American Werewolf in London Remake?

There are reports that writer/director, John Landis, has sold the remake rights of the classic 1981 film, An American Werewolf in London to Dimension Films. I’m going to say this again – why?!  Why overhaul this pioneer in the horror genre?  There has to be something new out there that hasn’t been done before. 

I am getting so frustrated by all of these remakes and “borrowed” ideas from foreign countries.  Are there no creative writers left in Hollywood?  We’ve got H2: Halloween 2 coming out this summer and the Weinstein brothers are working on a Hellraiser remake and I’m just tired of it all!

Anyway, I wish they would leave this one alone.  I guess I have a personal emotional attachment to it.  I was a preschooler when this film came out and my brother (who was 18 at the time) let me watch it with him.  Of course, it terrified me but it also created a deep love of horror films.  To this day, I can’t hear “Blue Moon” without thinking of this movie (and I still get the creeps).  This is a classic and I just don’t know if it needs to be touched.

In addition to the effects, which were revolutionary at the time, I think that many other factors are what made it so good.  It was honest – they didn’t have to rely on CGI to create the werewolf and I will take that any day over the horrible, over-the-top effects in that awful sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris.  People were also excited because this film was fresh and unique and there is no way to replicate that in a world filled with animated robots and Spider-man flicks.  Maybe this remake will win me over but I’m not getting my hopes up.

image: Amazon