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Rating:  -
This has been one of my favorite movies for a very long time. I figured I had to buy it even though I've had some bad quality experiances with older movies converted to dvd. I was stunned at how amazing the quality of the DVD was when I watched it for the first time. It made me fall in love all over again with this outstanding film. The vibrance will blow you away.
Rating: -
The Company of wolves is a very unique film that has to be watched with an open mind. It's a very surreal fantasy-horror story all of which takes place within the mind of a sleeping adolescent girl. Each story is filled with beautifully done metaphors and similes in which the werewolves represent puberty, sexuality, masculinity, and sexual awakening though there is no actual sex in the entire movie. It's very beautifully done. And even if you don't like symbolism and faery-tale style movies the werewolf transformations are quite unnerving and the stories the grandmother tells Rosaleen (which are acted out as short stories in the movie) are rather chilling. This is the most original werewolf movie you will ever come across. There has never been or will there ever be again anything quite like it.
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Neil Jordan (the Crying Game, Interview with The Vampire) directs a screenplay co-written by Angela Carter and based on the short stories concerning werewolves from her collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber. The film is about a young adolescent named Rosaleen who dreams of various encounters with werewolves. The film has a consistent fairytale theme and it carries strongly into its visual style which stands out, in that it seemingly sprung right out of an old storybook. It is an absolutely gorgeous film. The art director for The Company of Wolves, Anton Furst, of course went on to create Gotham City and the Bat-mobile for Tim Burton's Batman. Ultimately, the dreams that Rosaleen has and the many stories within them circle around her aroused apprehension toward entering puberty.
We meet Rosaleen (Sara Patterson) while she is asleep at the beginning of the movie. She is dreaming of being chased through the forest by wolves that killed her sister. After her sister's funeral, she goes to live with her Granny (Angela Lansbury). Soon Rosaleen dons a red hood and her Grandmother begins to tell her a story that warns her about the dangers of werewolves. This story makes for some of the best visuals in the film and the segment stars Stephen Rea. Rosaleen sees her parents having sex and finds out a bit more when a boy begins to flirt with her. Eventually we see many references to Rosaleen's new sexuality after she kisses the boy. After several other short stores told by Granny (including one with Terrence Stamp as the devil) it is soon revealed that werewolves are indeed in the village. Rosaleen's family even kills a wolf and its paw turns into a human hand. As times passes, Rosaleen ventures out into the woods to her Granny's house only now she seems more aware of the dangers and is armed with a knife. Before she begins her travels she is challenged to a race to get there by a young hunter. If she wins she gets his compass and if he wins, he gets to kiss her. He is of course a werewolf and he arrives first, eating Granny. Rosaleen arrives and the hunter has her remove her red hood and burn it. Then he attempts to charm her. She shoots him and he transforms into a wolf. She pities the injured animal and decides to tell him a story about a young nude wolf-girl (played by experimental musician Danielle Dax) who arrives in the village. Later, Rosaleen's family and the villagers arrive at Granny's house and find two wolves there. Rosaleen's parents recognize that one of the wolves is a transformed Rosaleen. The wolves run into the forest and eventually show up inside the house where Rosaleen is dreaming.
The fact that this is a series of stories being told within a dream is significant as a sexual commentary via the subconscious mind. I don't believe Carter's stories would've been effective on film were they not framed within the context of a dream. Given that narrative, it is amazing how these ideas managed to translate so precisely. There must've been great communication between Jordan and Carter. The stories themselves are a culmination of some of Carter's best work and a whole lifetime of brainstorming. A lot of credit also goes to the cast, especially Sarah Patterson, who was likely a young teen at the time. It is a wonder Patterson didn't go on to become a big star and many still hold out hope that she will surface again in some capacity, even now...decades later.
Maybe some of it is coincidence and no doubt much of it is the talent of the cast and crew, but it seems like everything comes together just right for this film and it comes off as even more cohesive and poetic to me with each subsequent viewing. I've watched the Company of Wolves many times and it still remains one of the best movies I have ever seen.
Rating:  -
The reason I gave this movie 3 stars is because I love the atmosphere it evokes, like little red riding hood meets tales from the dark side. If it were done with more budget in the effects area it would get 5 stars, but for an old school... It rocks:)
Rating: -
this movie is a a very dark psychological trip into the the mind of a young girl coming into puberty and the decisions she must make as she approaches adult hood. her grandmother played by angela lansbury-a wonderful and gifted movie and stage actress,singer etc., takes the young girl under her wing and does her best to teach her about the many dangers she faces in the world and how best to protect herself.
there are actually 3 or 4 different stories that the grandmother is telling the young girl to try and teach her so she will not come to the same fate as her older sister whom died earlier on in the picture.
there are alot of underlying metaphors and deeper meanings spread throughout this wonderfully directed,acted and produced movie, the sets are as i said before are very dark but put together very well and the time period is set up wonderfully also.
i can highly recommend this movie as a thinking persons "little red riding hood" definately not for children basically because of some violence and transformation scenes that are quite cruesome but really are necessary for the story line and they are very well done also. if you are looking for a very,very good horror movie this is it.
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