An American Werewolf in Paris

An American Werewolf in Paris is a 1997 horror comedy film directed by Anthony Waller, screenplay by Tim Burns, Tom Stern, and story by Waller, and starring Tom Everett Scott and Julie Delpy. It follows the general concept of, and is a sequel to John Landis' film An American Werewolf in London. The film is an international co-production between companies from the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United States.

An American Werewolf in Paris
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnthony Waller
Produced byRichard Claus
Screenplay by
Story byAnthony Waller
Based onCharacters
by John Landis
Starring
Music byWilbert Hirsch
CinematographyEgon Werdin
Edited byPeter R. Adam
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures[1]
Release date
  • August 31, 1997 (1997-08-31) (United Kingdom)
  • December 25, 1997 (1997-12-25) (United States)
Running time
102 minutes[2]
Country
LanguageEnglish
French
Budget$25 million[4]
Box office$26.6 million[4]

The film's title has its roots in the production of its predecessor; 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.[5] Unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Universal, it was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.

Plot

Andy McDermott (Tom Everett Scott) is a tourist 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 bungee jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued – unaware that she is the daughter of David Kessler and Alex Price, the couple seen 16 years earlier in the first film. That night, Andy, Chris, and Brad attend a night club called "Club de la Lune". The club's owner, Claude (Pierre Cosso), is actually the leader of a werewolf society that uses the club as a way to lure in people (preferably tourists) to be killed. Serafine arrives, tells Andy to run away and transforms into a werewolf. The club owners transform into werewolves as well, and butcher all the guests. Chris escapes and goes back to Serafine's house. Brad is killed by a werewolf, and Andy is bitten by another werewolf when he tries to escape.

The next day, Andy wakes up at Serafine's house. Serafine blends organs in the blender, and he is still in shock, but Serafine allows him to feel her breasts to calm him down. She tells him he's transforming into a werewolf. This is interrupted by the sudden appearance of the ghost of Serafine's mother Alex. Andy jumps out the window in sheer panic and begins running away. Chris tries to get his attention, but Claude grabs him and holds his hand over his mouth and takes him to the basement. Soon, Brad's ghost appears to Andy and explains Andy's werewolf condition. For Andy to become normal again, he must eat the heart of the werewolf that bit him; and, for Brad's ghost to be at rest, the werewolf that killed him must be killed, too. After developing an appetite for raw meat, Andy hooks up with an American tourist named Amy (Julie Bowen), but he transforms and kills her. Andy also kills a cop who had been tailing him, suspecting Andy was involved in the Club de la Lune massacre. Andy is arrested but escapes. He begins to see Amy's ghost as well, and she begins trying to kill him.

Claude and his henchmen ask Andy to join their society but to prove his loyalty, Andy must kill Chris. Serafine rescues Andy, explaining that her stepfather prepared a drug to control werewolf transformations. However, the drug forces werewolves to immediately transform into their beast form. As a result, she killed her mother and savaged her stepfather. Claude and the other werewolves raid Serafine's stepfather's lab and kill him, taking the drug to transform immediately.

Serafine and Andy learn of a Fourth of July party Claude has planned and infiltrate it. They help the partygoers escape, and Andy manages to kill the werewolf that ate Brad's heart, thus setting Brad free. The cops arrive, and a fight ensues. Andy and Serafine manage to kill many werewolves, with Serafine shifting to her beast form to fight when she runs out of ammunition. During a fight between Serafine and another werewolf, Andy shoots one of the wolves, but it turns out that he has shot Serafine. As she reverts to her human form she begs him to kill her but he is unable to and authorities who arrive on the scene assume that he is trying to kill her before escaping.

Claude makes his way onto a subway train, but he slips onto the tracks. A train slams into him, causing him to transform back to a human. He tries to take another dose of the drug, but Andy stops him. As they fight, Andy discovers that Claude is the werewolf that bit him (due to a scar on his left shoulder caused when Andy stabbed the werewolf with a spear). Claude tries to inject himself with the drug but accidentally injects Andy instead. Andy transforms into a werewolf, kills Claude and eats his heart and howls, breaking the werewolf curse. Serafine is taken in an ambulance, but she begins to show signs of transforming. The EMT, thinking she is going into shock, administers adrenaline, which stops the transformation. The sedative, which was thought to be the "cure", actually triggered the change and adrenaline has the opposite effect.

The final scene depicts Serafine and Andy celebrating their wedding atop the Statue of Liberty with Andy's pal Chris, who survived. The couple seem to be controlling the curse with a steady application of adrenaline-fueled activities. They bungee jump off the statue as the credits roll.

In an alternate ending, after Andy eats Claude's heart, Serafine has a vision of her stepfather in the back of an ambulance, explaining how he found a cure before his death. The new closing scene shows Serafine and Andy having a child, whose eyes shift to look like the werewolves'.

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Metz, New York City, and on location in Paris.[6]

Release

An American Werewolf in Paris opened theatrically in the United Kingdom on October 31, 1997, in the United States on December 25, and in France on May 6, 1998.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film ranked seventh in the North American box office and third among new releases, earning $7.6 million.[7] By the end of its run, Paris grossed $26.6 million from a $25 million budget.[4]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 7% score based on 27 reviews and an average rating of 3.6/10.[8] Metacritic reports a 31 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]

Unlike its predecessor, 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.[10][11]

The film was nominated for Worst Sequel at the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to Speed 2: Cruise Control.[12]

Soundtrack
An American Werewolf in Paris
Soundtrack album by
Various artists
ReleasedSeptember 23, 1997
Recorded53:21
GenrePop, Rock and Roll

A soundtrack for An American Werewolf in Paris was released on CD and cassette tape through Hollywood Records on September 23, 1997. It featured music from artists such as Bush, Better Than Ezra, and Cake.[13] The film's soundtrack is largely responsible for the Bush song "Mouth" releasing as a single in October 1997 as it was featured prominently in the film and trailer. The single, marked as a release from the soundtrack, charted on several Billboard charts, including the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts.[14]

The soundtrack was on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart for five weeks and at its peak placed at position number 80.[15]

Track list
No.TitleWriter(s)PerformerLength
1."Mouth"Gavin RossdaleBush4:35
2."Psychosis"Roger Clyne / Arthur EdwardsThe Refreshments5:45
3."Normal Town"Kevin GriffinBetter Than Ezra3:38
4."Never Gonna Give You Up"Barry WhiteCake3:49
5."Sick Love"Eddie Kurdziel / Jeff McDonaldRedd Kross 
6."Break the Glass"Grant LukacinskyThe Suicide Machines3:09
7."Human Torch"Tony ScalzoFastball2:42
8."Soup Kitchen"Grant ShanahanEva Trout4:02
9."Hardset Head"cEvin Key / Nivek OgreSkinny Puppy4:05
10."Turned Blue"Jimmy NewquistCaroline's Spine3:03
11."Downtime"Paul Andrews / Gareth Prosser / Dan WoodgateFat3:35
12."Adrenaline"Phunk JunkeezPhunk Junkeez2:24
13."If I Could (What I Would Do)"Peter Daou / Vanessa DaouVanessa Daou3:32
14."Loverbeast in Paris"Smoove DiamondsSmoove Diamonds3:42
15."Theme From an American Werewolf in Paris"Wilbert HirschWilbert Hirsch1:51

References
  1. "An American Werewolf in Paris". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  2. "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 21, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  3. "An American Werewolf in Paris". European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  4. "An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  5. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne DVD audio commentary on An American Werewolf in London
  6. "An American Werewolf". IMDb.
  7. "Weekend Box Office Results for December 26-28, 1997". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. December 29, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  8. "An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  9. "An American Werewolf in Paris reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  10. Berardinelli, James. "An American Werewolf in Paris review". ReelViews. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  11. Clark, Mike. "'Werewolf ' doesn't go fur enough". USA Today. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  12. "The Stinkers 1997 Ballot". Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. Archived from the original on August 18, 2000.
  13. "An American Werewolf in Paris Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  14. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. February 21, 1998.
  15. "Billboard Top Album Sales Chart". Billboard. January 17, 1998.
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