It was 1984. The year of The Terminator and Ghostbusters. Yet, tucked away in the shadows of those blockbusters was a strange, hallucinatory film that smelled of damp moss and rotting fur. I’m talking about In the Company of Wolves, Neil Jordan’s second feature film. It wasn't just another werewolf movie. It was something weirder. It was an adaptation of Angela Carter’s short stories from The Bloody Chamber, and honestly, it changed how we think about fairy tales forever.
People usually expect a werewolf flick to be about a guy growing hair under a full moon and eating some teenagers in London. This isn't that. It’s a dream within a dream. Sarah Patterson plays Rosaleen, a girl sleeping in a modern farmhouse while dreaming of a 17th-century village where wolves aren't just animals—they’re "men who are hairy on the inside."
The Practical Magic of Gore and Fur
We have to talk about that transformation scene. You know the one.
In most 80s horror, transformations were mechanical. Think An American Werewolf in London with its stretching bones. But in In the Company of Wolves, the wolf literally tears its way out of the man’s mouth. It’s disgusting. It’s visceral. The special effects artist, Christopher Tucker—the same guy who did the makeup for The Elephant Man—decided to use a real wolf's snout that pushes through human skin.
It looks wet. It looks painful.
There's no CGI here. Everything you see on screen was built by hand. The forest itself wasn't even a real forest; it was a massive set built at Shepperton Studios. They used tons of real trees, dead leaves, and fake mist to create a space that felt claustrophobic. If you watch it today, the artifice is part of the charm. It doesn't look like a real woods—it looks like a storybook that’s gone rotten.
Why Angela Carter's Voice Matters
Neil Jordan didn't just take the "Red Riding Hood" story and add blood. He co-wrote the script with Angela Carter herself. Carter was a legend of feminist literature, known for deconstructing old myths to see what made them tick.
She hated the idea of women being passive victims.
In the original Perrault version of "Little Red Riding Hood," the girl gets eaten and that's the end. Moral: don't talk to strangers. In the Grimm version, a woodsman saves her. But Carter’s version—and Jordan’s film—suggests something different. Maybe the girl likes the wolf? Maybe the "beast" is just a part of human nature we're too scared to admit exists?
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The film is structured as a series of stories told by Rosaleen's grandmother, played by the incomparable Angela Lansbury. Lansbury is terrifying here. She’s all grandmotherly advice and knitting needles, but her stories are full of misogyny and fear. She warns Rosaleen to stay on the path. She tells her that men are beasts.
But Rosaleen is curious. She’s bored of the path.
Decoding the Symbolism of In the Company of Wolves
There is so much red.
The red shawl, the red berries, the blood on the snow. It’s almost overwhelming. Visually, the film uses color to track Rosaleen’s transition from childhood to womanhood. Most critics at the time, and certainly scholars now, point to the film as a puberty metaphor. That's a bit of a cliché, sure, but the movie leans into it so hard it becomes art.
Consider the scene with the stork’s nest. Rosaleen finds a nest in a high tree containing mirrors and lipstick. It’s a bizarre, surreal image that looks like something out of a Salvador Dalí painting. It signals that the world she’s in isn't governed by logic. It’s governed by desire and fear.
- The Wolf as the Outsider: The wolves in this film represent the "Other." They are the thing that lives outside the village walls.
- The Wedding Party: There’s a sequence where a jilted lover turns a wedding party into wolves. It’s chaotic and darkly funny.
- The Ending: Unlike the fairy tales we tell kids, the ending of In the Company of Wolves is ambiguous. Rosaleen doesn't kill the wolf. She joins it.
Production Hurdles and the 1980s British Film Renaissance
This movie almost didn't happen. In the early 80s, the British film industry was struggling. Producer Stephen Woolley and his company, Palace Pictures, were taking huge risks. They wanted to make movies that felt European and "art-house" but had the production value of Hollywood.
They spent roughly $2 million, which was a decent chunk of change for a UK indie back then. They put every penny on the screen.
When it hit theaters, the reaction was mixed. Some people wanted a straight horror movie and were annoyed by the talking and the metaphors. Others realized they were seeing a masterpiece. It won several BAFTA awards, specifically for Production Design and Costume Design. It’s easy to see why. Every frame looks like a Pre-Raphaelite painting that’s been left out in the rain.
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Mistakes Most People Make When Watching
I see people online comparing this to Twilight or modern "monster romance."
Stop. Just stop.
In the Company of Wolves isn't interested in making the wolf a "boyfriend." It’s interested in the wolf as a force of nature. It’s about the loss of innocence and the realization that the world is a dangerous, beautiful place.
Another common misconception is that it’s a "horror" film. While it has some gnarly gore, it’s actually a "Gothic Fantasy." If you go in expecting Scream, you’re going to be bored. If you go in expecting something like Pan’s Labyrinth, you’ll be in heaven. Guillermo del Toro has actually cited this film as an influence, and you can see the DNA of Neil Jordan’s work in the way del Toro handles monsters.
The Legacy of the "Wolf-Man"
Since 1984, we’ve seen dozens of werewolf movies. We had The Howling, Ginger Snaps, and Dog Soldiers. But none of them capture the dream-logic of being in the company of wolves quite like this one.
The film argues that we shouldn't fear the beast outside; we should understand the one inside. It’s a psychological study wrapped in a fur coat.
The cast also helps ground the weirdness. Aside from Lansbury, you’ve got David Warner as the Father and Stephen Rea (a Neil Jordan regular) as the Groom. They play it straight. They don't wink at the camera. Because they take the folklore seriously, we do too.
Interestingly, the film was released in the US by Cannon Films. Yeah, the guys who did Missing in Action and Death Wish 3. They didn't really know how to market an art-house fairy tale, so they sold it as a scary monster movie. This led to a lot of confused audiences in 1985, but it helped the film gain a massive cult following on VHS.
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How to Appreciate the Film Today
If you’re going to watch it now, you need to find the 4K restoration. The colors are vital. The deep greens of the moss and the vibrant crimson of the velvet capes pop in a way that the old DVD versions just couldn't handle.
Look at the details. Look at the way the toys in Rosaleen’s "real world" room appear as giant, terrifying versions in her dream world. The giant teddy bear, the porcelain dolls—they are all clues.
Takeaways for the Modern Viewer:
- Watch the Background: The set design is dense. There are visual motifs about eggs, birds, and mirrors hidden in almost every scene.
- Read the Source Material: If you haven't read Angela Carter, go pick up The Bloody Chamber. It’ll make the movie's non-linear structure make a lot more sense.
- Listen to the Score: George Fenton’s music is haunting. It uses traditional orchestral sounds mixed with eerie, synth-like textures that perfectly match the "dream" vibe.
- Forget the Rules: Don't look for internal logic about how the "curse" works. In this world, the rules of folk tales apply, not the rules of science.
The movie ends with a scream that echoes through the modern world, as the wolves break through the bedroom floor. It’s a reminder that the old stories aren't dead. They’re just waiting for us to fall asleep.
To really get the most out of In the Company of Wolves, you have to stop trying to "solve" it. Just let the imagery wash over you. It’s a movie that rewards repeat viewings because every time you watch it, you notice another layer of symbolism or another weird detail in the background of that massive Shepperton set. It remains a high-water mark for British cinema and a perfect example of how to adapt "unfilmable" literature.
If you want to dive deeper into this world, your best bet is to look for the various "making of" documentaries that feature Neil Jordan and Stephen Woolley. They talk extensively about the technical challenges of the pre-digital era. Seeing how they pulled off the "skin-shedding" effects without a single computer is a masterclass in practical filmmaking.
The film stands as a testament to a time when directors were allowed to be poetic, messy, and unashamedly weird. It doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't explain its ending. It just leaves you shivering in the dark, wondering if you heard a howl outside your window.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
- Track down the 40th-anniversary 4K Blu-ray. The transfer is vastly superior to any streaming version available.
- Compare the film to Neil Jordan’s later work, specifically Interview with the Vampire. You can see him refining the "sympathetic monster" trope he started here.
- Research the work of Anton Furst. He was the production designer who went on to design the Gotham City in Tim Burton’s Batman. His work on the forest in this film is where his legendary status began.
Ultimately, this isn't just a movie about werewolves. It’s a movie about the power of stories and the danger of ignoring the wildness that lives in all of us.