Now as then, ’tis simple truth
Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth.
Directed by Neil Jordan
Reviewed by Deep Red
Aka In compagnia dei lupi
Based on the short story The Company of Wolves from The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter who based her own story on Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) by Charles Perrault, this is one of my favourite werewolf films.
Rosaleen played by Sarah Patterson dreams she lives in a forest with her mother (Tusse Silberg), father (David Warner) and sister Alice (Georgia Slowe). When Alice is killed by wolves, Rosaleen goes to stay with her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) who knits her a red shawl and tells her a story about a werewolf (Stephen Rea).
As Rosaleen continues to dream, villagers, including Rosaleen’s father, trap and shoot a wolf that’s been killing cattle only for the wolf to take human form in death.
Roasleen meets a huntsman (Micha Bergese) in the woods on the way to her grandmother’s house….
I don’t want to give much away really. Visually stunning throughout, this is a masterpiece. Fantastic imagery and some nice gore. It has a great cast, also including Brian Glover, Jim Carter, Graham Crowden, Shane Johnstone, Danielle Dax and Terence Stamp as the Devil himself. Stories within Rosaleen’s dream add to the depth of this highly imaginative visual feast. I’d never seen a werewolf film like it before or since and I revisit it from time to time just to immerse myself in it all over again.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It’s something different and something very, very special. I really must get it on Blu-ray sometime. Great soundtrack too.