4/5 DARK AND DISTURBING
  by Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
Neil Jordan's little-known werewolf film mixes several Grimm fairy tales (mainly "Ltttle Riding Hood" and "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf") with a disturbing Freudian coming of age sexuality. Sarah Patterson is the hormonally driven lead facing puberty and predatory men. A dangerous mix. Angela Lansbury is startling as the story-telling grandmother. David Warner is the sympathetic woodsman dad. Weird, wonderful and genuinely horrifying.

4/5 What a Great Company It Is
  by Jeff Farrow
In his book about WEREWOLVES (review below), author Bob Curran makes favorable mention of this film--and with good reason. In a way THE COMPANY OF WOLVES reminds me of the 1940's B&W classic CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE. Following the success of CAT PEOPLE, European born producer Val Lewton was pressured by his Hollywood counterparts into making a sequel to that film. This was the age of the mega-monsters & sequels were the rage (Son of Frankenstein, etc.) Lewton caved in--and the resulting movie is now a cult classic. It is even more finally crafted & absorbing than the original.

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES is a brilliant synthesis of the European fables & folklore concerning the grisly lycanthrope. Vignettes of various horrific tales of werewolves are woven around the familiar of Little Red Riding Hood, with many entertaining twists & takes on the legend. The art direction is wonderfully surrealistic & pleasing to the eye.

My favorite story concerns an outdoor wedding reception hosted by pre-Revolutionary French aristocrats. They are seated around a table inside a pavilion. Stacks of delectable food & wine are placed all around, and the people who aren't engaged in snooty conversation, are stuffing their faces like--pigs. The many servants & waiters are all bowing & scraping while they serve their masters, yet behind the frozen half-smiles lurks contempt & disgust for the supercilious party-goers.

Then suddenly, amidst the gluttonous orgy, a beautiful, obviously pregnant country woman intrudes on the scene. She castigates the assembly for their haughtiness & phony airs--and then drops a bombshell by announcing that the father of her baby is the groom. She starts laughing at them as they begin to morph into werewolves, and not just "common" werewolves, but poodle-like werewolves! Only the servants are spared and they are obviously delighted at the turn of events. In a final scene the country woman--a witch--sits in the top branches of a tree, laughing in the moonlight night.

PS. I haven't a clue why this movie was originally given an "R" rating.
Chill-out, the consummate actress Angela Lansbury plays Grandma!
I would give it a PG 10 & up.

[...]

4/5 Angela Carter's genius
  by Ernest D. Wolfe (Salt Lake City, UT USA)
Movie goers these days may be coming to their senses, suffering month after month the same cookie cutter plots, characters, CGI, *s*t*a*r*s* appearing over and over like a familiar pickpocket or scam artist at the intersection. I don't want to mention any names but one in particular moves like concrete through the recent Terminator clone. Really, how many more scenes of robot feet crushing human skulls can one sit through?

Producers take no risks these days and certainly would never risk the sort of exotic and arabesque excursions into dark human themes that make a movie like THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. The immortal Angela Carter originated the story and collaborated on the movie adaptation, retelling the folktale of Little Red Riding Hood, bringing up from the blood depths as only she could the predatory nature of human sexuality, and the link of myth to our animal origins. It's a remarkable movie contrasting the plaster construct of societal rules against the organic thrust of existence in all its violence. Her characters move carefully, subdued to stifled whispers, cowed by the unfettered nature that howls all about them, that swallows them whole. The performances of David Warner, Angela Lansbury and Stephen Rea as a young brides-groom going with the wolves in a full moon before he can consummate his marriage, haunt the montage with an understated sense of doom. The jungle forest where the wolves run wild and free is littered with dolls and toys. The very streams seem to run with the blood of fresh kill. The colors do that to you, fill your mind with the smell of rapacious abandon. You can feel the sensation. Not bad for a B movie. Not bad at all. I congratulate the lot. If you ever get the chance, find Angela's book SAINTS AND STRANGERS and read the similar story, "Peter and the Wolf." She wrote wonderfully in her life. Her loss to us by cancer is incalculable.

Despite the occasional clumsy special effect, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES works quite well and is a welcome change of scenery from the usual formulaic dreck of recent years. This dvd version is in widescreen and not quite for the little ones. Rated R. It's one to see over and over again.

2/5 Serious Audio problems detract from this film (VHS version)
  by Asura (California)
This movie is more fantasy, and artsy dark fantasy at that, than a typical horror movie, which is something I like.

However I can't comment on the movie itself too much, because I really just couldn't get passed the serious audio problems.
The voices are quiet and have a rather muffled sound the majority of the time, and as a result I can understand very little of what was is said. The music some times is also way too loud.
Thanks to the quiet muffled voices and loud music I found myself constantly turning the volume way up, and then way down.
Makes me wonder if the DVD has subtitles, and/or has remastered audio, if so I may pick it up.

5/5 you have such big teeth grandma...
  by Brett R. Dick (GOLDEN VALLEY, MN United States)
Ok this is a great movie, the narrative implications are those of a coming of age and a young womans personal stages of sexual awareness. It begins at the funeral of the sister of a young woman and her journey to sexual maturity and the conflict is created by repeated use of Werewolves...sound strange, it is. This is a cautionary tale told to the young woman in allegory by her Grandma (while she is dreaming)the bottom line ...men are wolves...? your guess is as good as mine. It is a fairy tale and not true straight up horror but the Monsters are plenty horrific and we even are fed a segment complete with girl in red cloak as if the as if the connection to " Red Riding Hood " wasn't obvious enough. I love this movie because of it's stunning images and a healthy dose of real good Werewolves, never dull and just enough to ponder here plot wise that you may just miss some context if your not careful. I had heard of it for years and had some trouble getting it, but lucky you it now is available in a great looking DVD by Henstooth Video, a great film to watch with a significant other in the dark by a cozy fire...