The Company of Wolves (1984)

My 5-star rating system has implicit gradations beyond whether I love a movie (5 stars), really like a movie (4 stars), like a movie (3 stars), do not like a movie (2 stars), or hate a movie (1 star). The standard movie that comes to mind for the midpoint of 3 stars is Melinda & Melinda: acceptable but no lasting impression, I am not sorry I saw it, but I have no reason to watch it again. For me, The Company of Wolves gets 2.5 stars: I do not regret seeing it, but if I had seen a trailer, I probably would have skipped the movie. Its description as a "lush and complicated mystery" about "the first stirrings of womanhood" -- Red Riding Hood for grownups -- did not quite pan out. The special effects -- good for 1984 -- are as garishly gory, but not quite as well done, as in An American Werewolf in London or in The Thing. The story meanders and is disjointed throughout, and does not get interesting unless Angela Lansbury as the Grandmother is in the scene. I would think Amanda Seyfried is much more watchable. By comparison, I give 5 stars to Pan's Labyrinth. If you are a completist for fairy tale treatments or young women in red, enjoy! 2.5 stars. (12-13-2016)