Adapted in 1984 from the Angela Carter short story (it's in her collection 'The Bloody Chamber', if you're interested) and with a screenplay written by Carter in collaboration with director Neil Jordan, 'The Company of Wolves' is a surreal fable constructed around the Snow White fairy tale. The film brings to the fore all the hidden meanings of the seemingly innocuous story: it's a riff on the themes of sexuality and danger, adolescent desire, and the deceptive nature of desire. As with most Carter heroines, 'The Company of Wolves'' Snow White, Roseen, is not the innocent heroine; she's more than capable of playing the wolves' dangerous game.

Roseen is played adeptly by Sarah Patterson, backed up by a waspish Angela Lansbury as the grandmother (again, not as saccharine in the film as the fairy tale would lead us to believe). Also featured is the wonderful David Warner (last seen as the Ape Chancellor in Burton's 'Planet Of The Apes') and New Romantic art-pop singer Danielle Dax in a cameo as a wolf girl. The film's structure - it plays like a collection of brilliant set-pieces tied together by a wandering story - would be too loose if not kept under Neil Jordan's tight directorial rein, and the result is an intelligent meditation tempered by driving narrative.

The special effects are still respectable, even after twenty years of scientific breakthroughs, and the metamorphosis scenes leave all other werewolf films cold; even the much-vaunted 'An American Werewolf In London' doesn't hold a candle to this. The film in general has stood up to the years; the stagy, surreal nature of the forest set lends it timelessness. The DVD release is welcome - after all, it's a film which merits critical attention and repeated viewing - but, again, the package is let down by the appallingly poor quality of the extra features. The by-now-standard features of scene selection and trailer are included, along with a “promotional video”, which is simply a longer version of the trailer and appears to have been edited by a monkey armed with a rusty butter knife. As the film is less than 20 years old and the cast and director are still with us (Angela Carter, sadly, has passed on), it surely would have been possible to solicit interviews and opinions; as it is, we're not even given filmographies. For those who see the film as more than reason enough to own the DVD, 'The Company Of Wolves' is recommended, but the DVD package is not enough to make the transfer from video worthwhile.

Lara Derham

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