Midweek Mention... An American Werewolf in London

American Werewolf in London

Sidey: Oh, yeah. And I'll show you what I'm... Okay It was a bit of a battle to figure out how to set the date on it 'cause there's only one crown thingy It's, you pull it out- And then setting the moon- In two- And then trying to set the moon phase. You're like, "I don't know what the moon phase

Dan: have to pull it out in two different stages, do

Sidey: Yeah, but one- Or one time? So you pull it out the first stage, forward is to change the moon phase, but back is to change the date. I didn't realize it even had a date setting on it- Yeah ... till I looked at the dials.

Dan: I've, that-

Sidey: right. Right, hang on. Two

Jamie: Stymied by a watch.

Sidey: It's 'cause I just get it, throw the, all the packaging away with the

Dan: instructions. Oh, I keep it all

Sidey: all. Like- No, man, I don't keep them all ... like I've been saying it was- They're never, they're never going anywhere.

Dan: never going to.

Sidey: Right. This is American.

Jamie: Fuck

Dan: Where we going first?

Sidey: American Werewolf

Dan: In Paris? No, in London.

Jamie: London, innit?

Dan: London, innit?

Sidey: London Town.

Jamie: bruv, innit?

Sidey: First things first.

Dan: we're starting

Sidey: we started, right. First things first, there's a new dad. Aye, there is. Hey. Wee Jimmy.

Dan: 'Tis I. It's Jimmy.

Jamie: Is that gonna happen, like, f- for the whole thing, yeah? Aye. Cool.

Dan: 'Tis. You, you didn't know which one's Jimmy and which one's no Jimmy

Jamie: Well, I was gonna say it's nice to be here, but I've changed my mind.

Dan: to be here, but Riggs is in

Sidey: French France. Think Chris was in French France, but is back tonight, but it's also his-

Jamie: tonight. But it's also

Sidey: wife's birthday. Oh, is it? So yeah, today, yeah. Okay. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Cara.

Dan: Oh, is it? Yeah. Okay. Happy birthday. I'd love to

Sidey: here, but Jamie has pestered me for ages to get a guest slot 'cause he loves his movies. So, and you're a dad, so you're qualified.

Jamie: I meet all the criteria.

Sidey: Yeah, all the criteria ticks. We don't have subtitles, so you will need to use your best phone voice or similar because Jamie is Scottish.

Jamie: Try the good

Sidey: good What, what? Mm-hmm. And we're gonna talk about, 'cause this is Wolf Week, we're gonna talk about American Werewolf in London. Yeah. First time viewing for me.

Dan: First time viewing? Yeah. Okay, so it's been a long

Sidey: since- Seen the transformation for like c- like the main- Yeah ... bit, like a million times, but I'd not actually seen the movie.

Dan: When I said I was watching this, it got quite a bit of excitement from those that I told because- Yeah ... I think it's a bit of a cult favorite for a lot of people.

Sidey: definitely not.

Jamie: that. I, I definitely have seen it before, but it was at an age where I definitely shouldn't have seen it. I think I was, like, seven when I watched it.

Sidey: this. Yeah. I think I

Jamie: I think I watched it when American Werewolf in Paris came out.

Dan: out. Right. Okay, let me just explain. He said he was seven when he watched

Sidey: when he watched that. Did I fuck up with that? Okay. It's 1981 movie, so, and John Landis, known for the transformation, the VFX all of that sort of body horror kinda stuff, and also known, I guess, 'cause John Landis then went on and directed the Thriller video. I didn't know that. And that was the, this,

Dan: this, you can s-

Sidey: big trans- He actually- You know, the, the Thriller transformation

Jamie: real good sense when you think about it. Yeah.

Sidey: But it starts off not in London. I was thinking, "That's not London at all." No. It's some sort- It's very green ... it's some sort of rural... It turns out to be, I think it's the North Yorkshire Moors is where it's supposed to be.

Jamie: first bit. Well, it's You'd imagine that, but then throughout the movie people can instantly go from London

Sidey: they go... Yeah ... and

Jamie: in about 35 seconds, which- Yeah, it's a close road. Yeah ... yeah, it makes absolutely no sense.

Dan: And

Sidey: also, why are two Americans backpacking in a really remote-

Dan: they're asking themselves the same question, aren't they- Well, as they-

Sidey: he's asking his mate. They're going through. He's like, "What the fuck are we doing here?"

Dan: Yeah. We could be in Rome or Paris or wherever it was. But these two Americans with their backpacks and their like waterproof, windproof jackets- Mm ... are just hiking through, and we welcome them

Sidey: they get a, they've, they've hitched a, a lift on the back

Jamie: was the question that got me, is where have they hitched from? Like- Yeah ... to, to end up in this less remote place? 'Cause you don't hitch from a remote place to an even more remote

Sidey: They're in the back of a sort of pickup sharing it with about 30 ewes, aren't they? And the, the farmer says, "Right, you pair of twats, you can get out here. I fucking go down there. I'm going this way."

Dan: off the Moors. "Stay

Sidey: on the road. It's dangerous." Yeah. "Stay on the road," that he sort of warns them. And, So they think, "Sound, let's go for a pint."

Dan: and they bound

Sidey: they don't even want a pint, do they?

Dan: They, yeah, they go, they find eventually an inn,

Sidey: the, it is the kind of place where you walk in, the music stops, every fucker looks at you.

Jamie: they've got the farmers-

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie: Everyone just

Sidey: stares at them, like, for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Dan: The Slaughtered Sheep or- Slaughtered Lamb ... Lamb. Yeah. And it's,

Sidey: And straight away I was like, "Hang on a minute." And it cuts, and then it was like, "That was Rick Mayall, wasn't it?" And it- Yeah ... it absolutely is Rick Mayall. And there's a who's who of, like, other people that you've seen from other stuff.

Jamie: there's a lot of good games of what was he in again- Yeah ... that you can do on that. Yeah. The, also the pub sign has, like, the most heavy metal album cover pub sign you've ever seen.

Sidey: you've ever seen. Yeah, well, and then they, they don't even go to the bar. You can tell they're American 'cause they want table service. Yeah. And they say "Can we have a bowl of soup?" And she's like, "We do pints and spirits." And they're like, "Coffee?" She's like-

Dan: I can do you

Sidey: you some tea." She's like, "We don't do tea, but I can do you a cup of tea." And they're like, "Sound, we'll have a cup of tea." And everyone's still fucking- Get involved.

Dan: Like, have a pint, wouldn't you? After you've walked all that way. But yeah, maybe being American, as you said, though, it is quite a nice touch actually

Sidey: was Bud Light, they'd have been all over it to

Dan: pull out a- ... sit down and expect table service- Yeah ... rather than going to the bar.

Sidey: the bar. So they're still getting eyeballed by people. They're like, "Who the fuck are these?"

Jamie: The fact that the woman came up and served them though is quite shocking to me, having been to Yorkshire. To this day, they would just look at you and throw darts at you rather than, you

Dan: know They would just keep,

Sidey: And there's a pentagram kind of crudely-

Dan: he calls it, which Yeah, which is weird It

Sidey: Triangle he calls it, which- Yeah, which is weird

Jamie: be pissing me off.

Sidey: Pissing me off. Kind of like crudely drawn, maybe even in blood, 'cause it was kind of red. I don't know what, what that- 200 years old ... and they, they're like, "What the fuck? This place is a bit unnerving." And they're still getting eyeballed, and the guys just start saying to them, "Fuck off,"

Dan: Well, he ta- he makes a joke, doesn't he, about how the American throws the Mexican out the plane

Sidey: right, yeah ... and they get drunk Everyone fucking howls And

Dan: laughing. And at that moment one of the American lads, Jake, am I right in thinking? Is it Jake the-

Sidey: or- Jack

Dan: Jack. Jack,

Sidey: and Nick, is it?

Dan: And he-

Sidey: Jack and

Dan: he makes the observation, "Oh, what's that?" Pointing at the the pentagram, pentagon, penta...

Sidey: penta-

Jamie: the star. And,

Dan: the, the star. And, And it just, like, silences, doesn't it? One guy misses the dartboard and starts

Sidey: Yeah, that's the first thing. It just- He, he- It just misses, it hits the wall, and you're like, "Uh-oh, uh-oh"

Dan: miss." And he goes, reads the room, doesn't he? He goes... Nick reads the room. He goes, "Let's go. Let's go."

Sidey: Yeah, we should probably get out of

Dan: And they let them leave. They're saying,

Sidey: saying, "There's nothing here. There's nothing here for you. You know, fuck off." And but then the bar lady's like, "We can't let them-

Dan: them-" We shouldn't have let them go.

Sidey: And for a start, it's, like, pitch black, and it's, like, fairly horrendous weather, and they've got nowhere to go. But also she's like, "Well, we know what's fucking out there."

Jamie: th- there's a real good mix of, like, "Get out of here, you strange people who we inexplicably don't like. We hate you, but also stay on the road 'cause we, we don't really hate you."

Sidey: Well, they don't wanna clean up another corpse or two.

Jamie: I mean, it's not really explained, is it? Like, what, what, what is the connection with this weird Yorkshire-esque village?

Dan: going on there, and- Yeah ... they

Sidey: set up for a prequel, isn't it? But they don't... They, I guess they know who the, the wereperson is, but you straight away, you hear a, a howl.

Dan: The two

Sidey: lads are like, "Oh, I don't like the sound of that. What was that?"

Dan: And they find themselves actually having strayed off the path and onto the

Sidey: they kinda look down and s- all of a sudden they realize they're not on the path they hadn't- Next

Dan: thing

Sidey: it, it fucking launches out of nowhere.

Dan: the wolf.

Sidey: It gets it gets jacked, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's fairly savage.

Jamie: into it, I couldn't determine if it was a horror or a comedy, and it kept changing throughout. And that little scene when they're sort of like, "And stay on the road. Oh, no, we're off." It's like, it goes between sort of comedy horror very... The transitions very well. It's not

Sidey: some other stuff in it that they play... Like, most of the film, I'd say, they just play it straight, as in werewolves are a thing that can happen. This is, like, this, blah, blah, blah. Then you get, when we jump forward and shit, like fucking Inspector Clouseau character and you're like, "What the fuck?"

Dan: Yeah.

Jamie: doctor inspector. Yeah.

Dan: There, there's a, there's a few bits, and you're right, there's a balance there between slightly tongue in cheek and and then a serious kinda horror or something.

Sidey: 'cause, 'cause Jack gets fucking mauled t- like into oblivion. David actually runs and then thinks, "Fuck," and runs back to him. He goes-

Jamie: he, but he goes, "Oh, Jack." It's like, "I for- I forgot something here whilst I'm running away from this monster." Yeah. And

Sidey: And then

Dan: gets attacked, but a- and as he's being savaged, the locals have turned up and they shoot. And as he looks just before he loses consciousness, he sees-

Sidey: A dead fella

Dan: a dead fella. Yeah A naked dead fella next to him, and next thing he's waking up in hospital-

Sidey: Yeah. And he gets out ... and we don't know straight away, but it turns out that he has been patched up by someone, and then they've sh- they've,

Jamie: and then they've sh- they've- And we still never know

Sidey: they never know who ... they've d- they've done some sort of hooky police report. Yeah. And then they've just volleyed him down to London. He just, yeah, for his ... Like, there is no explanation

Jamie: No, I love

Sidey: how he's got there. But

Jamie: I hate movies that have far too much exposition. And I love the fact this is like, "Figure it out, or don't. Just guess. We

Sidey: title is In London, so he just needs to be in London. Yeah. That's good enough for me.

Jamie: Yeah. And it makes no, it makes no you know, excuses or tries to fill it in. Like, if that's been a thing in that village for a long time, so much that everyone's scared and doesn't talk about it, surely someone's tried to shoot it before, right? Yeah.

Sidey: You'd think so.

Dan: May know the guy, like, and just left him out there Yeah 'Cause-

Jamie: and just let him go. Yeah. That's, that's just Dave. Well,

Sidey: they

Dan: turn as we know at full moon, don't they? So, he might have been one of the, the village kind of people village people. He might have been

Sidey: He is the policeman.

Dan: Back in the day. But they don't go into any of that anyway. We d- we don't know. We're just left to wonder why. And he turns up at the hospital- Jenny,

Sidey: Jenny Agutter's looking after him. And she is, yeah. But she has a ... There's another nurse, and she just throws out there that she's looked at his dick while he's been unconscious, and she says he's got- Oh, yeah ... he's got a big piece, as it turns out. And fortunately for us, we get to see it later on. Yeah.

Dan: There we go. Bonus after bonus

Jamie: love how just posh everyone is

Sidey: Well, it's Jenny Agutter, she's fairly posh. We saw her in Walkabout where she was uncomfortably- Yeah ... underage, full frontal nudity. Yeah. So there you go.

Dan: We've also see the, the doctor let him know that actually for all intents and purposes, it was an asylum es- escapee that has done this

Sidey: It's a, yeah, it's escaped lunatic ha- has been basically- Savage his mate ... had this pinned on him. He didn't know... He, he's been in a coma for three weeks, and so they have to tell him. He's got no real recollection of it, and they have to tell him that his mate has been killed, which he's sort of shocked for about 30 seconds, then seems to be fine about

Jamie: and seems to have gotten over it. I think the, the nurse really help, really helps with getting over it. Yeah.

Dan: Well, sh- they inject him, don't they? 'Cause he- They give him a sedative ... he

Sidey: 'Cause

Dan: out. They give him a sedative and he freaks out. And she does, she helps over the next sort of days and weeks quite a lot. She's

Sidey: Does he see his mate now in the hospital? Very,

Dan: soon afterwards, once he comes out of

Sidey: he starts having nightmares first of

Jamie: the nightmare scenes.

Sidey: They're great. Yeah. And this is, this is one of the things- Nazi werewolves ... they take into Thriller, the, the nightmare within the nightmare. Yeah. 'Cause he... There's these sort of demon characters in one of his nightmares with machine guns that burst in. They're Nazi werewolves. Well, right.

Dan: fir- first he

Jamie: at them, they're wearing, like, SS uniforms.

Sidey: Yeah. Okay.

Jamie: Yeah ... they're actual Nazi werewolves, which ... And she ... The nurse's remark, "I think he's Jewish. I've had a look at his schlong." And in the first nightmare sequence you can see the,

Sidey: the- the antisemitic werewolves. Yeah. They're the worst kind. You

Jamie: the Jewish thing they've got with the candles? I can't remember what it's called.

Sidey: Yes. Ritual, no? Yeah.

Dan: Whatever that's

Jamie: called. You can see that, and they, they shoot that first.

Sidey: Right. Oh. Okay. Wow. And then he say, he comes to from that nightmare, and then she goes to the window, and she gets shot through the... Then he wakes up again like, "Ah." That's,

Dan: one of the later ones. The first sort of vision he has is actually Jack-

Sidey: In a- ...

Dan: sort of bleeding, cutting all in his face, but otherwise looking pretty good and just going over and saying, "Hey, how are you?" And he goes, "What you doing here?" And he goes, "I got eaten by a werewolf. You've gotta kill yourself because you're gonna, you know, turn." Then

Sidey: start doing

Dan: "You're gonna..." And then the dreams get worse and worse.

Sidey: they,

Jamie: like, was... The first dream was just him sort of just chanting through the woods.

Dan: Oh,

Sidey: Yeah, but you do see him. That's when you first- Yeah you get a quick shot of his dick. Yeah, he... You get a very quick view of something going through the woods, then there's another one where you see that it's him, and he jumps on a deer, rips it to shreds, and starts eating that. Yeah. And then, yeah, you see... In that bit you see his dick. And then- They've

Dan: done quite well, aren't they? Like, you know, these little

Sidey: not-

Jamie: I think so,

Sidey: yeah ... like at no point is in denial about it. He's completely frank and open about every nightmare and everything that he's seen and going through. Yeah. He d- he just gives full disclosure to everyone. And

Dan: also says to the policeman who comes to tell him, and the doctor, "Look, it wasn't a man that did this. This was some kind of rabid dog or wolf or something, I'm telling you." And they're going, "No, that's not the information we've got. You're, like, delusional. You, you need to just calm down

Jamie: I think, my favorite thing about the whole movie is the whole frankness. There's no, like, Meet the Fockers nonsense where you try and cover st- It's just everything is just, "Yes, it's this,

Sidey: then this thing." That's what I mean. Like, most of it, they just play it dead straight. Yeah. Just like... But then you get fucking Inspector Clouseau. But yeah, Nurse Alex, Jenny Agutter, her reaction to this is, "Actually, I'm gonna take him home and fuck him." Yeah. 'Cause that's what you do with patients

Dan: that's... Yeah. Certainly

Sidey: having some sort of PTSD, but also maybe losing their mind completely.

Dan: And he's American, and he's a bit kinda cool. He's a- He's handsome ... he's a handsome lad. And she says, "Look, I find you really attractive." But sad "Have you got a place

Sidey: to stay?" She says, "You're really attractive, but kind of sad."

Dan: have you got a place to stay? Come back to mine." Yeah.

Sidey: She, she gives him the tour, takes takes him to the bedroom and says, "I'm going for a shower." She says, "I'll prepare-" And then they straight away, they fucking shower.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah

Sidey: make sweet love all night, actually, as it turns out.

Jamie: They give themselves tiny little kisses in the shower, which one of the most painful scenes I've seen in a long time, where you can see them kissing in the shower and the guy actor is just chucking the tongue, and the woman actor is doing everything she can to

Sidey: does... I thought she did the little sort of bites, like almost like the reverse werewolf type thing. So she has to,

Dan: gotta go to work, doesn't she? She has

Sidey: has to fuck off to work the next day. Mm-hmm. And it, it moves at, like, a fairly brisk pace actually, the movie.

Jamie: to fuck off to work the next day. And it moves at, like, a fairly brisk pace, actually. Maybe- It's the pacing of the romance is on a par with Romeo and Juliet. You know, they meet on a Monday, and by Sunday it's, "I want to die for you." It's, it's, it's breathtaking.

Sidey: It's, it's breathtaking. He he's basically just left to sort of mooch about her apartment while she fucks off back to work. But the doctor, having met the police officer, the, the sergeant

Dan: his sidekick

Sidey: lunatic sidekick ... he's

Jamie: his comic relief

Sidey: Yeah. He's not convinced, so he, like you say, he just teleports up to the North Yorkshire Moors in his Austin Metro, whatever he's got. And is immediately calling bullshit when he goes to that pub. He's like, "Well, they're all fucking hiding something." Doesn't really

Dan: they're really, really weird to him, aren't they? They're going like that,

Sidey: Well, bear in mind he's-

Dan: for you here."

Sidey: He's been told- And it's like- ... it was a werewolf or it was a wolf. So he's like,

Dan: And they're uncomfortably- And they're- ... denying it, and then it's pissing down with rain. One of the locals goes outside, and he kinda catches his eye as he goes,

Sidey: out back. It's another one of those guys that you've seen in loads of others. They're always a villain. Yeah. Got that kind

Jamie: of- Or a, or a, like, government judge guy. Yeah. But that scene when he's in the pub, I think is really the most believable scene, no matter what he's talking about because some posh twat from London going in, like-

Sidey: He asks for

Jamie: parts of Yorkshire, and it's like-

Dan: Particularly around those days. Yeah. Yeah.

Sidey: he asks for something that they haven't got, like, like, I don't know what it was,

Jamie: He asks for food again.

Sidey: thinking. And she's like, "I don't do food." And he goes, "Well, I'll have a small Guinness." Which I think he drinks, like... It doesn't even spit the G.

Jamie: It's the only continuity error I notice a lot is, is every time he takes a sip of the Guinness,

Sidey: It's

Jamie: it's at a different

Dan: it's at a different level.

Jamie: he does this really, like, cool swiping of it from his top lip- Yeah ... when he's thinking, and it's like, okay, I'll forgive the continuity error.

Dan: Yeah.

Sidey: So yeah, he's, he's calling bullshit, and he does get a sort of confirmation from the guy in the, He's, he's left and he's just sort of standing. Is, is it a cemetery or sort of

Jamie: a cemetery or something? He's in a graveyard, yeah.

Sidey: And he's like, "Just leave here. Is there something here?" There's something, you

Jamie: Something not right

Sidey: Something not right with this village ... something not right. And then his mate, the baldy guy who, I think he's been in Emmerdale or something. I couldn't quite place him. I ... Yeah, he's been

Dan: been in Emmerdale or something, I couldn't quite place him. Oh, he's... Yeah, he's been in a load of stuff.

Sidey: he sort of lambasts the guy for sort of giving away that there's something going on.

Dan: That's enough

Sidey: at him. So he goes off smelling a rat or even smelling a werewolf. Mm-hmm. Back down the two-minute drive down to London.

Jamie: a werewolf- Mm-hmm ... back down the two-minute drive down to London. Goes through the tunnel

Sidey: Which I think has coincided with a full moon. Yeah, it has. And possibly another visit from Jack. Yeah. 'Cause we see Jack in a few stages of decomposition, don't we?

Jamie: Which I love. The, the, A, the, the physical visual effects are outstanding with Jack. Although the second one reminds me of Scrooged.

Sidey: Yeah.

Jamie: You know, when he gets his, the ... his old boss comes to visit him. Yeah. In the last one

Sidey: The last one reminded me of They Live. It's- Yeah ... a bit like the O-bases or- The eyeballs

Dan: The eyeballs are starting to

Jamie: But they also never explain why he's decomposing, which, w- you know, if he's dead, he should be decomposing. But you'd think if you were a ghost, you, you might get a bye on that one. Might, might get a free pass.

Sidey: pass. So if you know anything about this movie and the stuff that we've talked about, you know, you, you're just kind of waiting for when's he gonna transform, and it's now. In, and he does it in their apartment of all places. He, he just ... He's kind of just sat around bored, and then all of a sudden he just jumps up and he's like, "Ah."

Dan: and he's like, "Ah." I'm so

Sidey: so hot." "I'm boiling." And he rips his shirt,

Dan: shirt,

Sidey: takes off his trousers, and then he look- it's the one, he, he looks at his hands- That's cool ... and his hand starts to elongate. And you can obviously tell that it's not his real hand, but it still looks fucking great. I can. Then he's, he's sort of haunched over and his feet start to change, and his legs start to extend again. His jaw comes out. And yeah, when he starts to do, like it gets hairy on his back, and then, yeah, his sort of, like, face starts to extend out and he goes full werewolf.

Dan: full werewolf. I, I'm not sure how he opens the door then and gets out.

Sidey: My dog can open the door.

Dan: Oh, right. There you go then.

Jamie: Then.

Sidey: And he goes on a killing spree. He- Yeah ... he does three homeless guys. Six,

Dan: six that night, isn't

Sidey: three homeless guys, the two, the really annoyingly happy couple that are going to

Dan: To scare somebody

Sidey: out round the back door to surprise their guests. Oh. And the curtain twitcher lady sends her husband out to find out what's going on.

Dan: then the guy on the subway who doesn't find this amusing and he's going to report you-

Jamie: you. Your nocturnal carnivorous vulpine

Sidey: Yeah, he gets- Not amusing ... oh, he's the first guy that gets done, isn't he? Next to ... And he's 'cause at one point I'm watching it, and he's, he's on the tube-

Jamie: Next to the poster.

Sidey: to the poster next to the orgy poster. Yeah, next to that. And I'm like, that's a thing, but then we see the actual movie later on, so it's like, it, it's a-

Dan: a-

Jamie: noticed a few of those throughout. There's a lot of payoffs. Yeah. And I also noticed throughout,

Dan: throughout

Jamie: any scene there's a close-up on him, there is some graffiti with a UK punk band of the time.

Sidey: Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. Well, the soundtrack for this was fucking ace as well.

Dan: Pistols and- But

Jamie: I couldn't tell if it was some kind of elaborate Easter egg thing or just it they filmed it in the '80s in London.

Dan: London. Yeah.

Sidey: So yeah, he does six, and then he comes to in a wolf... They had a wolf enclosure at London Zoo. Yeah. Naked. And he's naked

Dan: and he, he's gotta try and get some clothes.

Sidey: He goes a bit pedo-

Dan: a little boy

Sidey: pedo-friendly here, doesn't he? Yeah, Operation Youtree and

Dan: "Little boy, come over."

Sidey: voice in

Dan: He

Sidey: the video.

Dan: pennywise, isn't

Sidey: boy. I'll

Dan: it? Yeah. "Here, little boy." I'll give you a pound. I'll give you £2. £2

Sidey: you two pounds." Two pounds to steal the kid's balloons, so he can use the balloons to cover his dick, and then he just appears at a bus stop with some woman's coat

Dan: Well, he, he's legged it past, isn't he? He's grabbed a coat from a lady on a, on a bench and,

Sidey: some weather we're having. Yeah.

Jamie: The scene where he runs and just steals the coat is- Yeah ... to me, made me piss myself. I don't know why. There's something just beautifully comedic about

Dan: it.

Sidey: So he doesn't have any recollection of actually killing them.

Dan: No, and he turns

Jamie: cab driver Yeah. Did you spot the cab driver?

Dan: yeah. Leg talk. Yeah.

Sidey: Snatch, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

Dan: Well, he, he, he, turns back up at the nurse's place. She's been worried about him. He's been out all night, and she's had the phone call from the doctor. "Look, bring him in. I

Sidey: straight away. He's like, "I woke up." He's like, again, full disclosure, "Woke up. I don't know what happened to me. I woke up in the zoo," blah, blah, blah. And then it's in the news, six people are dead, and he's like, "Mm, fuck.

Dan: feeling great. But yeah, you're right. It was the taxi driver that let him know, and he gets out there- He's like- ... and tries to get himself arrested

Sidey: like fucking Jack the Ripper again, innit? Yeah. And he, yeah, he can't get himself arrested. He literally swearing, and- Yeah he says cunt, he says the Queen's this, that, and the other. Yeah. And the policeman just like, "Move along," you know? And then the other policeman's like, "It's not difficult to get arrested in London." It's like, well, apparently it's, it's quite difficult. Yeah, he's like, what does he say? The Queen's a cunt. Like- He says the Queen's a, he says the Queen's a man 15

Dan: he,

Sidey: towel. There we go. He says all this sort of stuff- ... but he, yeah, literally can't get himself arrested. But he so he is convinced that it actually was him that did it. He knows now. And I think, Jack comes back to see him Yeah he- this is in the the naughty movie theater

Dan: Yeah, that's right. He, he gives it... He sees Jack across the street, and Jack just says, pointing into the- Yeah ... So they go to the back room of the, the porno theater in the back seat. And it's there that he meets all the other dead people that he's killed that night who- Yeah ... who are having a bit of a pop at him and go, "Look, what'd you

Sidey: you

Jamie: And a, and a real range of emotions. You know, the, the posh guy from the... "I am not amused." And he's like, "Oh, hello. We're the Betsies."

Dan: yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jamie: But that, that scene has my favorite scene in the whole movie, which is in the porno from the movie.

Sidey: Where the guy

Jamie: guy stands there like-

Sidey: like, "I,

Jamie: you, I told you not to do this again." "I've never seen you before in my life." "Oh, sorry." And just walks out, and it's like- Yeah ... I, I, I want him to watch that porno.

Dan: And yeah, she's, They, they give him a load of different ways in which he can kill himself to save him- ... killing again. Oh, you could have a gun. You could drown yourself. You could take pills. You could hang yourself. They've all got these different options, and he's not really looking forward to any of them, but he does go and make the phone call. Or is it... No, he'd already made the phone call I think, hadn't he? And to his family and said that he really loves them. Yeah.

Sidey: he's... And he's gets annoyed because his little sister or brother's not allowed to do something that he wasn't allowed to do that age. Yeah. So

Jamie: he says- His little sister, who's 10, by the way

Sidey: It's like a weird detail that they chuck in

Dan: weird detail- You're home on your own. You're home on your own at 10 Yeah. I'm never able to do that. But then the transformation just kicks in again.

Sidey: And followed by a fucking unbelievably good sequence of violence and- Yeah ... and car crashes. Just, it's just absolute- Yeah. I think more people are killed through-

Jamie: Bad traffic management.

Sidey: than he-

Dan: it's just chaos, isn't it? Cars are skidding into people. People are getting crushed between cars. A head gets

Sidey: Well, he kills whoever was in the movie theater, then he, they pull down some shutters and eventually he, like, smashes through there. And the doctor gets wind that there's a big disturbance, so they leg it down there, him and Nurse Alex. And there's, there's basically a SWAT team there. But

Jamie: Inspector Clouseau gets killed, doesn't

Dan: partner's standing there

Sidey: gets decapitated.

Jamie: his little powers are saying like, "What just happened?

Sidey: just happened?" 'Cause what we've... The attacks we've seen so far have been, like, really close up, quick edits, but now you get to see the full kind of- Yeah ... werewolf in action.

Jamie: Except for his hind legs, which is quite clearly on a dolly on springs.

Sidey: But he bi- he goes for the jugular of the Is

Dan: police officer Yeah,

Sidey: Yeah, and his head just rolls down a car bonnet, and that causes all kinds of commotion. And I, honestly, I think about 10 or 15 people get killed in the car crashes.

Dan: guy falls out the bus, doesn't he? Off the top. He comes out and crashes down. Yeah, so it is quite comedic, but it... They show as much as they can, and just when you think they're gonna turn away like that, that policeman, there's a car sliding, and you see he just gets crushed. He gets- but he runs down a one-way street in an alley, and he's cornered

Sidey: cornered, yeah. We've seen the the police getting tooled up, loading their bullets into magazines. The, that...

Jamie: that... The police are wearing, like, the most sort of military uniform ever, by the way. I don't know if that was a real thing or

Dan: It's almost like they called in the guy who... guys who did the Iranian Embassy-

Jamie: The

Dan: day. Yeah. Yes. You know, they're just, they're j- putting their bullets into the chambers, looking all very serious.

Sidey: But Nurse Alex is convinced that if she can reach him, she can- At

Dan: We want to help you

Jamie: getting real low, big fella

Sidey: he, she can talk to him, yeah.

Dan: And she does, doesn't she? Yeah. She gets there. She bursts through the, the, the

Sidey: told her, be- bearing in mind they've known each other for 36

Jamie: 36 hours. Most of which he's been on drugs.

Sidey: He tells her that he loves her. Yeah. And I think she, does she reciprocate? I can't

Jamie: She does. She, she goes, "I, I love you"

Sidey: at the end there. Yeah. "I wanna help you. I

Jamie: you And, and the, the Will's brows slightly unfurrows and then-

Sidey: He moves ... slash bosh Yeah,

Dan: I think he's too far gone then- Suicide ... to be

Sidey: to do this ... suicide by cop, I think. He's gotta go.

Dan: I think. Poor guy. And yeah, he's shot, and he transfer- Changes back ... transforms back into a, a naked David. Naked David. Yeah.

Sidey: End. End, bang,

Jamie: And scene.

Dan: it ... and then what was the, the song at the end? It was it was really upbeat.

Sidey: Moon Rising. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause they play it three times. The, the opening credits, midway through, and,

Jamie: The soundtrack is, is amazing, but it is, it is like someone like myself, like an autistic guy in a juke- jukebox. Like, we... It's just the

Dan: as

Sidey: like someone like myself, like an

Dan: guy on a juke-

Sidey: man, a juk- jukebox. Like, we j- it's just the

Jamie: sort of same three or four songs and different variations all the way

Sidey: they all have moon in the title, I think. So it's breezy, like, hour 35,

Dan: 35-ish.

Sidey: this. Yeah. And fucking great.

Dan: Yeah, really entertaining.

Jamie: No bullshit, no pretense. My favorite thing was within the first 10 seconds is the production company was called Lycanthrope Productions. Right.

Sidey: Right,

Jamie: And I was like, "Well, no- no one, no one in the '80s would've got that one," but now you've got Twilight and stuff

Dan: one, but now you've got Twilight and stuff." And you can actually do a tour. I think it's part of like a, a London tour, that you can go to some of the places

Sidey: right, okay

Dan: okay ... the werewolf was seen- Is

Jamie: still go to that theater? Is it, is it still there?

Sidey: No, that,

Dan: Yeah. So that maybe that film's still showing there, Jamie. Like Halloween. Yeah, yeah. Maybe they still got that one going.

Sidey: Brian Glover was the chess player that you'd recognize.

Dan: yeah. Good hands, yeah.

Sidey: and he was playing- ... he was playing Rick Mail. Who

Jamie: No, Right Me always playing Right Me.

Dan: Yeah. See

Sidey: he was, yeah. Do you remember the guy, the weird guy from the American Embassy? Yeah. Do you know who that

Dan: Oh, he came in quick, didn't he? He came... I can't understand why you're so- Yeah ... you're so upset. I'm just telling you everybody's dead,

Jamie: calm yourself down there, my

Dan: sorted it all out for you. Yeah, your, your best friend's dead, but you know- Yeah ... don't worry about the paperwork.

Sidey: know who played him? No. Who? Frank Oz of The Muppets fame.

Dan: Oh, really? Yeah.

Sidey: Yeah. Okay. And they do show a clip of The Muppets in the film.

Jamie: The Muppets in this film. They do because when I was looking up the movie, trying to swot up a little bit, I noticed that Jim Henson has a credit on IMDb. Oh. And I

Sidey: IMDb. Right. Right. And I

Jamie: couldn't... I was like, "Oh, does that mean he does the puppets?" And then I was like, oh no, they're just showing- Just showing- ... just

Sidey: they're just showing-" Just showing The Muppets. No, the,

Dan: and who was the girl in the actual film in the film?

Sidey: Well, I don't know, but there's something about

Jamie: but it's Star- But why, why are you asking?

Sidey: It was Rick Baker, who won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for essentially the transformation scene- Right ... of course.

Dan: Turned into an Oscar winner. Yeah. This- Yeah ... that's right. Yeah. And

Sidey: and yeah, it's just fucking epic. It's like

Dan: can't believe I've never seen it before. Brilliant.

Sidey: Brilliant. So good.

Dan: I can see why it's a cult classic for a lot of people. And what we've...

Sidey: like,

Dan: how many years down the line now? 4 ... 44 years later. 45. 81.

Sidey: 45, yeah. '81, yeah.

Dan: practical effects stand up. Still stand

Sidey: still stand up, yeah,

Jamie: And they always do. I think that's why movies should always go with practical over CGI, 'cause, you know, if you look at CGI from, like, five years

Sidey: ago- It ages

Jamie: to now, it just looks rubbish.

Sidey: Yeah,

Dan: is getting to the stage now where actually you can't really tell much difference, isn't it? I

Sidey: mean- I still prefer practical though.

Dan: I, I much prefer it, but it's-

Sidey: Partly, I mean, 'cause you're watching it going, "That's just really fucking cool that they were able to do that."

Jamie: And then you find out how they did it, and it really ruins it.

Sidey: it. I just don't, don't find that. Yeah.

Jamie: My favorite thing about that movie and all movies of that era is the sound. There's something about how they dub it and, you know, people walking is really loud and, you know, like when you watch Withnail and I, you know, the noise of a door opening is like, is, is really palpable. I know it's a bit geeky, but I, I, I love, you know-

Dan: it brings it to you- Yeah ... doesn't it? Yeah.

Jamie: to me,

Dan: you know- Like you're really in the film, that you're hearing it. And yeah, sound is so important. I love Withnail and I, it's one of the best.

Jamie: great movie.

Dan: I was gonna agree with it.

Sidey: And I. It's one of the best comedy movies. Soundtrack's killer, performances are great, looks awesome. Jenny Agutter as well was a bonus. I didn't know she was gonna be in it. This is, for me, a very strong recommend. Strong recommend.

Dan: A strong recommend.

Jamie: A strong recommend. I've also invented my own mini universe for it. Okay. Because Jenny, what's her name? Agutter. Jenny Agutter is in Call the Midwife, where she's a nun and has been for several years. Right. And in my head, after the events of American Werewolf in London, she commits herself to the church and becomes a nun, try- trying to help people out. That's, that's, that's what I've decided.

Sidey: what I've decided.

Dan: that might have happened, who knows, in the real film world. Sound.