The Company of Wolves (1984)

A bag full of symbolic folklore about werewolves, or, rather, their sexual connotation. Granny tells her granddaughter Rosaleen strange, disturbing tales about innocent maidens falling in ... See full summary »

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writers:

Angela Carter (screenplay), Neil Jordan (screenplay),

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden

Nominated for 4 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 10 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela Lansbury	...	Granny
David Warner	...	Father
Graham Crowden	...	Old Priest
Brian Glover	...	Amorous Boy's Father
Kathryn Pogson	...	Young Bride
Stephen Rea	...	Young Groom
Tusse Silberg	...	Mother
Micha Bergese	...	Huntsman
Sarah Patterson	...	Rosaleen
Georgia Slowe	...	Alice
Susan Porrett	...	Amorous Boy's Mother
Shane Johnstone	...	Amorous Boy
Dawn Archibald	...	Witch Woman
Richard Morant	...	Wealthy Groom
Danielle Dax	...	Wolfgirl

Storyline

A bag full of symbolic folklore about werewolves, or, rather, their sexual connotation. Granny tells her granddaughter Rosaleen strange, disturbing tales about innocent maidens falling in love with handsome, heavily eyebrowed strangers with a smoldering look in their eyes; about sudden disappearances of spouses when the moon is round & the wolves are howling in the woods; about babies found inside stork eggs, in a stork nest high up a tree; etc., etc. Of course the story of Little Red Ridinghood is also present, with a very handsome he-wolf! (And of course this he-wolf consumes Grandmother, but 'consumes' Little Red Ridinghood). All the stories are somehow reducible to loss of innocence, and fear of/hunger for (a newly acquired sense of) sexuality; their Freudian character is mirrored in their dreamlike shapes. This movie is not really a horror movie; it's more a multiple tale about growing up into adolescence.

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Plot Keywords:

sexuality | woods | folklore | grandmother | death | 

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Taglines:

The desire... the fantasy... the nightmare

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Genres:

Horror | Fantasy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 April 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Companhia dos Lobos

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC), Palace Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Warner (Father) and Terence Stamp (The Devil) would both later play Jor-El, the biological Kryptonian father of Superman, in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville.

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Quotes

Amorous Boy's father: A daughter is one thing, a heifer is another!

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Connections

Version of Red Riding Hood (1931)

User Reviews

The most original werewolf movie you'll ever see

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.