# The Company of Wolves (1984) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636 "2011-03-14T08:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/1 "2011-03-14T08:19:35Z")
I recently discovered this strange, moody, beautiful fantasy movie by Neil Jordan, based on a short story by Angela Carter (she also wrote the screenplay). The story itself is a frame narrative, with stories within stories, all somehow touching on the themes of transformation, maturity, isolation, magic, and of course, werewolves. I particularly like the dreamlike scene where Rosaleen, wearing her red riding hood, climbs a tree and paints her lips red, then peers into the stork’s nest and watches the eggs hatch into babies (!!!). Rosaleen’s actress, Sarah Patterson, was only a teenager at the time but is remarkable onscreen. She had wonderful chemistry with her co-star, the Huntsman (played by Micha Bergese, who appears to have gone on to a career choreographing aerial dance shows), who of course ends up being the werewolf who destroys Rosaleen’s granny, then transforms Rosaleen herself into a wolf. I hope more Dopers have enjoyed this movie! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/2 "2011-03-14T10:50:18Z")
I just watched this again not too long ago. Red Riding Hood with werewolves! I love Granny’s often bizarre advice about men and wolves, which turns out to be so helpful to Rosaleen when she meets the two in one. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/3 "2011-03-14T14:28:09Z")
I watched this from Netflix, bizarrely, in just the last week. Hell, if you got it from Netflix, it might’ve gone from my house, to the warehouse, to yours. I liked much of it, but there were some odd off-putting choices in parts. In one of the earliest segments I remember particularly thinking that the misty forest and cheesy suspenseful music reminded me of nothing so much as a Tales From the Darkside episode. The ‘ending’, also, didn’t do much for me. Most of the movie I did enjoy - and hey, Terence Stamp as the devil! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/4 "2011-03-14T15:21:17Z")
That’s the one with Angela Lansbury, right? I saw it when I was a (young) teenager, not long after it came out, and still kind of remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/5 "2011-03-14T15:39:32Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > That’s the one with Angela Lansbury, right? I saw it when I was a (young) teenager, not long after it came out, and still kind of remember it. Yes, that’s it. Lansbury plays Granny. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/6 "2011-03-16T04:36:43Z")
After seeing the movie, I got Carter’s \*The Bloody Chamber \*from the library – it’s great! I’m in love with her extravagant, somewhat archaic prose. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/7 "2011-03-16T15:00:01Z")
Saw the trailers, liked the look of the effects, found the film to be totally dreadful. Apparently it was an extended metaphor for girls having their first period or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-company-of-wolves-1984/574636/8 "2011-03-16T15:59:01Z")
When the movie first came out, they advertised it was a straight-up werewolf movie (there was a run of werewolf movies in the early eighties following the success of _An American Werewolf in London_ and _The Howling_). So I went to see it expecting a fairly normal horror movie and my reaction was WTF? A few years later I saw it again on video and this time I was able to appreciate it for what it really was - a metaphor about adolescence.