An American Werewolf In London Remake Coming

Universal Pictures is remaking An American Werewolf In London. The studio that invented the ‘creature feature’ is rebooting its monsters movies starting with The Mummy – starring Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe – and next in line is the iconic 1981 horror movie.

The original film was written and directed by John Landis and Universal want his son Max Landis to pen the script and helm the project with The Walking Dead‘s David Alpert and Robert Kirkman producing under Skybound Entertainment as well as Todd Garner and Matt Smith. John, 66, has signed over the rights but will act as executive producer on the project and Max is currently in the final stages of negotiating his deal.

The original movie follows American backpackers David Kessler and Jack Goodman – played by David Naughton and Griffin Dunne respectively – who are attacked by a werewolf whilst hiking on the English moors. Jack is killed but David is saved by the locals who know of the beast’s existence but his fate is even worse as he is cursed to become a lycanthrope and goes on a killing spree in the UK capital.

It is considered a classic of the horror genre with its mix of scares and very dark humor and special effects artist Rick Baker used a number of revolutionary techniques such as robotic parts to create David’s transformation sequences earning him the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 1982.

Rick’s work is still referenced during the Horror Makeup Show which runs daily at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.

A sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, was released in 1997 without John’s involvement and without the backing of Universal Studios and was widely derided.