The Company of Wolves

This movie ... is very uneven.

I'd have to say the bad outweighs the good. It might go down easier with a second viewing.

This is an art film about a girl coming to terms with her emerging sexuality and adulthood. And, eh, there are some werewolves, but they are just symbols. (Wolves = the power, danger, and excitement of sexual discovery)

Without trying to analyze all the artistry, this movie is about young Rosaleen, who's having fever dreams while in the grip of her first period. The whole movie, in fact, is a sequence of dreams. In the dreams, people tell Rosaleen stories. Rosaleen also tells a story or two of her own. The stories that stick out are about the guy who tears his skin off to reveal a wolf underneath, the one about the spurned girl turning wedding guests into wolves, and a loose adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood.

I usually don't like art movies but this one had decent pacing and resembled a real movie enough to be watchable. The cast is full of veteran character actors who do their jobs well. The only stumbling blocks are the guy who plays the Huntsman and the young newcomer who plays Rosaleen.

The young actress playing Rosaleen isn't bad - not at all - but there are a couple of times when her inexperience and youth worked against her and I just didn't buy it. I'll be checking to see if she was in any other movies I'd want to watch so I can see how her performances matured.

Now, the guy playing the Huntsman ... well, I won't rag on him too hard because he had an "and introducing" credit, too. But, ugh, he had the same effect on me as nails on a chalkboard. This is not to say I didn't like his voice specifically; it was the whole package. I don't think I've seen him in anything else and I don't care.

There are three werewolf transformations of note in this movie. One is a lengthy, blood-and-guts deal. I kept wondering why the guy's family didn't just run away or beat his head in with one of those handy weapons (literally) hanging around. The change takes at least two minutes! I don't care if he's a frickin' werewolf, I'd for damn sure see how much damage I could inflict to his elongating skull in those two minutes. The second is the aforementioned party scene. It's actually much more effective until the woman rips open her bodice to expose her hairy breasts, then I just couldn't take it seriously anymore. This scene wants to be funny and creepy at the same time and it just doesn't work. The third transformation involves that image of a wolf's snout poking out of a man's mouth that you all have seen on the video box. I'm sure it looked great in 1984 but, today, it's a fake wolf snout sliding out of a fake head. It's still kind of creepy.

Worth a watch? If you're looking for something ... different ... sure.