Comparison of "An American Werewolf in London" and "28 days later".

The main connotations in ‘An American werewolf in London’ are the wind blowing, the heavy storm, the strange people, the fog and the full moon emerging mysteriously behind the clouds. In ’28 days later’ the symbolic icons are the violent images on the screens, the aggressive monkeys, the dark and secret laboratory and the incurable diseases.

In ‘An American werewolf in London’ the characters appear in a rural location that nobody knows, while in ’28 days later’ they appear in a laboratory and then the main character wakes up in a very familiar location, London. But one of the things they have in common is that in both films they are in desolated places: in ‘An American werewolf in London’ the two boys are alone in a desert and in ’28 days later’ first the animal rights activists are in some kind of secret laboratory and then the main character appears in a deserted London.

In ‘An American Werewolf in London’, to create suspense, the action starts very slowly and the horror or drama doesn’t build up until much later. It keeps the audience waiting for something bad to happen. Whereas in ’28 days later’ the horror appears from the very beginning (the monkeys attacking and infecting the animal rights activists with the mysterious and incurable virus).

Both films show people being bitten by an animal (monkey or werewolf), and both use blood, darkness and screams to create the appropriate horror atmosphere.

The sounds and special effects are very different in these films, probably because they were made at different times. In ’28 days later’ the special effects are of a higher quality because it was made in 2002, while ‘An American werewolf in London’ was made in 1981 and they didn’t have the same resources then.