En compañía de lobos

This is the oddest horror movie that I have seen. The whole story takes place in a young girl's dreams, which is pretty much a different telling of Red Riding Hood. It's does something really different with the classic fairy tale by making it both bizarre and creative. The movie itself has a pretty good atmosphere with the setting of the dream and the build-up towards the werewolves showing up. Speaking of the werewolves, there's not that much of it, but it does have good tension when they show up. One flaw I have with the movie is that there's a couple of scenes where the characters aren't doing that much and are doing their daily tasks throughout. The ending itself is a strangest that I have seen over how it ends and what it symbolizes of it.

Also, there's about four stories that Granny and Rosaleen tell throughout the movie. All of them have something to do with the werewolves, and they are interesting to see it. The third story is the strangest of out of them because of what happened in it. But I felt these stories cause the main plot to stop and tell a short story that has little to do with the main plot. I think it cause the characters to be knowledgeable about werewolves and what they do.

Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is a teenager, living in a country house in England with her family in the present days, and having a nightmare with wolves and werewolves in the Middle Ages. In her dream, her boring sister is dead, she lives with her father (David Warner) and her mother (Tusse Silberg), but she spends lots of time with her lovely grandmother (Angela Lansbury). Granny tells her many stories of werewolf and gives her the following advice: "- Never stray from the path in the woods, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet." One day, Rosaleen, while going to visit her grandmother, meets a handsome man and bets who would arrive first at her granny's house. Soon she finds who he is.

"In the Company of Wolves" is the second and one of the most fascinating films by Neil Jordan. Based on the fairy tale of the Little Red Riding Hood, it is indeed an adult stylized version of the tale in a dreamlike atmosphere with open end. But further than that, it is also a spectacular approach of the beginning of the puberty, losing of the innocence through wild and erotic dreams, when the character of Sarah Patterson is becoming a young woman. Neil Jordan makes an excellent horror movie, which can have the most different interpretations, depending on the experience of the viewer. He uses many symbols, such as the lipstick, or the first date of Rosaleen. The gorgeous and promising actress Sarah Patterson has never become a star. With her interpretation in this cult-movie, any fan would believe she would have a great career ahead, what has never come true. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "A Companhia dos Lobos" ("The Company of the Wolves")

Note: On 23 March 2024, I saw this film again.

Along with Dario Argento's "Suspiria"(1977)this is one of the most dream-like horror movies ever made.I love this one,although I still think that "Suspiria" is better.The cast is excellent,especially young Sarah Patterson as a Rosaleen,who simply steals the show.The transformation scenes are pretty gruesome and effective,and the film looks wonderful-great imagery!More fairy tale than horror "The Company of Wolves" is a must-see for all horror fans,who doesn't mind something different.

Overall this film is pretty good; I wouldn't say it rivals "American Werewolf in London", or even "Dog Soldiers", but it's a fun fantasy horror flick. Though the film is only an hour and a half long, it does tend to drag in a few places, but overall it's worth your time. Great practical effects, atmospheric production design, and inventive storytelling make this film enjoyable, particularly for fans for gothic fantasy and horror.

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES is a strange and unique exploration of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, written by Angela Carter and adapted from one of her own short stories. I think the main problem with it is that it was adapted to feature length, which means we get extra vignettes which have little to do with the main tale so they feel padded to a degree, even when they're visually impressive. The set-bound story is lavishly shot which adds plenty of atmosphere, and although the characterisation is thin on the ground, the visuals and the thematic depth more than makes up for this. Plus you get some elaborate transformation SFX reminiscent of those seen in THE THING, which help a lot.