An American Werewolf in Paris
Encyclopedia
An American Werewolf in Paris is a 1997 horror
/comedy film
about werewolves
. It was directed by Anthony Waller
and stars Tom Everett Scott
and Julie Delpy
. It follows the general concept of the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London
.
The title of this film has a bit of history; 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.
) is seen under attack, almost managing an escape from Parisian sewers before an unseen creature pulls him back. Meanwhile, tourist Andy McDermott (Tom Everett Scott
) is seeing the sights of Paris
with his friends Brad (Vince Vieluf
) and Chris (Phil Buckman
). When Serafine Pigot (Julie Delpy
) leaps off the Eiffel Tower
just before Andy is about to do a bungee-jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued — and also unaware that she is the daughter of David Kessler and Alex Price, the couple seen 16 years earlier in the first film
.
Andy tracks her down and asks her for a date. They attend a night club called "Club de la Lune" (literally translating to "Club of the Moon"). It is the night of the full moon. The owners of the club are actually members of a werewolf society, who wanted to kill and eat all the guests. Serafine tells Andy to run away and transforms into a werewolf. When Andy is running, a werewolf chases him. Just as Andy is about to escape, it bites him and he faints. The next day, he wakes up in Serafine's bed. When he awakens, he has toothmarks on his leg and is informed that he's making a transformation into a werewolf, confirmed by his sudden taste for raw steaks. Outside the window, Chris tells him to flee for his life. As he continues along he sees Brad's body being pulled out of the river with his heart missing. Suddenly his ghost appears to Andy and explains Andy's werewolf condition. In order for Andy to become normal again he must eat the heart of the werewolf that bit him, whom he believes is Serafine. Similarly, in order for Brad's ghost to be at rest, the werewolf that ate his heart must be killed, too. Andy does not believe he's changing, but because his more animalistic/base instincts are taking over, he hooks up with an American tourist. However, during a sex scene in the graveyard, Andy transforms and kills both her and a cop who had been tailing Andy because he thought he was involved in the Club de la Lune massacre. Andy awakens in the graveyard surrounded by the corpses and police, who immediately take him in. After escaping Andy begins to see the girl's ghost as well as Brad's. Because Andy killed her she spends her time trying to kill Andy while Brad is trying to keep him alive.
Andy returns to Serafine, who explains that her stepfather (seen in the film's opening scene) had been working on a drug to control her werewolf transformations. But the drug instead caused her to immediately transform into a werewolf and mutilate her stepfather.
Andy then has a run-in with the owners of the "Club de la Lune" who ask him to join, but, in order to prove his loyalty, he must kill Chris. Andy escapes when Serafine comes to his rescue, but has to leave Chris behind. The owners of the club then raid Serafine's stepfather's lab and kill him, taking the drugs that transform them immediately into a werewolf state. Serafine and Andy learn of another party the werewolves have planned and infiltrate it.
They find Chris and they help the party-goers to escape. However, after the cops show up the werewolves flee into the catacombs, but Andy manages to kill the one that ate Brad's heart. They then follow the werewolves into the catacombs and the cops follow them. The werewolves begin picking off the cops one by one while Andy and Serafine manage to kill a few more werewolves. But Serafine runs out of ammunition and takes the drug. She then transforms and manages to kill another werewolf. However, Andy does not know she has tranformed and shoots Serafine. After transforming back she pleads Andy to eat her heart so that she can transform back, but he refuses. He sees policemen approaching and tells her that they can help. He then runs off in pursuit of the last werewolf. He trips and slides down an access chute into the subway, landing right on the train tracks. The werewolf is about to attack him, but Andy jumps out of the way and the train slams into the werewolf. However, it survives and transforms back into a human. The man tries to take another dose of the drugs, but Andy stops him and the two begin to fight. During the battle Andy discovers that the werewolf that bit him is the one he is facing now. The man knocks Andy to the ground; but he lands on the needle of the drug and transforms back into a werewolf. Andy then kills him and eats his heart, breaking the werewolf curse.
Serafine survives but we never learn how. The movie skips to a "few full moons later" with Serafine and Andy being married by Chris in New York atop the Statue of Liberty. They then bungee jump off it to the beginning of the credits.
lists the film as "rotten", with only 8% of reviews positive based on national and worldwide ratings. Unlike An American Werewolf in London
, 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.
The film opened on December 25, 1997 to #7 with $7,600,878.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
about werewolves
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
. It was directed by Anthony Waller
Anthony Waller
-Filmography:*Mute Witness *An American Werewolf in Paris *Nine Miles Down *The Singularity Is Near -External links:*...
and stars Tom Everett Scott
Tom Everett Scott
Thomas "Tom" Everett Scott is an American film, theatre and television actor. His film work includes a starring role as drummer Guy Patterson in the film That Thing You Do! .-Career:...
and Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
. It follows the general concept of the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 British-American horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne....
.
The title of this film has a bit of history; when production of the original London film ran into trouble with British Equity
British Actors' Equity Association
Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....
, director John Landis
John Landis
John David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
, having scouted locations in Paris, considered moving the production to France and changing the title of his film to An American Werewolf in Paris.
Plot
In the opening scene, Dr. Thierry Pigot (Thierry LhermitteThierry Lhermitte
Thierry Lhermitte is a French actor, known for his comedic roles. He was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, and Michel Blanc...
) is seen under attack, almost managing an escape from Parisian sewers before an unseen creature pulls him back. Meanwhile, tourist Andy McDermott (Tom Everett Scott
Tom Everett Scott
Thomas "Tom" Everett Scott is an American film, theatre and television actor. His film work includes a starring role as drummer Guy Patterson in the film That Thing You Do! .-Career:...
) is seeing the sights of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his friends Brad (Vince Vieluf
Vince Vieluf
Vincent Ernest "Vince" Vieluf is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Rat Race and the short-lived UPN sitcom Love, Inc....
) and Chris (Phil Buckman
Phil Buckman
Phil Buckman is a musician, voiceover artist and actor. He is currently the bassist for the rock band Filter.-Early life:Originally from Queens, New York, Phil Buckman arrived in Los Angeles after living in Baltimore, Boston and San Diego.-Music career:...
). When Serafine Pigot (Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
) leaps off the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
just before Andy is about to do a bungee-jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued — and also unaware that she is the daughter of David Kessler and Alex Price, the couple seen 16 years earlier in the first film
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 British-American horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne....
.
Andy tracks her down and asks her for a date. They attend a night club called "Club de la Lune" (literally translating to "Club of the Moon"). It is the night of the full moon. The owners of the club are actually members of a werewolf society, who wanted to kill and eat all the guests. Serafine tells Andy to run away and transforms into a werewolf. When Andy is running, a werewolf chases him. Just as Andy is about to escape, it bites him and he faints. The next day, he wakes up in Serafine's bed. When he awakens, he has toothmarks on his leg and is informed that he's making a transformation into a werewolf, confirmed by his sudden taste for raw steaks. Outside the window, Chris tells him to flee for his life. As he continues along he sees Brad's body being pulled out of the river with his heart missing. Suddenly his ghost appears to Andy and explains Andy's werewolf condition. In order for Andy to become normal again he must eat the heart of the werewolf that bit him, whom he believes is Serafine. Similarly, in order for Brad's ghost to be at rest, the werewolf that ate his heart must be killed, too. Andy does not believe he's changing, but because his more animalistic/base instincts are taking over, he hooks up with an American tourist. However, during a sex scene in the graveyard, Andy transforms and kills both her and a cop who had been tailing Andy because he thought he was involved in the Club de la Lune massacre. Andy awakens in the graveyard surrounded by the corpses and police, who immediately take him in. After escaping Andy begins to see the girl's ghost as well as Brad's. Because Andy killed her she spends her time trying to kill Andy while Brad is trying to keep him alive.
Andy returns to Serafine, who explains that her stepfather (seen in the film's opening scene) had been working on a drug to control her werewolf transformations. But the drug instead caused her to immediately transform into a werewolf and mutilate her stepfather.
Andy then has a run-in with the owners of the "Club de la Lune" who ask him to join, but, in order to prove his loyalty, he must kill Chris. Andy escapes when Serafine comes to his rescue, but has to leave Chris behind. The owners of the club then raid Serafine's stepfather's lab and kill him, taking the drugs that transform them immediately into a werewolf state. Serafine and Andy learn of another party the werewolves have planned and infiltrate it.
They find Chris and they help the party-goers to escape. However, after the cops show up the werewolves flee into the catacombs, but Andy manages to kill the one that ate Brad's heart. They then follow the werewolves into the catacombs and the cops follow them. The werewolves begin picking off the cops one by one while Andy and Serafine manage to kill a few more werewolves. But Serafine runs out of ammunition and takes the drug. She then transforms and manages to kill another werewolf. However, Andy does not know she has tranformed and shoots Serafine. After transforming back she pleads Andy to eat her heart so that she can transform back, but he refuses. He sees policemen approaching and tells her that they can help. He then runs off in pursuit of the last werewolf. He trips and slides down an access chute into the subway, landing right on the train tracks. The werewolf is about to attack him, but Andy jumps out of the way and the train slams into the werewolf. However, it survives and transforms back into a human. The man tries to take another dose of the drugs, but Andy stops him and the two begin to fight. During the battle Andy discovers that the werewolf that bit him is the one he is facing now. The man knocks Andy to the ground; but he lands on the needle of the drug and transforms back into a werewolf. Andy then kills him and eats his heart, breaking the werewolf curse.
Serafine survives but we never learn how. The movie skips to a "few full moons later" with Serafine and Andy being married by Chris in New York atop the Statue of Liberty. They then bungee jump off it to the beginning of the credits.
Cast
- Tom Everett ScottTom Everett ScottThomas "Tom" Everett Scott is an American film, theatre and television actor. His film work includes a starring role as drummer Guy Patterson in the film That Thing You Do! .-Career:...
as Andy - Julie DelpyJulie DelpyJulie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
as Sérafine Pigot - Vince VielufVince VielufVincent Ernest "Vince" Vieluf is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Rat Race and the short-lived UPN sitcom Love, Inc....
as Brad - Phil BuckmanPhil BuckmanPhil Buckman is a musician, voiceover artist and actor. He is currently the bassist for the rock band Filter.-Early life:Originally from Queens, New York, Phil Buckman arrived in Los Angeles after living in Baltimore, Boston and San Diego.-Music career:...
as Chris - Julie BowenJulie BowenJulie Bowen is an American film and television actress. She played Carol Vessey on Ed and Denise Bauer on Boston Legal. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011...
as Amy Finch - Pierre Cosso as Claude
- Thierry LhermitteThierry LhermitteThierry Lhermitte is a French actor, known for his comedic roles. He was one of the founders of the comedy troupe Le Splendid in the 1970s, along with, among others, his high-school friends Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, and Michel Blanc...
as Dr. Thierry Pigot - Tom Novembre as Inspector Leduc
- Anthony WallerAnthony Waller-Filmography:*Mute Witness *An American Werewolf in Paris *Nine Miles Down *The Singularity Is Near -External links:*...
as Metro Driver
Reception
An American Werewolf in Paris was poorly received by most critics and audiences alike. The review aggregation site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
lists the film as "rotten", with only 8% of reviews positive based on national and worldwide ratings. Unlike An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 British-American horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne....
, which had Oscar-winning special make-up effects by Rick Baker, Paris relied heavily on CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
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.
The film opened on December 25, 1997 to #7 with $7,600,878.