Monday, October 11, 2010

Music Monday: The Company of Wolves Soundtrack


Hello and good Music Monday to you!

Today we’ll be listening to the soundtrack for the 1984 horror fantasy film, The Company of Wolves.

For those not familiar with the movie, here’s the trailer below. I warn you though; there are a few nasty looking moments in the trailer.


The movie was based around three stories by Angela Carter which appear in her book The Bloody Chamber. The stories were “The Werewolf”, “Wolf Alice”, and “The Company of Wolves”. I highly recommend all three stories and The Bloody Chamber, if you are a fan of dark fairytales.

In the film appears the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” with many dark twists and turns. There is also the presence of werewolves, which do show up in some early versions of the Red Riding Hood story. The story is filled with symbolism which conveys the themes of loss of innocence, hitting puberty and awakening of sexuality. The look of the film has a haunting feeling about it, with gorgeous sets, simple cottages in a primeval forest. It’s just the way you imagine a fairytale to be.

In the film, a very young Sarah Patterson (she was only 12 when the movie was filmed!) plays the little red riding hood character, Rosaleen. Her grandmother is played by Angela Lansbury, who you may recall was the voice of Misses Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The very handsome huntsman is played by Micha Bergese.

The movie is my all time favourite werewolf movie, and I cannot say enough good about the film. Being filmed in the 80s, there’s no fancy CGI here but good old fashioned puppetry, used in the bloody werewolf transformations. Also in the film is an amazing soundtrack

There is a haunting violin theme that occurs through the film, you can listen below


I’ve tried to pick out some other favourites from the soundtrack, but I don’t think I want to flood this blog post with videos. I can however suggest you check out YouTuber Borgarborgen channel where the entire soundtrack has been uploaded.

My favourite quote from the movie is spoken by Rosaleen. In the soundtrack it appears on the first track, while in the movie it is spoken at the ending. It is the original moral of the story that appears in an early version of The Little Red Riding Hood tale.

Little girls, this seems to say, never stop upon the way.
Never trust a stranger friend; no-one knows where it may end.
As you're pretty, so be wise. Wolves may lurk in every guise.
Now as then, 'tis simple truth, sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth.





Stay Spooky,




Links

The Company of Wolves on IMDB
The Company of Wolves on Wikipedia
The Company of Wolves soundtrack on last.fm
If you fancy watching some (or all) of the film, it has been uploaded to YouTube by FlightxOfxFantasy

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