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Film: The Company of Wolves
Year: 1984
Director: Neil Jordan
Writer: Angela Carter and Neil Jordan
Starring: Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury and David Warner
Review:
This was a film that I was turned on to from the Horror Show Guide encyclopedia that I’ve been working through. I didn’t know much about it aside from read that blurb. When I queued up the DVD menu; it looked like it might be like the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I've now given it a second watch as part of my Foray through the Fours.
Synopsis: a teenage girl in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine and has a disturbing dream involving wolves prowling the woods below her bedroom window.
Now I do think this synopsis is a bit misleading. We have a young teen, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson). She is asleep in a room in the country manor like it says. Her father, David Warner, and mother, Tusee Silberg, return home from shopping. They ask her older sister Alice (Georgia Slowe) to go get her. She is unable to go in the room as Rosaleen has fallen asleep and locked the door. We then go into what appears to be dream, where Alice is fleeing from wolves. This is nightmarish as toys we saw in Rosaleen's room are large and come to life, attacking Alice. This is just the start of the torment.
We then shift to a funeral as Alice was killed by wolves. In attendance is the family which also includes granny, Angela Lansbury. Rosaleen goes to stay with her for the night and is told stories. These are folk tales that she claims are true and are parables about men to not trust, werewolves and more adult themed than a teen this age should hear. Also in the village is a boy who is in love with her, Shane Johnstone.
Things take quite a turn though as Rosaleen and this boy go for a walk and they are almost attacked by wolves. They have glowing eyes. The men in town go on a hunt for them and make a terrifying discovery. Rosaleen also has an interaction with a mysterious huntsman who falls in love with her.
Now that is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I'll preface that this has a lot of information to unfold and can also get confusing. I decided to go a bit vague in my recap, because there are allegorical signs. It makes it interesting while also helping with the confusion. We don't necessarily know what is real and this is also a dream of a teenager girl. From what I read about it, that was part of what writer/director Neil Jordan was going for. He said he wanted somewhat of the ‘Chinese box’ narrative where we are in a dream and go deeper into another dream. This is something that is in line with Inception. It was also puzzling there.
Where I'll then start is that I do like the issues that the stories delve into. Granny presents superstitions as fact, but the message is good. The not being able to trust men with unibrows was funny and something that I’ve never heard before being associated with werewolves. I can get the idea though that it is nefarious or perceiving that they're 'unevolved'. This is conjuncture on my part though. It is fascinating that she says Rosaleen is a bit young. She isn't though when she encounters the huntsman. She doesn’t heed the warnings and misses the red flags there. I do like this idea that you can present the information, but we need to heed the warning.
Something to come back to is the vibe of Red Riding Hood that I got. Granny makes her the shawl that matches this and there’s a scene during the climax that is presenting this fable. I thought that was great. There is a more adult look at the premise. There is also the idea of things not being as they seem and worrying about what is hiding beneath.
Even though it gets confusing, I like the nightmare or dream logic. It helps to explain things since in dreams, we jump from one idea or story to the next. It can be abrupt. There are the allegories behind different things we see. The werewolves could signify the wildness that is within all of us, like the 'Id' that Freund spoke about. This is especially in males which make up a majority the werewolves. There is the idea of young love as well, which can be wild and rushed. I'm sure there are more that I missed, but these were prevalent.
Where I'll then explore is filmmaking. First would be the cinematography which is beautiful. It captures this dreamlife feel of the movie. I'd also say that the framing helps there. We also get a hazy feel to it as well. It feels like our world, but also slightly off where magic and the supernatural are there. Then to the effects, they were hit or miss for me. They were practical so I'll give them credit for that. I don't love the werewolf transformations, but they're different so I'll give credit. My only issue then becomes that they used dogs instead of wolves. That is probably more of a nitpick though due to convenience. Other than that, the soundtrack and design helped build the atmosphere. Even though we have around a 90-minute runtime, I do feel that the pacing is off slightly. That makes it feel longer than it is. The anthology feel to the stories is good, but I'm still not completely sure of the ending so that throw me off.
Where I'll end out is with positives though and that's the acting. Patterson was solid, especially for someone as young as she was. She deals with adult situations. This fits the tale and what she's been warned about. I was impressed with overall as the lead. Lansbury was perfect for the grandmother. She looks wise and her ways of conveying them were great. She brings sass to the role. Warner and Silberg were solid as the parents. They are different from each other but play well together. They feel like a married couple. I thought it was interesting to see Brian Glover as the boy who loves Rosaleen’s father, I know him from An American Werewolf in London. Stephen Rea, Micha Bergese, Slowe, Kathryn Pogson, Terence Stamp and the rest of the cast were good to round this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this does a great job at capturing that fairy tale atmosphere. There's a good combination of that along with nightmare logic and having something to say. It is well made there from the cinematography to the effects and sound design. If I have an issue there, the pacing is off slightly and using dogs throws me off. The acting here is great though. They bring the characters to life. This won't be for everyone. It is a bit different on werewolves, having almost an anthology feel. I'd recommend it if what I said sounds good. I enjoyed both watches now.
My Rating: 8 out of 10