7. From Paris Without Love

One of the lesser known facts about the first film is that when Landis ran into problems with acting union Equity, he briefly considered ditching Britain's capital and moving the production to France.

He even went so far as to scout locations in Paris, with an idea that if he couldn't resolve his UK troubles, he'd rename the feature An American Werewolf In Paris and shoot there.

It never happened, but the idea came back to haunt him when a group of companies decided to make a follow-up in 1996. Despite having pondered the idea of a sequel for years, Landis was originally approached for the Paris job, but turned it down (a good thing too - Landis sequels don't have the best history, as anyone who has seen Blues Brothers 2000 can attest).

So the sequel was handed to little-known director Anthony Waller, who rewrote an existing script produced by Tom Stern. "I wrote this film, American Werewolf in Paris which was a really good script and I was proud of it," recalls Stern.

"I was supposed to direct but that didn't happen after my previous film, Freaked, got dumped by the studio. They thought I was a pariah.

"They hired some hack to direct it and they rewrote it like 12 times and turned it into the biggest piece of shit ever. It was so awful. That film was just so terrible that it was embarrassing."

Taking Landis' basic concept, Waller fashioned a story that saw a trio of American tourists (including lead Tom Everett Scott) tangle with a beautiful girl in the City Of Lights (Julie Delpy).

But as it turns out, she's hiding a terrible - and hairy - secret - she's the daughter of David Kessler and is part of a group of lycanthropes working on a serum that would let them transform at will.

Scott's Andy becomes afflicted with the curse and must find a way to destroy it...

Even Delpy realised what she'd gotten into when the sequel arrived in cinemas and was roundly savaged by critics for its rubbish CG wolves and brazen attempt to recapture the original film's blend of horror and comedy.

"I've been praised by critics throughout my career, now suddenly I'm being vilified for being in this silly movie. I can't wait for the film to be released in France; they'll tear me to shreds and that'll be hilarious", she said in an interview at the time.

Fortunately, the original's reputation wasn't harmed by the dodgy sequel and has gone on to enjoy a long, inspirational life through other filmmakers and their output...

Next: The Werewolf Lives On