Far superior to Michael J. Fox's imminently forgettable Teen Wolf, the other wolfman redux of the Eighties, American Werewolf in London, written and directed by yukmeister John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers), finds David Kessler (Naughton) backpacking through the moors of Scotland when he and college pal Jack (Dunne) are mauled by a werewolf. Shipped off to a London hospital and minus one shredded friend, Naughton recoups only to fulfill the prophecy of the movie's title. Startling dream imagery and some flashes of gore poke fun at horror movie archetypes, but are also genuinely scary. Anyone who endured last year's marginally related Julie Delpy-Tom Everett Scott sequel can testify that 15-plus years of technical wizardry sometimes don't mean diddly. Most enjoyable, however, is the goofy fun Landis and company are having playing against audience expectations. And as the American Werewolf at the center of it all, Naughton proves sarcastic, bright-eyed charmers existed long before George Clooney was learning the Facts of Life.

In his campy vamp time capsule of Eighties chic, Schumacher uses a cast jam-packed with Bop bigshots along with gory comic book goofiness to tell his story of rock & roll nightstalkers in the fictional "murder capital of the world" Santa Carla (real-life Santa Cruz). For these wayward cool kids of the night, it's all mesh tops and mousse, long hair and leather jackets (plus one dangling earring). But equally as interesting is looking at these actors in terms of their career tracks: Watch then-unknown Jason Patric debut his chiseled jaw and ram heads with then-cool Kiefer Sutherland years before they were rivals for Julia Roberts' love; watch Jami Gertz in her brief stint as a screen siren; watch the two Coreys at the 14-minute mark; and who knew Dianne Wiest was in this thing? Unlike more complicated takes in the vampire canon, Lost Boys maintains a fairly blue-collar attitude toward the mythology: It's just holy water, blood sucking, and stakes through the heart here. But like the memorable INXS soundtrack song of the same name, Schumacher is more interested in giving us a "good time tonight," as he intersperses shots of the glitzy, towering rollercoasters, the shrill cries of those riding it out, all to remind us: Hey, you love this stuff.