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| The Company Of Wolves |
Every now and again we like to put an animal in our Streaming Spotlight, and they don't come much more adaptable than the wolf, which crops up in stories and myths everywhere from the Arctic to Eurasia and North America. Whether they are shape-shifting or simply wild in terms of their abilities and beauty, they've also proved a favourite on the big screen - and here's a few that are worth howling about.
The Company Of Wolves, Apple TV
For many children in the UK and beyond, their first encounter with a wolf will be through the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, trying to stay safe as she delivers food to her grandma. This adaptation of Angela Carter's book - co-scripted by Carter herself alongside Neil Jordan - is most definitely not for children as it immerses us in the imagined gothic dreamscape of its young heroine Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) after a cautionary tale from her gran (Angela Lansbury) about men whose eyebrows meet in the middle. Things in this world don't operate by the rules, and the action is fuelled by the subversive sexual undercurrent experienced by Rosaleen as the wolf inspires fear and attraction in equal measure. Although the structure is on the loose side, it's never less than visually arresting and features some down right disturbing transformation sequences.
WolfCop, Microsoft, Amazon and other platforms
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| Wolfcop |
Jennie Kermode writes: A little indie comedy which went from winning an award at the Banff Film Festival to acquiring worldwide cult status amongst horror fans, this is the story of Lou (Leo Fafard), an ordinary small town alcoholic police officer who stumbles into a Satanic ritual and acquires hair-raising powers as a result. Aided by long-suffering colleague Tina (an excellent Amy Matysio) and cabin-dwelling conspiracy theorist pal Willie (Jonathan Cherry), he tries to unravel the mystery behind the cult and the killings so that the town can enjoy its annual Drink n' Shoot festival with minimal disruption and he can continue to hold down his job with minimal effort. Lowbrow humour and a surfeit of puns are balanced by immaculate timing, a deep understanding of the material and a lot of heart. It has fun with genre clichés - there's even a sequence in which our heroes modify the van - yet it stands on its own merits, with cracking dialogue and well defined characters. Sensitive viewers should be aware that there's quite a bit of gore and that there's a sex scene which may make you want to hide behind the sofa, if you can stop laughing for long enough to crawl there.
Wolfwalkers, Apple TV
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| Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) and Mebh Óg Mactíre (voiced by Eva Whittaker) in wolf form. Photo: Apple TV+ |
The wolves in this beautifully detailed animation from Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, like their previous work, including
Song Of The Sea, reflect both myths and history, inviting children to take a walk on the wild side that offers just the right amount of scares. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) has arrived in Ireland with her dad, who is tasked with exterminating wolves in the forest near the town where they live. The youngster's life becomes filled with adventure after a chance encounter in the forest, as she discovers the shapeshifters who can take on both human and wolf form, including feisty Mebh (Eva Whittaker). Appropriately for a film that majors in trees, the inspiration for the look of the film came from 17th century woodcuts - but while this is no doubt aesthetically pleasing for the adults in the audience it's the tale of friendship and bravery in adversity that will hold children in its grip.
The Wolf Man, Chili, Apple TV
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| The Wolf Man |
There have been many portentous women in film history, but one of my personal favourites crops up in this Universal horror classic when she tells Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr): "The way you walk is thorny, through no fault of your own". Talbot was, of course, not the first film character to be transformed, via a bite, into a werewolf, but he became the touchstone for the lore of the genre for many who would follow. As you might expect from a film from 1941, this film is built on atmosphere rather than gore and Chaney proves surprisingly sympathetic for a "villain" as he is wracked with guilt after the attacks. Curt Siodmak takes an intelligent approach all round to the scripting and if the Wolf Man isn't particularly scary these days, he still offers an impressive example of make-up craft from Jack Pierce.
Wolf Children, Funimation
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| Wolf Children |
Jennie Kermode writes: Did your grandmother, like the one in The Company Of Wolves, ever tell you to steer clear of men whose eyebrows meet in the middle? Hana is a shy girl, and when she meets a handsome young werewolf at university, she's easily swept off her feet, but romance gives way to hardship when, in due course, she finds herself alone with two small werewolf children to raise. Although she quickly takes the practical step of getting out of the city, raising them on a small farm where their difference is less likely to be noticed, she still spends years terrified that they will carelessly reveal it, whilst working her fingers to the bone to grow food for them and trying to cope with all the usual small child mischief enhanced by the presence of sharp teeth and claws. Mamoru Hosoda's charming animé sets aside violence and gore to address issues around racism and anti-disability prejudice, as well as paying tribute to the dedication of single parents everywhere. There are lots of entertaining antics from the young werewolves, and as they grow up, their mother has to deal with tensions around the fact that they may not ultimately choose a life which centres on living as human.
100% Wolf, Apple TV
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| 100% Wolf |
The werewolves in this enjoyable animation are actually the good guys - heading out on rescue missions during their moonlight "warfing" rather than causing menace. But young Freddy is looking at a ton of problems, not least when his first "warfing" transforms not into the fine wolf of his dreams, but a poodle - a particular problem given that, in his world, werewolves have a natural animosity to dogs. There's a lot going on here, from a scheming uncle to an unhinged ice-cream man and an evil scientist, but it all hurtles along an enjoyable gallop and even if parents might find elements of the plot familiar - in particular the debt it owes to
Lady And The Tramp and
The Lion King - the characters are memorable, including street smart stray Batty, who tries to help Freddy thwart the bad guys.
The Grey, Amazon
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| The Grey |
Jennie Kermode writes: It's man versus wolf in the Boy's Own-style survival thriller, which opens with a brutal plane crash. The survivors soon realise that they cannot afford to risk staying at the crash site and will need to try and cross the snowy mountains surrounding them in order to reach civilisation, but once a pack of wolves catches their scent, they need to use all their resources to try and avoid getting picked off one by one. Quickly coming to the fore in the biped pack is Liam Neeson, as grizzled and laser-focused as his foes. It's a film whose macho posturing is far too heavily exaggerated to take seriously and is matched by egregiously sentimental flashback scenes, but when it comes to straight-out thrills, it really delivers. It's better informed about wolf behaviour than you might expect, reducing the need to suspend disbelief, and the scenes with the wolves are tightly framed to capitalise on their natural actions. As such, it very effectively captures the existential terror of realising that one is no longer in a world where being human affords any measure of security or control. Intelligence is as important here as simple toughness, but a lot still depends on luck, and it's the resultant sense of uncertainty that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
You'll have to pop over to Vimeo for our short this week, which is David Kaplan's risqué take on Little Red Riding Hood, starring a young Cristina Ricci.
