The Company of Wolves (1984)

October 21, 2024 8:26 AM

An adaptation of Angela Carter's fairy tales. Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which innocent maidens are tempted by wolves who are hairy on the inside. As Rosaleen grows into womanhood, will the wolves come for her too?

One of my favourite horror movies that is definitely vibe-based! Neil Jordan's whole beautiful phantasmagoric vision of Angela Carter's wolf-based works. (She had quite a few of them.)

You have art rocker Danielle Dax in the last wolf segment, you have an uncredited smokin' hot Terence Stamp, a baby Stephen Rea, a baby Jim Carter, and of course, the incomparable late great David Warner. Angela Lansbury also stealing the show as the very wise Granny.

Anyway, I love this movie and this was my pick for our Art House Horror selection.

posted by Kitteh (7 comments total)

I also love this movie and highly recommend the book that has allllll kinds of variations on fairy tales like beauty and the beast and bluebeard's wife.

But yes Terence Stamp is damn tasty in this. Definitely a movie I have enjoyed watching over and over again through the years.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:41 PM on October 21, 2024 [4 favorites]

In a stroke of luck, this was somehow one of only a couple-dozen selections at our small town corner convenience store, in the days before dedicated VHS rental shops. Still a teenager, maybe slightly cannabinated, it was a fortuitous "huh... what the hey..." opportunity.

It's not only been a favorite since, it led me to AC's writing and then discovering other favorite writers.

I think the pervasive vibe is key to its longevity, no mere monster movie by any means (though its monster stuff is fun too!)

Phantasmagoric is the right word, and it set some sort of precedent for me.
posted by Claude Hoeper at 6:15 PM on October 21, 2024 [3 favorites]

I still cannot see someone with a unibrow without thinking werewolf. I watched this far too young and it absolutely entranced me. The movie feels like Carter’s writing, like a love letter to the horror folktale fantasy feminism intricacy and lyrical beauty of her writing - all of it holds up so well. Oooooh I know what I’m rewatching tonight!
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:08 PM on October 21, 2024 [4 favorites]

This is already on my schedule to watch tonight (We're in werewolf week at our house as we ramp up to Halloween)!
posted by KingEdRa at 8:00 AM on October 22, 2024 [2 favorites]

I would have been 8 or 9 when this was released. Obv, I didn't see until my teenage years but I definitely remember the trailer featuring the wolf snout coming out of the Huntsman's mouth and going, oh no nightmaaaaare for meeee

I love this movie so much.
posted by Kitteh at 8:05 AM on October 22, 2024 [3 favorites]

After years of being a fan of the film I read, during lockdown, the Angela Carter book where this comes from and I was blown away. It is different than the movie but well worth reading.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:06 AM on October 22, 2024 [1 favorite]

Granny: "You've got a lot to learn my child: never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man who's eyebrows meet"

They say that The Wizard of Oz can be miraculously synchronised with Dark Side of the Moon with a litttle care. Likewise, I am sure there is a Cocteau Twins album that could be played from the opening of Company of Wolves to brilliant effect - as we travel from the early 80s, to a dream and from a dream to a flashback to days of yore...just have to work out which. Great film with some amazing special effects and acting - the wedding scene, in particular, in a masterpiece.
posted by rongorongo at 12:04 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]