January 1–8, 1998

movie shorts

An American Werewolf in Paris

Credit the recent boom in horror movies, along with the sequel-implying title, with the fact that this movie ended up in theaters instead of on "USA Up All Night" where it belongs. Our hero is (of course) a shy, virginal college boy (Tom Everett Scott) who falls for a beautiful, mysterious French chick (Julie Delpy). Unfortunately, she happens to be a bit on the fuzzy side, and those love bites have the unintended side effect of turning our hero into a full-on lycanthrope. A few bare breasts and condom jokes later, the two are engaged in a struggle to stop a band of eugenicist werewolves from "purifying" the French population by ridding it of undesirables (like American tourists). Werewolf is about as infantile as a movie can be, but it's almost hard to criticize a movie that's so unambitious; it sets out to do nothing, and it succeeds. But unless you're 19, single, and full of Milwaukee's Best, there's no reason to plunk down your seven bucks for this one.

—Sam Adams