Underrated Treasures Blogfest

I'm going for a movie called The Company of Wolves, directed by Neil Jordan who is better known for The Crying Game and Interview With The Vampire. I first saw this one as a senior in high school. Back in the day, I'd go to a tiny Mom and Pop VHS rental shop on the way home from school and browse the horror shelf. I'd bypassed this one many times because I thought it sounded too tame. Little Red Riding Hood? Not scary. But the cover, with the wolf's snout sprouting out of the man's mouth finally pursuaded me to give it a try.

Seventeen was the perfect age for this film in which a young girl, Rosaleen, spends the afternoon dreaming. Outside her door, Big Sis hisses, "Did you steal my lipstick? Buckteeth! What makes you so special anyway? Pest, pest, pest." Inside, the audience sees Rosaleen, lips smudged bright red, tossing and turning in her bed as she enters a dream in which bossy sis becomes wolf bait. Ah, the dream of bullied little sisters everywhere.

The set of dream sequences evolve, loosely following the Red Riding Hood story with other short tales about werewolves interspersed. For someone looking for a strong, straight-line narrative, this might not be your cup of tea. But for the MTV generation (yeah, the channel where music videos aired once upon a time), you might enjoy it simply for its visual panache (some gore included).

Image courtesy: ChrisCullion at ThatWasABitMental

Fun fact: If you're thinking: Hey, those look more like dogs than wolves! you're right. Due to budget constraints, they used Belgian Shepard Dogs with specially dyed hair. Dude, that's so Hollywood. Even the dogs had hair stylists.

Anyone every seen this one? Love it? Hate it? For me, it was my all-time favorite movie until I saw Gladiator.

Blog update: Stray cat Mr. M completed his 4 weeks of antibiotics and is doing well. My fingers are also healing.