Zombos' Closet of Horror

Beware the Moon and Paul Davis An Interview

The following interview was conducted by Scott Essman, who we let out of the closet every now and then. But not too often.

Englishman Paul Davis was more than a fan of the classic 1981 Universal film, An American Werewolf in London; he was also an aspiring filmmaker. Yet with no credits to his name, undertaking a documentary about this property was a long shot in the minds of many, including Davis.

However, after nearly three years of work, his documentary, Beware the Moon: Remembering An American Werewolf in London, has found a home in, of all places, Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s September 15, 2009 Full Moon Edition 2-Disc DVD, and Blu-ray Hi-Def release of the film.

In this exclusive interview, he tells the entire story of creating the film, from conception through it’s now remarkably unlikely release.

What was the first impetus for starting this film?

It was my first film – I had never made anything before. The project officially began at the tail end of 2006 while writing a 25th anniversary article on An American Werewolf in London for HorrorHound Magazine. I've been a fan of in-depth, retrospective documentaries ever since I saw the BBC produced doc on the making of The Exorcist in 1998, and while writing the article, it struck me that there are so many classic horror movies that have had the documentary treatment, why not AWIL? In fact, AWIL hardly had anything done on it - yet in my opinion, it's more than deserving as some of those that had. I've always loved An American Werewolf in London; it was the first monster movie I ever saw, aged three, after realizing (through The Making of Thriller) that movies were well crafted works of fiction. People made these things. It was fascinating to me even at that young age.

The Return of the Vampire (1944)

ZC Rating 3 of 7: Good

Bela Lugosi's career didn't fare well after his initial fame with Dracula. Having apparently failed the makeup screen test for Frankenstein--though he wasn't overly found of playing the monster anyway--his reserved and aloof demeanor kept him from ingratiating himself with the Hollywood in-crowd. That, and the rapidly rising stardom of Boris Karloff after his noted portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster, put Lugosi in a deteriorating career position.

Although he created intensely unique and effective characters such as Dracula, Murder Legendre in White Zombie, and Ygor in Son of Frankenstein, he spent much of his time acting in lesser roles. After Dracula, he portrayed a "real" vampire onscreen only two more times; as Armand Tesla in The Return of the Vampire, and as the more comedic count in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

Lew Landers' The Return of the Vampire plays like a Brothers Grimm fairytale. You have your evil villain, the occultist turned vampire, Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi), his reluctant servant, tragically caught between good and evil and lycanthropy, a wartime beleaguered, ruined London as backdrop, and seething revenge creeping along in the foggy night.