Despite both being immensely recognizable movie monsters, it feels like there are significantly more beloved vampire movies than werewolf movies. It’d be easy for most horror fans to name at least five great vampire movies – there’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Lost Boys and Fright Night and Near Dark and even last year’s Sinners — but if you were to ask the same thing about werewolf movies you might get some blank stares after Ginger Snaps and the original The Wolf Man.
There are quite a few reasons that go into it but there are two in particular that seem to be the most likely culprits: one, unlike vampire movies, werewolf movies almost demand a decent-sized budget for special effects. The second reason is that vampire movies are easy to slot into multiple different genres, while the idea of a werewolf film carries a very specific tonal expectation with it. But 45 years ago, one film in particular would take its spot as arguably the greatest werewolf movie ever made, by completely rejecting strict genre tonal rigidity. And to this day, An American Werewolf in London’s deft balance of humor and dread make most horror-comedies still pale in comparison.
