The Company of Wolves (1984)

Neil Jordan's The Company Of Wolves is a long lost horror fantasy classic, a eerie, dreamy take on little red riding hood with a cautionary message about the dangers that blossoming young girls are at risk from at the hands of men. In a dark, drafty mansion, a 14 year old girl (Sarah Patterson) tosses and turns amidst a nightmare. In her nocturnal wanderings we see her as a forest dwelling girl who lives deep in the heart of the woods with her family. Surrounding them is shadowy magic, strange creatures, and an ever present pack of pursuing wolves. As you might expect, she is tasked to journey out into the forest to her grandmother's house. There she is beset with the dangers of a wolf who hides in the skin of a man, a metaphor for the way older men pretend to be something they are not to prey on younger girls. Despite its fantasy setting, the film retains a very mature, grounded look at the risks of trusting someone you've just met, and wrestles with the ideas of how to handle educating our daughters on the dangers that young girls have to be aware of, especially in our modern world as well. It's also a gorgeously produced film. Jordan and team lovingly create a realistic yet dreamy, haunted forest atmosphere, with some truly outstanding practical effects that have to be seen to be believed. The gooey, glistening skinless wolf emerging from a man's naked body is definitely hard to forget, and the little birds eggs that produce tiny humanoid babies are phenomenally well done. Jordan, always a genius with merging together his themes with the atmosphere of the film, uses the primal fears and nightmarish ghouls on the fringes of our awareness to evoke a very real existential dread, spurred by both his visual and intellectual aspects of the film. He is a genius in my mind, one of the last of the finest. Sarah Patterson is a graceful wonder in her breakout role, and Angela Lansbury is great as her old granny. Look out for an awesome cameo from Terence Stamp as the man himself, Lucifer. This is my favourite rendition of little red riding hood because it doesn't fit into any conventional zone and strives to bring us something beautiful and different.

Fmovies: A beautiful adaptation of Angela Carter's sublime work. This film has all the otherworldliness and the horror of traditional fairy tales; at the same time we are transported to a mythic realm but somewhere deep inside we recognize we are within the human psyche itself. This is a story, or several stories woven together, of a girl's slow transformation into a woman, of sexual initiation and the fear of adulthood and responsibility veiled in metaphors of fairy tales, narrated in a captivating, dreamlike fashion. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous movie, I highly recommend it to any lover of fairy tales and fantasy.

When I read on the back of the cover, the movie seemed interesting. I have a thing for very strange movies, and I loved this one. I love how many of the old folklore-myths about wolves and werewolves have been written into this movie. I think it was easy to predict the ending, but that is maybe because I was able to put myself in Rosaleen's place - and I love wolves and werewolves and folklore-tales, so this movie and it's plot was perfect for me.

I recommend it to anyone who loves werewolves, who loves movies that don't have action all the time, but leaves a space to think. And it makes you watch it, because what will happen in the end? The only thing I would like to have seen more of, was Rosaleen's real life - we only see her sleep, so we're not really getting to know her very much. The only links we have to about how she is, is how her parents and her sister talks about her in the beginning. But otherwise a very good and interesting movie - I recommend it! :)

The Company of Wolves fmovies. Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is a teenager, living in a country house in England with her family in the present days, and having a nightmare with wolves and werewolves in the Middle Ages. In her dream, her boring sister is dead, she lives with her father (David Warner) and her mother (Tusse Silberg), but she spends lots of time with her lovely grandmother (Angela Lansbury). Granny tells her many stories of werewolf and gives her the following advice: "- Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet." One day, Rosaleen, while going to visit her grandmother, meets a handsome man and bet with him who would arrive first at her granny's house. The story has an open end. The first time I watched this movie was in 1984 or 1985 in a imported VHS of a Brazilian video-club, and I liked it a lot. This video-club closed and unfortunately, this film has not been available in Brazil since then. Yesterday it was released on DVD and I immediately bought it. I have just saw it and I really can say that it is an excellent movie. The story is based on the fairy tale of the Little Red Riding Hood. Indeed it is an adult and stylized version of the tale. But further than that, it is also a spectacular approach of the beginning of the puberty, losing of the innocence through wild and erotic dreams, when the character of Sarah Patterson is becoming an young woman. Neil Jordan made an excellent work, with a wonderful horror movie, which can have the most different interpretations, depending on the eye and experience of the viewer. He used many symbols, such as the use of lipstick, or the first date of Rosaleen. I do not understand what happened to the gorgeous and very promising actress Sarah Patterson. With her interpretation in this film, I would bet she would have a great career ahead, what has never come true. This film is really a cult-movie, and I am one of its greatest fan. I would like to thank the Brazilian distributor Flashstar, for giving me the chance of see this wonderful movie again. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): `A Companhia dos Lobos' (`The Company of the Wolves')

Along with Dario Argento's "Suspiria"(1977)this is one of the most dream-like horror movies ever made.I love this one,although I still think that "Suspiria" is better.The cast is excellent,especially young Sarah Patterson as a Rosaleen,who simply steals the show.The transformation scenes are pretty gruesome and effective,and the film looks wonderful-great imagery!More fairy tale than horror "The Company of Wolves" is a must-see for all horror fans,who doesn't mind something different.

Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is a teenage girl experiencing menarche, asleep and dreaming in her bed all day. She dreams of being a medieval peasant girl who spends most of her time with her Granny (Angela Lansbury), listening to her tell precautionary fairy tales about werewolves. Most of the "The Company of Wolves" takes place in Rosaleen's dreamworld, and what a fantasy world it is! The best scene in the movie takes place at the beginning, where her sister is running around the woods, being attacked by giant toys and wolves. At times it plays like a children's' movie, but this ain't Little Red Riding Hood! It is rich in sexual metaphors, and it features one of the coolest (and nastiest!) werewolf transformation scenes I've seen. The acting is stellar, the atmosphere is creepy, and the visuals are startling and surreal. Recommended to all fans of fantasies and for a different kind of werewolf movie.

My Rating: 8/10.