Minus Stephen Sondheim's music, this Gothic horror variation of "Little Red Riding Hood" is a mixed bag to say the least. It has a confusing narrative, set up as a dream of a modern day young girl in conflict with her own family, and continues with stories being told within the dream itself. It is the surrounding story of "Red" and her granny (Angela Lansbury) that moves the story forward after Red's older sister is chased and killed by wolves. Granny's stories are either strong (the plight of a peasant woman whose first husband returns years after disappearing on their wedding night) to weak (a teen grows hair all over and is seemingly eaten up by a plant after he takes a drug given to him by a Mercedes driving stranger). When the story focuses on Red, it is most successful, and Lansbury's theatrical performance is the glue keeping it together, especially when both ladies are finally confronted by a possible werewolf.

Having seen "Into the Woods" on stage three times, I have to wonder if the show's creators may have picked up a thing or two by this. There are definite life lessons to be learned in this film's message; The werewolves themselves are quite sexy and tempting while the spiritual teachings (good werewolves are only hairy on the outside; Evil werewolves are hairy on the inside, whatever that means...) are perplexing.

The gore that comes from the special effects (including one man literally ripping off his own face) is not for the squeamish, and be forewarned: If you are arachnaphobic, there is a sequence featuring some rather large spiders which appear out of nowhere. This was a valiant effort in giving a Grimm Fairy Tale presence to Red Riding Hood's tale (certainly better than a recent version!),but it seems to have either been badly edited towards the end or a key scene or two written but dropped entirely. Lansbury fans, however, will be delighted by her elderly granny, even if at the time, she was still a very young 60. She truly utilizes the lessons of her stage career to add some interesting tidbits to her character.

If you want to see a truly great version of a Grimm Fairy Tale, I recommend "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (1997) which is mesmerizing, and certainly a ranking above any of the other "Snow" films of the past several years.

Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is a teenager, living in a country house in England with her family in the present days, and having a nightmare with wolves and werewolves in the Middle Ages. In her dream, her boring sister is dead, she lives with her father (David Warner) and her mother (Tusse Silberg),but she spends lots of time with her lovely grandmother (Angela Lansbury). Granny tells her many stories of werewolf and gives her the following advice: "- Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet." One day, Rosaleen, while going to visit her grandmother, meets a handsome man and bet with him who would arrive first at her granny's house. The story has an open end. The first time I watched this movie was in 1984 or 1985 in a imported VHS of a Brazilian video-club, and I liked it a lot. This video-club closed and unfortunately, this film has not been available in Brazil since then. Yesterday it was released on DVD and I immediately bought it. I have just saw it and I really can say that it is an excellent movie. The story is based on the fairy tale of the Little Red Riding Hood. Indeed it is an adult and stylized version of the tale. But further than that, it is also a spectacular approach of the beginning of the puberty, losing of the innocence through wild and erotic dreams, when the character of Sarah Patterson is becoming an young woman. Neil Jordan made an excellent work, with a wonderful horror movie, which can have the most different interpretations, depending on the eye and experience of the viewer. He used many symbols, such as the use of lipstick, or the first date of Rosaleen. I do not understand what happened to the gorgeous and very promising actress Sarah Patterson. With her interpretation in this film, I would bet she would have a great career ahead, what has never come true. This film is really a cult-movie, and I am one of its greatest fan. I would like to thank the Brazilian distributor Flashstar, for giving me the chance of see this wonderful movie again. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): `A Companhia dos Lobos' (`The Company of the Wolves')

There's a family living in an English estate. The younger girl Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) is tired and starts to dream of a magical world. In that world, her older sister is dead. Her granny (Angela Lansbury) tells her stories of a werewolf (Stephen Rea) and a maiden. Granny knits her a red cape.

This is a three layered world. The girl dreams of a world where the characters tell fables. It's probably one layer too many.

Director Neil Jordan gives a much more sexualized version of Little Red Riding Hood. Sarah Patterson is able to project an innocent and sexual character. The big scene is when Rosaleen meets the Big Bad Wolf. I do wish that the rest of the movie had more of that energy. The other scene I liked is the Stephen Rea transformation. It's more bloody and grotesque than the regular werewolf transformations. It's very well done.