. Serafine arrives, tells Andy to run away and transforms into a werewolf. The club owners transform into werewolves, as well, and butcher all the guests. Chris escapes and goes back to Serafine's house. Brad's heart is eaten by a werewolf, and Andy is bitten by another werewolf.

The next day, Andy wakes up at Serafine's house. He is still in shock, but Serafine allows him to feel her breasts to calm him down. She tells him he's transforming into a werewolf. This is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the ghost of Serafine's mother Alex. Andy jumps out the window in sheer panic and begins running away. Chris tries to get his attention, but Claude grabs him and holds his hand over his mouth and takes him to the basement. Soon, Brad's ghost appears to Andy and explains Andy's werewolf condition. For Andy to become normal again, he must eat the heart of the werewolf that bit him; and, for Brad's ghost to be at rest, the werewolf that ate his heart must be killed, too. After developing an appetite for raw meat, Andy hooks up with an American tourist named Amy (Julie Bowen), but he transforms and kills her. Andy also kills a cop who had been tailing him, suspecting Andy was involved in the Club de la Lune massacre. Andy is arrested but escapes. He begins to see Amy's ghost, as well; and she begins trying to kill him.

Claude and his henchmen ask Andy to join their society; but, to prove his loyalty, Andy must kill Chris. Serafine rescues Andy, explaining that her father prepared a drug to control werewolf transformations; but, instead, the drug forces werewolves to immediately transform into their beast form. As a result, she killed her mother and savaged her stepfather. Claude and the other werewolves raid Serafine's stepfather's lab and kill him, taking the drug to transform immediately.

Serafine and Andy learn of a Fourth of July party Claude has planned and infiltrate it. They help the partygoers escape; and Andy manages to kill the werewolf that ate Brad's heart, thus setting Brad free. The cops arrive, and a fight ensues. Andy and Serafine manage to kill many werewolves, with Serafine shifting to her beast form to fight when she runs out of ammunition. During a fight between Serafine and Claude, Andy shoots one of the wolves; but it turns out that he has shot Serafine. As she reverts to her human form she begs him to kill her but he is unable to and authorities who arrive on the scene assume that he is trying to kill her before escaping.

Claude makes his way onto a subway train, but he slips onto the tracks. A train slams into him, causing him to transform back to a human. He tries to take another dose of the drug, but Andy stops him. As they fight, Andy discovers that Claude is the werewolf that bit him. Claude tries to inject himself with the drug but accidentally injects Andy instead. Andy transforms into a werewolf, kills Claude and eats his heart, breaking the werewolf curse. Serafine is taken in an ambulance, but she begins to show signs of transforming. The EMT, thinking she is going into shock, administers adrenaline, which stops the transformation. The "cure" turned out to be a sedative, which triggered the change; and adrenaline has the opposite effect.

The film ends with Serafine and Andy celebrating their wedding atop the Statue of Liberty with Andy's pal Chris, who survives. The couple seem to be controlling the curse with a steady application of adrenaline-fueled activities. They bungee jump off it as the credits roll.

In an alternate ending, after Andy eats Claude's heart, Serafine has a vision of her stepfather in the back of an ambulance, explaining how he found a cure before his death. The new closing scene shows Serafine and Andy having a child, whose eyes shift to look like the werewolves'.

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Amsterdam, Luxembourg, New York City, and on location in Paris.

Release

An American Werewolf in Paris opened theatrically in the United Kingdom on October 31, 1997, in the United States on December 25, and in France on May 6, 1998.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film ranked seventh in the North American box office and third among new releases, earning $7,600,878.[5] By the end of its run, Paris grossed $26,570,463, slightly surpassing its $25 million budget and making it a minor box office success.[2]

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 7% score based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10.[6] Metacritic reports a 31 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7]

Unlike its predecessor, which had Oscar-winning special make-up effects by Rick Baker, Paris relied heavily on CGI for its transformation effects and chase sequences, a common point of derision from most critics. According to box-office sales and online reviews, this sequel proved to be much less successful than the first film.

References

  1. ↑ "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 21, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  3. ↑ "An American Werewolf in Paris - Trivia". Internet Movie Database.
  4. ↑ David Naughton and Griffin Dunne DVD audio commentary on An American Werewolf in London
  5. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for December 26-28, 1997". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. December 29, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ "An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ "An American Werewolf in Paris reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 6, 2016.

External links

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