The Company of Wolves (1984)
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A British writer rewrote Perrault's fairy tales as explicitly adult stories of danger and desire. Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, all reclaimed as fables of what waits for a girl at the edge of the woods.
THE COMPANY OF WOLVES (1984) was Neil Jordan's second film, made years before The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire, and the first screenplay author Angela Carter ever wrote. It is constructed like a Russian doll: a girl's dream, and inside it her grandmother's warning tales, and inside those, more tales still, all filmed on a single soundstage as a deliberately artificial forest of gnarled trees and creeping mist.
Angela Lansbury plays the grandmother, warning the girl about men who are "hairy on the inside." The warnings are meant to scare her but serve to stir her curiosity.
The wolf is the dangerous, alluring adult world waiting at the end of childhood. And when the wolves come, Jordan delivers one of the great practical transformations of the era, a snout tearing out through a man's mouth, a shot that still makes people flinch.
About the Film
The Desire...The Fantasy...The Nightmare.
- Directed By
- Neil Jordan
- Runtime
- 95 minutes
- Released
- September 21, 1984
- US Theatrical
- April 19, 1985
- Certification
- R
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Starring
- Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden, Brian Glover
More Credits
- Genres
- Horror, Fantasy
- Language
- English
- Origin
- GB
- Studios
- ITC Entertainment, Palace Pictures, The Cannon Group
- Written By
- Angela Carter, Neil Jordan, Charles Perrault
- Produced By
- Nik Powell, Stephen Woolley, Chris Brown
- Cinematography
- Bryan Loftus
- Music
- George Fenton
- Also Starring
- Kathryn Pogson, Stephen Rea, Tusse Silberg, Micha Bergese, Georgia Slowe
- Budget
- $2,000,000
- Box Office
- $4,389,334
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A classic
I loved the visuals
My 3rd favorite werewolf movie!
I love this movie so much! This and Legend were favorites back in the day. It was like watching a painting come to life.
The best part is that she was a wolf too in the end, just as capable as the man hunting her.
Yvette Muñoz-Blackman Agreed! Both of those movies are my top five favorites.
I saw it when I was 10. Really wild movie. Now I want to see it again.
The vhs cover scared me when I saw it at the movie rental when I was like 4
Jonathan Starks Seeing the cover to this movie and the original Ghoulies, really turned a very young me into a horror obsessed weirdo.
Great film, although the discrimination against eyebrows that meet in the middle needs to stay in the past
One of my favorites
Angela Carter is the writer referred to. Her stories are well worth reading.
Sue York Yes, specifically The Bloody Chamber (1979).
Haven’t seen this in decades!
Watched it last weekend…. I always loved this film.
Quite a wonderfully haunting tale of Red Riding Hood.
A brilliant film and Angela Carter is a great writer. The Bloody Chamber is an incredibly important work.
My daughter’s middle name is Rosaleen after this character.
i remember renting this on VHS so many time.
Adam Johnson adding to the list
Sweets Martinez what in the world 🤠
I have the DVD, watched it for the first time when I was 10 and became obsessed and slightly unhinged over it. Love this movie.
I would love some classic, legit fairytale movies like how they did Gretel & Hansel
Mary Stutts loved how dark and witchy that movie was. I still want a black a-frame cabin.
I don’t think Perrault’s original tales were without danger and desire. Quite the opposite.
Edward Hager I had the same thought. That’s why called Carter’s versions “explicitly adult stories” (as opposed to the more ambiguously-targeted originals).
the singer danielle dax has a small part, running naked through the forest
Jackie Clewlow she was a she-wolf
Loved this movie so much, romance, fantasy love story.
Not much of a rewrite, just a de-Disvelfying. The Mouse has defanged most of the old stories. Do not read Sleeping Beauty.
What throws me off is this doppelganger it was so strong when I saw it as an adult that I tried to find out if the actresses are related
Angela Carter’s work is amazing
Beware men whose eyebrows meet in the middle. Absolutely grand movie.
Bought the DVD, and Amazon digital copy just so I can watch or listen to it anywhere. My high school boyfriend found the soundtrack CD, which I still treasure. Might be my favorite movie.
Favorite
Favourite werewolf movie
I have somewhere a copy of the bloody chamber by Carter and I have the script for this film in one of my collections on my shelf; this is absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time. It took me by surprise and while there are certain things I don’t care for about it. This movie is a genuine gem. It is so good thank you for posting.
One of my favorite films!
I still have my VHS copy that I’ve got in the 1990s! And I have a working VCR, so still watch it, introducing it to my nieces.
I loved it. First saw it at 18 and rewatched it many times.
That’s what they were originally
Loved this. And like so many great films it has become incredibly rare thanks to streaming dominations.
I love this movie.
Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet.
These words shaped my adolescence.
I’ve never seen the movie, but this description reminds me of the poem Little Red Cap by Carol Ann Duffy!!
Right up there with Wolfen!
I still have the soundtrack on vinyl.
Love this movie. ❤️🐺
I loved this movie, visually stunning and well acted
I adore this film.
I love this movie because of how visceral the imagery of womanhood and puberty is. It doesn’t sugarcoat the message, but instead makes it known that “if there’s a beast in men, it meets its match in women too”
One of my most favorite movies ❤️