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.
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. Unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Universal, it was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.

Plot

Andy McDermott is a tourist seeing the sights of Paris with his friends Brad and Chris. When Serafine Pigot 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, is actually the leader of a werewolf society that uses the club as a way to lure in people 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, 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. 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

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

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. By the end of its run, Paris grossed $26.6 million from a $25 million budget.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 7% score based on 27 reviews and an average rating of 3.6/10. Metacritic reports a 31 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
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.
The film was nominated for Worst Sequel at the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards but lost to .

Soundtrack

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

Track list