Let’s be honest, some films rarely warrant a follow-up or sequel, often working better as self-contained narratives; the expansion of its mythology unrequired. Yet, much to the chagrin of its growing fan base, a stand-alone sequel to John Landis’ highly regarded original (An American Werewolf in London (1981)) was released in 1997 – unsurprisingly, to less than stellar reviews. But for 12-year-old me, hungry for werewolf fiction, it was a darkly comic feast for my growing horror imagination.
As I grew older, I started to question whether I enjoyed it as much as I initially thought – quickly feeling ashamed of liking it in a lame attempt to appear popular among my university filmmaking peers. I turned my back on it, shunning it as I delved deeper into more accepted cult gems. That was, until very recently when I felt compelled to revisit this forgotten sequel and found, to my surprise, just how entertaining and unfairly maligned it remains 23 years on. Much to my surprise (and abject joy), it’s garnered something of a cult following in more recent years. It goes without saying, but if you learn anything from reading this, it’s to stick to your guns and never feel guilty about the films you enjoy.
After an effective opening, where an unknown individual is viciously attacked and dragged underground, we are introduced to Andy (Tom Everett Scott) and his extreme sports-loving chums, Brad and Chris, as they try to outdo each other in daredevil acts. which leads them to attempt a bungee jump off the Eiffel Tower, or at least Andy does to stop Serafine (Julie Delpy) from committing suicide. It’s an outlandish boy-meets-girl set-up, made all the cornier due to some wonky green screen and matte painting effects. But it works, just, in setting up the charming rapport between the two.
While Andy is a little too bubbling at times, Serafine, despite her carnivorous ways, has a charming and darkly comic personality. One moment has her gleefully adding organs to a blender to make a delicious post-wolf smoothie. As Serafine, Delpy is consistently fascinating to watch. Even when holding an outstretched arm with a glass of recently blended hearts, she has this ethereal charm to her that just oozes off the screen, made all the more humorous due to Andy’s wide-eyed look of horror. Even with its faults, An American Werewolf in Paris is made by the on-screen chemistry between these two.
This brings me to one of the most interesting and hotly contested elements of this ‘sequel’. Still to this day, one of the films’ biggest criticisms is directed towards its ropey CGI. Given the amount of love and recognition the original receives for its practical effects work from the legendary Rick Baker, it is easy to see why so many were (and still are) averse to this less practical inclusion. Agreeably, it does look bad during brightly lit scenes, and retrospectively, 1997 wasn’t the year to be doing this. After all, this was pre-Pixar Monsters Inc. (2001) where hair or organic material had not yet been perfected.
But despite the overabundance of CGI, there are moments where we are given quick flashes of practical creature work, and while never reaching the giddy heights of Baker’s iconic design, it’s still good to see, despite what word of mouth would have you believe. There are more than a handful of occasions where the werewolf effects look (whisper it now) impressive.
Take, for example, the first werewolf attack through the Paris sewage system. Lighting is effectively used to only partially show the werewolves, until the climax of the scene when Andy is bitten and passes out. Despite the overuse of CGI, there are occasional glimpses of practical animatronics for close-up shots and the werewolves’ environmental interactions, which makes the whole sequence pretty effective, all things considered.
Other practical effects are also used throughout and thankfully the prosthetic work for mutilated corpses that haunt both Andy and Serafine remains exceptionally well done (particularly those that have Screaming Mad George’s stamp over them). The ghostly corpse of Andy’s one-night stand (Amy) as she whistles leading to her eyeball popping out of its socket, is gruesomely hilarious, while the degradation of Serafine’s mother’s corpse is another great practical effect and one that lingers with you long after the credits roll.
Serafine’s first transformation is another moment which endures during revisits, due to the use of impressive lighting and occasional practical effects mixed with CGI. While it’s a short sequence, it still wows with its simplicity, as she is cast in half shadow with her neck painfully cracking and contorting as she metamorphoses into her lycanthropic form. It’s one of the best moments of blending practical and CGI within the whole film and remains an impressive achievement given the over-reliance on CGI werewolf transformations in more recent films (I’m looking at you, Van Helsing (2004)).
Finally, there is the sequence early on where Andy’s one surviving friend Chris sneaks into Serafine’s basement and gets spooked by a legless werewolf, strapped and sedated to a bed. After Chris rudely awakens the beast and knocks over the bed, the still restrained half-werewolf eerily drags itself along on the floor to get to his prey. Minus a quick CGI insert, it’s a practical gag that is equal parts creepy and humorous due to its unique visual (when was the last time you saw something like this in a werewolf film?) and disorientating birds-eye view for a good portion of the sequence.
Paris remains an entertaining comedy-horror from an era where it wasn’t an overly abundant sub-genre. Admittedly the ending is cheesier than a cheese factory and lacks the dramatic impact of Landis’ original, downbeat ending. Paris finds its stride quickly and leans heavily into black comedy and sometimes witless frat humour. Those quibbles aside, it’s hard not to guffaw at a handful of moments (the cafe/condom scene for instance). Juvenile? Yes, but that’s part of the fun and helps separate it from the lauded predecessor.
Even with its maligned reputation, Paris is a genuine comedy horror gem. While making an unrelated sequel to the lauded John Landis original is a fruitless task (particularly due to its devoted following), it’s unfair to shun Paris because it doesn’t meet the unrealistic expectations of rabid fanboys. Props should be given to director Anthony Waller, along with writers Tom Stern (Freaked (1993)) and (also Freaked (1993)) for bringing some fresh ideas to what could just have been a copy-paste sequel.
A quick fun fact – The work print version had a completely different, and some might say more fitting original ending when compared to the ridiculous bungee jump from the Statue of Liberty. In this original ending, Serafine and Andy welcome a werewolf baby into their lives. Its mad, bizarre, almost brilliant and a genuine shame it was replaced. Yes the CGI werewolf eyes are a little silly, but personally I feel it adds a great cap of to this thoroughly modern lycanthropic family. It can be viewed here
DOM O'BRIEN 
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