MovieChat Forums > An American Werewolf in London (1981) Discussion > why didn't the locals do something earli...

why didn't the locals do something earlier?


I always found that weird. They go out and help David and Jack and actually kill the werewolf with relative ease.

Yet in the pub scene it seemed it was just something they lived with

Why not just go out and kill it earlier instead of hiding in the pub with a pentagram?


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I have always felt that they did nothing as to stop publicity| stories getting out about the werewolf...and also why they made it look like the work of a local lunatic vs the wolf to keep the police out of it, too.

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They're stupid. Have you been to backwater UK? The denizens are like rednecks but with a British accent

Idiocy runs high

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This is coming from someone who calls himself Pimp Daddy Ackbar, very smart.

The reason they didn't kill it sooner is because it's a movie that has to have a story with people in it.
Most "rednecks", as you call them, I know love hunting and shooting so if this were real they would have jumped at the chance to hunt that thing down after the first victim.

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I think they finally decided to go out and kill it because they knew that they had essentially sent David and Jack off to be killed. So out of a sense of guilt and responsibility they finally took care of the lycanthrope. Though they knew that David would carry the curse, they sent him off to London anyways.

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I think the answers here from other posters are valid. I would like to add that I got the impression that they knew the werewolf and perhaps didn't want to kill him because he was a friend/family member. Until they ultimately sent the boys to their deaths (presumably) they didn't feel they truly *had* to take action. Just my thoughts. :)


"Your petty vengeance fetish will have to do withOUT Mr. Groin!"

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That's what I always assumed, he was a local and in this small village everyone knew him, so they didn't want to kill him unless absolutely necessary. They just lived with the danger, and stayed clear until the full moon passed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24MZcKtps1w

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If I were to guess, I'd say they were in a remote enough area that the werewolf was only a threat to animals, not people. Every full moon, the locals would all gather in the pub and wait it out while the werewolf was out doing its thing, killing sheep and whatever else. They didn't want to kill him because he was one of them. Small communities tend to close ranks and stick together, take care of their own. It was only when these foreign backpackers showed up during a full moon that human lives were put in harm's way, and the locals were plainly uncomfortable with that fact. That was what finally galvanized them to put an end to it.

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Because it was from their village; therefore, possibly a relative.

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The werewolf was a person during daylight/non full moon cycle, so perhaps they couldn’t bring themselves to do it then and considered it far too dangerous when it transformed. Interesting question though.

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Does anyone think the werewolf was actually in the pub the same time as Jack and David were there? Would it have been possible?

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I doubt it, but maybe he was and politely excused himself once he knew he was going to transform. What a selfless guy, lol.

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lmao

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