MovieChat Forums > An American Werewolf in London (1981) Discussion > End Scene: Wondering if David attacked o...

End Scene: Wondering if David attacked out of primal fury or did so to finally lift the curse


I saw this in a YouTube comment and decided to bring it here to hear your opinions. Basically the poster theorized that David intentionally lunged towards Alex so that the cops could shoot and kill him. At this point she finally got through to David, with him now realizing the weight of keeping his victims in limbo and the death count he's accumulated. He couldn't outright kill himself via suicide so this may have been the best way to go. The common answer is that he was still out of his mind and was attacking Alex as a typical werewolf would. What do you all think?

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I think that was the intent.

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Uhhh....NO!

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I thought his lunge was to show he was not David while in the werewolf state, he could not recognise the woman he was in love with(after 2 weeks) and he was pure animal instinct ready to go in for the kill, so he got shot when he tried.

> At this point she finally got through to him

I think the point was she couldn't get through to him. It focused on his eyes and it purposefully showed nothing there of David, no recognition, then turns to rage.

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I think it was the latter. Or maybe I want to believe it.

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Whatever you want to believe.

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That's a very interesting theory. I've seen this movie many times and I never considered that David was doing that intentionally so that the cops would kill him and finally end the curse. But it does make a lot of sense.

I always interpreted that scene as when Alex tells him she loves him, for just a brief moment David stops and recognizes Alex only for his Werewolf instincts to kick in again and try to attack her. But I like your theory much better.

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Your original interpretation is the correct one.

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I don’t think he recognized Alex. He didn’t remember killing all those people only waking up in a zoo. Therefore, he had no human recognition while in the werewolf state. He charged at Alex out of animal instinct.

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Agree. It's an interesting theory, but I honestly think the scene just showed he was beyond reach.

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He may have had some control and intentionally let the cops kill him. Though that is a nitpick of mine. Werewolves can usually only be killed by a silver bullet but here it's taken down by regular guns police have. Still like the movie though.

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