Nigel P 'The Company of Wolves' is an extraordinary dream-like series of set-pieces crammed with haunting detail and imagery. Young crimson-lipped Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson, impressive here and yet this is one of only a handful of film credits) sleeps - or sulks, as her spoilt sister Alice (Georgie Slow) would have it -in a glorious but ramshackle mansion that appears to get more untended the closer we get to her bedroom. She dreams of her precocious sister running through a haunted forest, fighting off giant teddy-bears, doll-houses and sinister grandfather clocks. It is a heady nightmare, with Rosaleen's disturbed sleep 'watched' by a Mrs Tiggy-Winkle doll strongly reminiscent of her eccentric granny, whom we meet later. Wolves are, of course, prevalent in her dream, just as they are throughout the film.Further into reverie we go, with mourners at the picturesque village burying Alice, with others played by such luminaries as Brian Glover, Graham Crowden, Stephen Rea, David Warner and magnificently eccentric singer/songwriter Daniella Dax as an unnamed wolf-girl."Once you stray from the path, you're lost entirely," warns Granny (top-billed Angela Lansbury). And that seems to be the metaphor for the film, which appears to be staged for the most part via tremendous studio sets. I mention this because such an arrangement allows for the world in which we inhabit to be entirely controlled by the film-makers - a village straight out of fairy-tale, a snowy-landscape made from every Christmas nightmare, and an autumnal air of folk-horror. Granny's stories/warnings permeate the narrative - Stephen Rea's travelling man marries Kathryn Podgson's young bride but disappears, only to return years later as a werewolf. In a second cautionary tale, the Devil (Terence Stamp) offers a young man a lethal potion. The third features a heavily pregnant enchantress 'done a terrible wrong' who arrives at (the child's father) an aristocrat's wedding party and transforms everyone into wolves. The final tale features a she-wolf (Dax), who ascends from 'the world below to the world above' meaning no harm, yet is shot by ignorant villagers.The stories are potent, haunting, mesmerising. The effects and transformations are excellent (particularly Rea's character - his werewolf alter-ego is beheaded, which lands in a vat of milk, only to surface as his human head once more) and the atmosphere absorbing. But what does it all mean? "(Men) are as nice as pie until they've had their way with you; once the bloom is gone, the Devil comes out," warns Granny. So, anti-men then? A coming of age parable? Certainly the Hammer-style horror-trappings and Red Riding Hood motifs seem only a convincing canvas on which to broadcast other things - a fear of adulthood, perhaps? Or maybe, given her ultimate fate, Granny's warnings are proven to be worthless? Whatever, Angela Carter and Neil Jordan's screenplay is an unspecific nightmare world of mindfulness and possibilities and remains not only one of the most original takes on the werewolf myth, but one of the most artistically successful too. Wonderful and extraordinary. An adult fairy-tale indeed.

gavin6942 A teenage girl (Sarah Patterson) in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine and she has a disturbing dream involving wolves which appears to take place in the woods visible from her bedroom window.How is it that after so many years as a horror fan, this title has escaped me? I may have vaguely heard of it, but certainly never saw it or had any reason to seek it out. Gee, I wish I had known about this much sooner.While the narrative is not very straightforward, and at times a bit confusing with its story-within-a-story structure, it is such a great blend of horror and fantasy. Horror fans get the werewolf, the gore effects, and some really cool transformation scenes. Fantasy folks get vibrant colors (especially red), and very dreamlike atmosphere.David Warner and Terence Stamp both have smaller roles, but add a bit to the picture that only they can. Angela Lansbury has a bit bigger role, though it is not one of her more flattering.As far as the so-called "wolf cycle" of the early 1980s goes, this has to be among the top three released at the time, perhaps second only to "An American Werewolf in London". Truly art in motion.

Hammerfanatic46 I watched "The Company of Wolves" yesterday, only my second viewing in thirty years, and was delighted at how absorbing it remains. Passing the test of time, it is as fresh as ever .The Movie is not quite a Horror film, but inhabits the realm of Fantasy Cinema, a genre which has always shared a porous border with horror."Wolves" weaves an intriguing tapestry of folklore and Freudian psychology as it links the dark, but sensual ,Grimm's fairy tales to adolescent fantasies and sexual anxieties, framed in a narrative which is a story, within a story, within a story, wrapped in a dream. In doing so, it takes us deeper into Hammer's dark woods and bucolic Gothic imagery.Thematically, it strays far from Hammer, but aesthetically, it is firmly rooted in the British Gothic tradition. Not only does it's pastoral setting , secluded village and menacing atmosphere recall the mood of Hammer's best productions, but the cinematography and even the opening titles, are suggestive of Hammer influences.Admittedly, some of the visual effects leave much to be desired to the modern viewer. I am no great fan of CGI, but perhaps the film would have been enhanced ,under Neil Jordan's restrained eye, by SFX that belonged to the 21st Century rather than the era of "An American Werewolf in London" .Having said that, "The Company of Wolves" is an intellectual and visual treat, which will reward repeat viewing . It certainly won't be three decades before I venture into it's enchanted forest once again.

BobforTrish Neil Jordan co-wrote and directed this mishmash of a story within a story within a dream within... herein lies one of the major concerns. What exactly are we watching? Beginning with a young girl's nightmare we journey through various tenuously connected - if at all - stories, flashbacks and sub-plots. we enter a nightmare world which is seemingly unbound by anything as urbane as geographical or historical context; realism being usurped by surrealism.Apropos of the general confusion Angela Lansbury's lilting accent seems to defy any attempt to pin it down to even a country let alone a particular district. Added to this is her propensity to chew the scenery in an attempt to play the doting grandma doling out words of wisdom to the strangely unlikeable heroine Rosaleen played by Sarah Patterson.There seems to be little in the way of a structured plot although the general ideas seem to involve the killing of werewolves and a rather strange updating of Little Red Riding Hood. The confusion continues scenically, chronically and symbolically.Giant mushrooms, haunted forests, a Rolls Royce, eggs hatching to reveal...? Settings, along with special effects are at times almost comical, at others rather unsettling. With little in the way of light-heartedness (oh how I prayed for Brian Glover to wrestle a werewolf!) and underlying - although frequently surfacing - sexual references the whole becomes a dark dingy effort which, even at 95 minutes seems overlong.As with other efforts by Mr Jordan I feel as though I have been invited to a private party where everybody else knows the in-jokes...