Il Ritorno di Zanna Bianca (1974) * * ½

In the Northwest Territories of Canada in 1899, Mitsa (Missaele) the young boy from the first ZANNA BIANCA movie is working with his hybrid wolf and two fur traders. Beauty Smith (John Steiner) and two henchmen appear, raid the traders camp, shoot all of them, then escape in a canoe with all their equipment. Several hours later, the wolf-dog is found by John Tarwater (Harry Carey Jr.) a grizzled old trader who buries Mitsa, and takes the hybid wolf back to a nearby town which is his home. The wolf-dog befriends another young boy, John's orphaned 10 year-old grandson Bill Tarwater (Renato Cestiè). Bill names him White Fang because of its ivory-white teeth. At a local saloon, White Fang helps John Tarwater win some money at a card game from a crooked card-shark, and a hilarious fistfight breaks out between the swindler and his victims as John casually counts his money, while White Fang and Bill take cover behind the bar. John then embarks on one of his periodic expeditions to discover gold.

Meanwhile, Beauty Smith is again exploiting the people in the town where John and Bill live. Smith uses the alias Charles Forth, pretends to be a businessman, and fakes a crippling injury by confining himself to a wheelchair with his two henchman always at his side. Sister Evangelina (Virna Lisi) is running a new mission hut in the town to convert into a hospital, and decides to ask Mr. Forth for funding to operate the hospital, despite warnings that Mr. Forth won't give her any money unless she will repay the loan with interest within 60 days or less. Sister Evangelina goes to meet him, and instantly recognizes the villain. She contacts novelist Jason Scott (Franco Nero) who's on a book tour down south and he agrees to come to her assistance. Scott also contacts his old friend Kurt Jansen (Raimund Harmstorf), now working as a local mines inspector to help out. Together, the three of them take their accusations to the town's corrupt police chief, Inspector Lt. Charles Leclerq (Renato de Carmine), who is actually on the payroll of Beauty Smith and claims to have known Mr. Forth for six years. Leclerq's wife Jane (Hannelore Elsner) is pressuring her husband to accommodate Smith's nefarious plans in return for more bribe money in exchange for protection, since Smith is now a wanted fugitive.

Jason Scott attempts to expose the illegal complicity between Mr. Forth and the police chief with the help of a local worker named Liverpool (Donald O'Brien), who agrees to write a statement in exchange for money. But Liverpool goes back on his word to help Scott by skipping town with the money that was given to him. Shortly afterwards, Scott encounters Bill and John Tarwater when White Fang drags them back to town after their sled dogs had run away leaving them stranded on a snowy plain. The animal shows affection for both Bill and Scott, remembing Scott from their previous adventure in Dawson City. Elsewhere, Kurt meets Liverpool's younger and attractive sister (Yanti Somer) and a romantic attraction develops between both of them.

The following day Liverpool returns to the town with two men, one dead and the other suffering from frostbite. They were selling insufficient and overpriced supplies from Beauty Smith. The survivor, Carter (Rolf Hartmann), has gangrene in both legs and Scott has to help Sister Evangelina perform the amputation at the mission hut. When Beauty Smith and his two henchmen see and recognize White Fang, they frame the wolf-dog for savaging Liverpool to death. An enraged posse attempts to kill White Fang, forcing Bill to drive the hybrid wolf out of town. When Bill looks for White Fang later in the woods, he gets attacked by a vicious eagle, but White Fang jumps in and saves him by fighting off the bird. Bill smuggles White Fang back into town and to Sister Evangelina's mission where the hybrid wolf's injuries are tended to.

While visiting his grandson and White Fang at the mission, John learns from Carter about the location of a gold-stream in the mountains that he found. But Harvey (Werner Pochath), a mission employee and a secret associate of Beauty Smith, sees them discussing the location and reports it to his boss. Jane then fakes a sickness to lure Sister Evangelina away from the mission, leaving Carter alone in his sickbed. Beauty Smith visits and tortures Carter for the location of the gold stream, then kidnaps John Tarwater and has his two henchmen set fire to the mission hut. Carter is burned to death, while Bill, who walked in while Smith was torturing Carter, is trapped by the flames. When Sister Evangelina realizes that Jane is not sick, she races back to the burning mission and rushes in to save Bill, but she catches on fire and dies from the severity of her burns.

Hearing of her death, the townspeople start a riot after learning from Bill about the wanted Beauty Smith and of Inspector Leclerq's association with him. As the mob breaks through the Mounties into the police station, Leclerq shoots himself. Scott, Kurt, and Bill find Jane who tells them where Beauty Smith is heading. Scott and Kurt with White Fang organize a posse to give chase. Locating Smith and his henchmen, Scott leads the posse forward and a gun battle ensues. Smith manages to shoot a few posse members, but his two henchmen are killed. White Fang catches up to Smith and attacks him. Smith's gunshots miss the wolf-dog and instead triggers an avalanche. The villain finally dies, crushed to death under the falling snow and ice. Shortly afterwards, Scott, Kurt, and White Fang locate John Tarwater who was shot and left for dead. But before he dies, he asks Scott that his grandson be the beneficiary of the gold stream that he found right near him with Carter's advice. The two-faced Harvey suddenly shows his true colors and says that the owner will legally be the first one to register the claim in the town. He suggests a dog-sled race to settle the disputed claim.

In the climatic sled race, Harvey attempts dirty tricks to win the race, but the tables turn on him when he falls from his sled and dies when he gets accidentally run over by the sled-team headed by White Fang. Scott and White Fang arrive in the town first, and the writer enters Bill Tarwater's name in the ledger in place of his own.

In the final scene, Jason Scott says his goodbyes to Kurt who now has the job as the new police inspector, and he announces that he and Liverpool's sister will be getting married in the spring. Bill also stays to live with Kurt and his wife who have agreed to raise the boy and White Fang. Scott then returns to Vancouver with new stories to write, while White Fang is torn between running after him or staying with Bill. However, White Fang chooses to stay with his young master as he runs back to Bill and trots off with the boy.

IL RITORNO DI ZANNA BIANCA is the sequel to prolific director Lucio Fulci's ZANNA BIANCA (1973). The titles translate into English as "White Fang" and "The Return of White Fang" or "The Challenge of White Fang". The German title is "Die Teufelsschlucht der Wilden Wölfe" and the French titles are "Le Retour de Buck le Loup" and "Le Retour de Croc Blanc". This sequel is set a few years after ZANNA BIANCA, and White Fang once again faces the harsh reality of the increasingly cruel nature of men, but remains faithful to those who are kind. Horror film specialist Fulci does a fine job adapting a variation on Jack London's 1906 novel "White Fang" to the big screen

This light-hearted adventure is set in the harsh wilderness of northern Canada in 1899. It's a typical wintry adventure that should appeal to children, and adults might want to watch it for the cast and director. But if you have seen ZANNA BIANCA, this sequel will seem like more of the same to you, and ZANNA BIANCA isn't all that great a B movie. The sequel is somewhat sloppily written or translated, yet another story about a boy and his hybrid wolf, with some gold rush-Western elements thrown in. There are surprisingly few movies about wolves. Most are adaptations or variations on Jack London's 1903 book "Call of the wild" or its 1906 sequel "White Fang". A German Shepherd dog plays White Fang in ZANNA BIANCA.

Lucio Fulci's ZANNA BIANCA movies are among the strangest films ever made. He has cooked up a populist entertainment that's too violent for children and too cute for adults, except when people aren't being tortured and burned alive. While missing the nudity and sex of exploitation films, these are not really all-age adventures, at least in their unedited forms. You might think this would be fun for the whole family until the town drunk is beaten senseless, the hapless Indian family is murdered in cold blood, and the child terrorized by bad guys who get a kick out of torturing cripples. The bullets fly, the bodies pile up, and White Fang gets to do clever things like figure out that someone is cheating at poker.

Both of Fulci's ZANNA BIANCA films were part of a fad by Italian film producers trying to squeeze some life out of their spaghetti western industry. There were maybe a dozen of these things made between 1973 and 1977 or so--Alpine adventures set in the gold rush era Klondike with plucky kids and an intelligent, resourceful wolf-dog as the star of the film. They usually bring in an action hero and a bad guy and come up with all sorts of fascinating adventures for the hybrid wolf to have while the humans stand around cheering him on.

If there are any saving graces to this sequel it is that White Fang is not forced to fight any other animals for the benefit of the camera, though he does get chased around, kicked, beaten with axe handles and thrown out of burning buildings. He's also depicted as fighting off a golden eagle that attacks the young boy, leading to one of the most bizarre gore effects sequences ever staged where the canine performer is festooned with a truly twisted zombie makeup effect to have it appear as though the bird scratched his eyes out. Probably this was one of the scenes cut from prints exported to North America in the 1970s.

The film ends in a dog sled race finale that took a few cues from BEN HUR (1959), with the two sled riders battling it out as they hurtle across the wilderness. The credits include Canada as one of the filming locations, although IL RITORNO DI ZANNA BIANCA was filmed mostly in Austria. The whole thing is marvelously fake and tacky, which is half of the fun of this little sub-genre of spaghetti westerns. They are fascinating and this is probably one of the better examples with no apparent harm coming to the animal performers. But the people get battered around quite a bit. It looks like it was a tough, physical shoot under adverse conditions, and a minor miracle the film was even made at all.

The cast also includes: John Bartha (Mountie Sergeant), Paolo Magalotti (Smith's Henchman 1), Sergio Smacchi (Smith's Henchman 2), Ezio Marano (Gambler), Stanislaus Gunawan, Vittorio Fanfoni, Carla Mancini, Riccardo Petrazzi (Man in Saloon), Pietro Torrisi (Man in Saloon), and Goffredo Unger (Fighter in Saloon). Carlo Rustichelli composed the incidental music. Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, and Alberto Silvestri wrote the screenplay. Lucio Fulci directed.

Donald O'Brien who plays Liverpool said about John Steiner (Beauty Smith), "He was a good actor, but we didn't get along well. I am Irish, he is British, maybe that's why..." O'Brien said of Raimund Harmstorf who plays Kurt Jansen, "An incredibly good-looking guy. He used to be a Decathlon athlete, I think. These people have the best physiques because they have to do everything, run, jump, throw weights." When informed that director Lucio Fulci had died, O'Brien was shocked and said, "He was a great director. Many terrible things happened to him in his life. He was rather unlucky. I have always enjoyed working with him greatly, as he was a truly original human being with a great love for cinema."

Wolfen (1981) * * ¾

After attending the groundbreaking of a real estate development he's building in the impoverished South Bronx, wealthy industrialist Christopher Van Der Veer (Max M. Brown) stops off with his wife Pauline (Anne Marie Pohtamo) in Battery Park, where his ancestors built the first windmill in New York. Stalked by an unseen predator with four legs and highly acute senses, the couple are quickly attacked and killed. Their driver has his hand severed before he's able to shoot his gun.

Haggard NYPD Detective Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) returns from a self-imposed retirement and is assigned to solve the bizarre violent murders in which it appears the victims were killed by animals. He is a chunky loner who lives on Staten Island and always seems to have drunk too much the night before. Wilson receives a page from his commanding officer Warren (Dick O’Neill) and is dispatched to the crime scene: "It's very weird and it's very strange, just like you." Coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines) gives him the grisly facts, like how long a severed head can remain conscious, and he found no trace of metal on the victims' wounds. The security firm that was protecting Van Der Veer pairs Dewey with their own expert, psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora).

Warren: I'm going to team you up with Dewey Wilson on this Christopher Van Der Veer thing.
Rebecca Neff: I didn't know he was back. I thought he retired, disabled, mental...?
Warren: He had a lot of family problems, he started to drink a little too much, police work... piled up on him. He's a good man, you'll like him.
Rebecca Neff: Okay, fine.

Counter-terrorism tactics fail to net a suspect, but when the predator attacks a vagrant in the South Bronx, hairs found at both crime scenes indicate the killer is the same. Dewey and Rebecca visit a zoologist named Ferguson (Tom Noonan) who reveals the hairs belong to "canis lupis", a wolf. Dewey's suspicions lead him to Eddie Holt (Edward James Olmos), a former member of the Native American Movement. Holt spends his time on top of bridges and claims to be able to shape shift into different animals. He is a construction worker who loves hanging out on the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. In his investigation, Wilson learns of an Indian legend about wolf spirits, and that there may be predatory shapeshifters living in the vicinity.

(Holt and Wilson are up on the top of a bridge)
Eddie Holt: Shape shifting. We do it for kicks. Turn yourself into a different animal. One night a deer, next night a salmon...
Dewey Wilson: Or a wolf?
Eddie Holt: Sure. (Eddie unhooks Dewey's safety line) Or an eagle. (Dewey looks down) C'mon Dewey, just flap your arms and jump, its easy. It's all in the head.
Dewey Wilson: That would be murder. You wouldn't kill anyone else, would you?
Eddie Holt: That's what they pay you to find out...

Old Indian: (about the wolves) They're shiftless. They might be gods!
Edddie Holt: It's not wolves, it's Wolfen. For 20,000 years Wilson--ten times your f**king Christian era--the skins and wolves, the great hunting nations, lived together, nature in balance. Then the slaughter came.
Edddie Holt: The smartest ones, they went underground into a new wilderness, your cities. You have your technology but you lost. You lost your senses
Old Indian: In their world, there can be no lies, no crimes.
Edddie Holt: No need for detectives.
Old Indian: In their eyes, you are the savage.
Dewey Wilson: They kill to protect family?
Old Indian: In the end, it's all for the hunting ground.
Dewey Wilson: They kill...
Old Indian: The sick. The abandoned. Those who will not be missed.
Dewey Wilson: More than that.
Old Indian: They kill to survive. They kill to protect.
Dewey Wilson: Family?
Old Indian: Man kills for less. But in the end, it is all for the hunting ground.
Eddie Holt: You've seen them, haven't you? You don't have the eyes of the Hunter. You have the eyes of the dead.

Ferguson maintains that wolves were wiped out in the east a century ago, along with the buffalo and Indians: "Wolves and Indians evolved and were destroyed simultaneously. They're both tribal, they look out for their own, they don't overpopulate and they’re both superb hunters." It becomes obvious that something out there is preying on New Yorkers. Dewey and Whittington arm themselves with night vision and go hunting in the South Bronx, but discover they're up against a pack of intelligent and savage wolf-like creatures that are stalking the city, the Wolfen. The Wolfen are not werewolves, but a more advanced version of a wolf which is above man on the food chain. They are eating the local bum population, as they are diseased and weak. Unfortunately, the Police Commissioner may be willing to sweep the Wolfen problem under the rug to convict some terrorists of the same crimes. There are a succession of hallucinatory sequences through the film that continue right up to the somewhat anticlimactic climax.

Wilson and Rebecca take an elevator to the top of a building, and the wolves follow. Things are settled when Wilson smashes a model of the building that was going to be built in the wolves' stomping grounds in the Bronx. The wolves are satisfied and disappear. The movie's point is that the Wolfen are just protecting their territory and that its businessmen and developers who are the real enemy. It also seems the underlying theme is that the Indians and wolves were both kicked both out of their native land by the white man, and the Wolfen are the result. At the end of the movie we learn that the Wolfen are really supernatural beings, which makes us wonder why they hang out in a ghetto.

WOLFEN is a thriller that doesn't fit easily into a specific genre. It is primarily a horror movie, but as the mystery of what is behind the killings unravels, thriller and fantasy elements start to take over. The film is engrossing, frightening and intelligent, with sensational special effects. Director Michael Wadleigh uses these effects to great advantage, frequently showing the movements of the characters through the eyes of the Wolfen. The use of a polarization effect and a steadicam to represent the wolves' point of view is quite stunning and eerie. Produced in the 1980's, when the werewolf film was being redefined with THE HOWLING (1981) and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981), this film truly set itself apart as the oddest and most socially conscious. It asks the question of what really is the true horror, the monster or the man. It's not a film that permits clinical distance, but which strives to create a tumult of ideas that crystallize into a grand finale.

Although the goriness of the film isn't excessive, mostly generated by graphic descriptions of the events, this does have the effect of making the movie a little more unnerving. There are a few shots of dismembered bodies and the like, but the more these are shown, the less convincing they become. In fact, that can be said of the film as a whole, which retains more interest as a mystery than after all the cards are shown. By the time it all clicks together, enough thrills and chills have been had to make it a worthwhile viewing experience. It features good performances from its cast, some ghoulish autopsy scenes, a weird mystery and incredibly vivid atmosphere.

With strong performances all around and interesting point of view special effects shots, reminiscent of the ones used later in PREDATOR (1987), WOLFEN is a different sort of horror-thriller that will probably please viewers tired of derivative schlock shock. The movie hints at werewolves but doesn’t really follow through with it. It eventually combines some Native American ideas of shape shifters and the wolf spirit. The whole camera effect of the audience seeing through the wolves' eyes can be cute and amusing when used sparingly such as in PREDATOR, but it used so often here that it starts to be aggravating. In fact, it takes a full 90 minutes to finally figure out we are dealing with wolves and not werewolves, causing disappointment.

Watch this movie for the cast, not for the story. This film is basically CUJO (1983) with a better director. It would have rocked at ninety-minutes, but at nearly two hours, WOLFEN goes on for too long. The opening moves rapidly, and the ending delivers the right amount of apocalyptic violence you expect, but in the center the spaces between the wolf attacks start feeling longer and longer. WOLFEN appears to justify the early murders of a rich, multinational tycoon and his beautiful, cocaine-sniffing wife on the grounds that the victims are not good people, but it also accepts without comment the murders of a number of other people who haven't done the Wolfen any harm.

WOLFEN sets up its mysteries with an admirable tenacity, though the resolution we're ultimately offered is mostly forgettable. It infuses a healthy respect for nature into its "change your ways or else" narrative and the message is a good one. The problem with most supernatural thrillers is that sooner or later they have to explain their supernaturalism, and then they fall apart. WOLFEN almost avoids this problem by sliding discreetly into its supernatural world. It's a thinking man's supernatural monster movie of extraordinary stylishness in looks and sounds as well as performances.

The performers are all fine, but it's the film's otherworldly look and sound that give WOLFEN the frequently stunning effect it has. It is so good-looking that one tends to ignore the real inner vacuity. This film is the screen debut of Gregory Hines, too exaggerated in his semi-comic role. The wolves look like mean German shepherds or renegade police attack dogs. Wadleigh, who directed the music festival documentary WOODSTOCK (1970), makes an auspicious debut here as the director of a fiction film.

The cast also includes: Dehl Berti (Old Indian), Peter Michael Goetz (Ross), Sam Gray (Mayor), Ralph Bell (Commissioner), Sarah Felder (Cicely Rensselaer), Reginald Vel Johnson (Morgue Attendant), James Tolkan (Baldy), John McCurry (Sayad Alve), Chris Manor (Janitor), Donald Symington (Lawyer), Jeffery Ware (Interrogation Operator), E. Brian Dean (Fouchek), Jeffery V. Thompson (Harrison), Victor Arnold (Roundenbush), Frank Adonis (Scola), Richard Minchenberg (Policeman), Raymond Serra (Detective), Thomas Ryan (Detective), Tony Latham (Victim), David Connell (Victim), Jery Hewitt (Victim), Roy Brocksmith (Fat Jogger in Park), Michael Wadleigh (Terrorist Informer), and many others. James Horner composed the incidental music. David Eyre, Michael Wadleigh, and Eric Roth wrote the screenplay from Whitley Strieber's novel "The Wolfen". Michael Wadleigh directed.

WOLFEN is based on the 1978 debut novel by Whitley Strieber. The book opens with the violent deaths of two police officers in a junk yard and focuses on the efforts of cranky detective George Wilson and his young partner Becky Neff to track down the killers. They discover a savage pack of highly intelligent wolves preying on the castoffs of society. The wolves are stalking the city and willing to kill to keep their existence secret. Streiber’s agent showed her husband, producer Rupert Hitzig, an advance copy of the book, which Hitzig bid on and won the screen rights to.

Dr. Obrero at Digital Retribution wrote, "A beautifully lensed picture, Wolfen captures the look and feel of New York circa late 70’s/early '80's in a way few other films have ever managed, and the effective camera-trickery that gives us 'Wolfen-Vision' is almost dream-like and effective in sustaining the atmospherics of the attack sequences … Wolfen is an essential choice for those who enjoy intelligent thrillers as opposed to blood-splattering slice and dice and braindead horror films." Vince Leo wrote, "It's an uneven experience, but does have its rewards, and the quirky nature of it can probably be attributed to the previous directorial experience of counter-culture director Michael Wadley." And Bill Chambers at Film Freak Central wrote, "Wolfen goes through the paces of a typical detective thriller, but I'll bet you’ve never seen anything like it … My mother calls Wolfen 'a werewolf movie from the werewolf’s point of view,' and that's not a bad take on it, since the homicidal title creatures are in essence the good guys of the piece."

In the film, the setting for the transient home of the wolves was shot in the South Bronx, at the intersection of Louis Nine Blvd & Boston Road. In the opening panorama shot, the church seen was located at the intersection of E 172nd & Seabury Pl. The decrepit site of ruined buildings was no special effect. Urban decay in the Bronx in the early 1980s was so widespread that it was the ideal production setting. Today, this community contains mostly suburban-style privately owned houses.

Selected premiere engagements of WOLFEN were presented in Megasound, a high-impact surround sound system similar to Sensurround created by Warner Bros. in the early 1980s. Director Wadleigh was unsatisfied with the final cut of the movie, but so far no director's cut of the film is available. The DVD has an extremely good transfer, which is surprising considering the film's age. The print looks almost pristine and is gorgeously formatted in widescreen. Warner Bros. usually doesn't put this much effort into back catalog movies like this. The Dolby Surround Stereo is adequate and a bit low in volume. The extras are skimpy: the trailer, a page listing the cast and crew, and a few screens of text on the history of werewolf movies. An interview or two, or even a short on the filmmaking would have been nice, but none of that is provided.

Never Cry Wolf (1983) * * *

Tyler (Charles Martin Smith) is a young government biologist and survival expert assigned to travel to the isolated frozen wilds of the Yukon in northern Canada to study the area's savage population of wolves. His orders are to gather proof of the wolves' ongoing destruction of caribou herds. It's a strange job to volunteer for--agreeing to spend six months all alone in the extreme Arctic environment attempting to observe wolves, but that is what the bespectacled scientist does. In the first half of the film the vast Arctic landscape is explored. Then in the second half, the film weakens as it resorts to formulaic devices and plots its protagonist against the civilized world.

Basically a one-character film, it's largely a straightforward record of Tyler's daily observations of the ways of the wolf. The biologist is an appealingly eccentric man who, at the beginning, is made to seem unbelievably incompetent for the sake of both comedy and drama. Later the movie treats him and his adventures without condescension. He is dumped unprepared in a snowstorm in the wilderness by hard drinking bush pilot Rosie (Brian Dennehy), who attempts to cure boredom with mid-air oil changes. When his character resurfaces near the end of the film, he is excessively obnoxious.

Rosie: We're all of us prospectors up here, eh, Tyler? Scratchin' for that... that one crack in the ground. Never have to scratch again. I'll let you in on a little secret, Tyler: the gold's not in the ground. The gold's not anywhere up here. The real gold is south of 60--sittin' in livin' rooms, stuck facin' the boob tube, bored to death. Bored to death, Tyler. Take the stick... Aaaaaaah!
Tyler: What's wrong?
Rosie: Boredom, Tyler. Boredom--that's what's wrong. And how do you beat boredom, Tyler?... Adventure. Adventure, Tyler.
Tyler: Where are you going, Rosie? Rosie, what are you doing? I can't fly this thing! What do I do?

When he lands, Tyler promptly gets out his typewriter and attempts to type up his initial reactions. A little later he walks across a frozen lake and falls through the ice. Aged Inuit Ootek (Zachary Ittimangnaq) saves his life and teaches him survival skills. He soon learns the rules of coexistence from a neighboring wolf. Contact with wolves comes quickly, as he discovers not a den of marauding killers, but a courageous family of skillful providers and devoted protectors of their young. Tyler learns that wolves, though carnivorous, live mostly on a diet of mice, mate for life and are loving parents to their cubs. Oolek and his friend Mike (Samson Jorah) drop by to keep Tyler company for awhile, sharing their observations on nature and life in an easy-going way. Mike reveals that he kills wolves to support his family and send his children to school. As Tyler learns more and more about the wolf world, he comes to fear, along with them, the onslaught of hunters (Tom Dahlgren and Walker Stuart) out to kill the wolves for their pelts and exploit the wilderness. He must now make a choice--should he return to the life he once knew or should he take a stand--defending this breathtaking new world.

Mike: To me a wolf means money. It's a way of making a living. One wolf pelt is about $350 dollars. And I've got to feed my family, my children. Buy a snowmobile, food, rifle, bullets whatever.
Tyler: You wouldn't ah... you wouldn't kill these wolves?
Mike: These ones... no. No I don't think so. Besides you would get mad if I killed one of them... and your gun is bigger than mine.
Tyler: Yeah.
Mike: I'd like to though.

Although Tyler gives names like George, Angeline and Uncle Albert to the wolves he observes, and though he attributes human attitudes to them, the wolves themselves always remain at a distance, most of the time ignoring the presence of the biologist who is studying them. The humor is as wholesome as it is instructive. In one sequence, there is a pissing contest as Tyler sets out to mark his territory in the same way the wolves do, by urinating on bushes and rocks on the perimeter of his land. He is amused to realize that what has taken him a half a day, plus huge quantities of tea to do, the wolf accomplishes in less than an hour, without stopping to drink water or tea. George the wolf respects the territory Tyler has marked.

Much fun is also made of Tyler's successful attempt to live on mice, in this way to prove that an animal as large as a wolf can subsist on small rodents, if enough of them are consumed. Tyler eats mice in soup, in stew and even en brochette, usually leaving the tail as the last thing to disappear down his throat. In what is perhaps an homage to earlier Walt Disney movies in which animals act like people, there is a scene in which mice are shown watching Tyler as he eats an all-mouse meal, and the living mice squeal in horror. These gross-out scenes are countered with the second half of the film, which has more nudity than it should.

Drunk: (warning Tyler about wolves) They'll come after you, son. Just for the ugly fun of tearing you apart.

When it appears that a group of angry hunters are going to ruthlessly murder any wolf that they see, he is forced to take a stance once and for all, endangering his own life in the process. Tyler's journey culminates in a majestic run with the wolf pack, an exhilarating sequence where for an instant he becomes one with the natural environment in the wilderness.

The last shot is an ad lib between Tyler and Oolek that is endearingly sweet, without being sappy. This is a film with sentiment, but it is not sentimental.

Tyler: In the end there were no simple answers. No heroes or villains. Only silence.
(last lines)
Tyler: I believe the wolves went off to a wild and distant place somewhere, although I don't really know... because I turned away, and didn't watch them go.

NEVER CRY WOLF is a screen adaptation of Farley Mowat's 1963 best-selling autobiographical book about his life among Arctic Wolves. This film dramatizes the true story of Farley Mowat, when he was sent to the Canadian tundra area to collect evidence of the serious harm the wolf population was allegedly doing to the caribou herds. In his struggle to survive in that difficult environment he studies the wolves, and realizes that the old beliefs about wolves and their supposed threat are almost totally false. Furthermore, he learns that humans represent a far greater threat to the land, and also to the wolves, a species which plays an important role in the ecosystem of the north. One of the book's more controversial points is that wolves and caribou exist in a symbiotic relationship. Wolves, according to Mr. Mowat, attack only weak and sick caribou, in this way helping to ensure that only the fittest caribou are around to re-create the species. In their turn, the caribou provide wolves with a certain number of tasty feasts. It is Mr. Mowat's conviction that hunters, not wolves, have been responsible for the drastic reduction in caribou herds in recent years. Unfortunately, the filmmakers are too faithful to the heavily jocular tone of Mr. Mowat's book, but they do avoid melodrama.

There is too much nudity for a Disney movie, and the ending is very sad.  It's only a movie and the Disney filmmakers were not obligated to have a sad ending.  Otherwise it is quite enjoyable to watch.  Some of the "information" in the movie is incorrect.  For example, Tyler talking to himself says that the Arctic wolf (Canis Lupis Arctos) is the largest of the wolf species.  No.  Arctic wolves have the shortest legs of all wolves and are definitely not the largest.

Director Carroll Ballard’s visual epic, gorgeously photographed by Hiro Narita, proves his great skill as a director. This is a follow up to Ballard's THE BLACK STALLION (1979). Once again, he chooses to rely on imagery to tell his story, rather than drowning out the visuals with unnecessary dialogue. Smith’s inspired performance allows the audience to slip inside his mind, resulting in a deeply personal viewing experience, and he does an excellent job at carrying a compelling story mostly by himself. It sounds romantic, but Ballard never sidesteps the ugliness of nature or the discomfort of loneliness. The result is a quirky, deceptively simple meditation on life. Shot on location in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, the astounding visual treatment captures the awesome natural magnificence of the Canadian wilderness with power and poignancy, revealing a world of hypnotic beauty with breathtaking cinematic imagery. NEVER CRY WOLF has been rated PG for some scenes near the end when wolves are shown attacking a caribou, but the carnage is discreet. The picture is also noteworthy for being the first Walt Disney film to show naked adult buttocks, those of actor Charles Martin Smith.

The film's fundamental premise is that life in the Arctic seems to be about dying: not only are the caribou and the wolves dying, but the indigenous Inuit people as well. The animals are losing their habitat and the Inuit are losing their land and their resources while their youth are being seduced by modernity. They are trading what is real, true, and their time-honored traditions for the perceived comforts of the modern world. NEVER CRY WOLF blends the documentary film style with the narrative elements of drama, resulting in a type of docudrama. It was originally written for the screen by Sam Hamm but the screenplay was altered over time and Hamm ended up sharing credit with Curtis Hanson and Richard Kletter.

The cast also includes: Hugh Webster (Drunk), and Martha Ittimangnaq (Woman). Charles Martin Smith, Eugene Corr, and Christina Luescher provide the narration--some of which was written by Ralph Furmaniak. Mark Isham composed the incidental music. Curtis Hanson, Sam Hamm, and Richard Kletter wrote the screenplay from Farley Mowat's book of the same title. Mark Isham directed.

Filming locations included Nome, Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and British Columbia, Canada. This drama was made during the 1980s when Walt Disney Productions, under the guidance of Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron W. Miller, was experimenting with more mature plot material in its films. The following year Miller would start the Touchstone Pictures label. Perhaps that's the reason Disney treats this film shabbily. It was made the year before Michael Eisner took over the studio. Eisner likes Big Event films. NEVER CRY WOLF is a small film. Eisner likes fantasy. It is based on a true story. Eisner likes stars. It has none. Studio chiefs rarely tout the work of their predecessors--if anything, they have an investment in making such work look as poor as possible.

The scenery is often spectacularly beautiful. Charles Smith is at his best when he is playing Tyler straight, without the comic exaggerations that suggest a small child showing off in front of adults. Perhaps the best thing about the film is that the wolves are never made to seem like strange but cuddly dogs. They look like wolves, not especially threatening but still remote and complete unto themselves. The wolves are well-trained performers.

Charles Martin Smith devoted almost three years to NEVER CRY WOLF. He wrote, "I was much more closely involved in that picture than I had been in any other film. Not only acting, but writing and the whole creative process." He also found the process difficult. "During much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, I was the only actor present. It was the loneliest film I've ever worked on," Smith said.

A review in the Los Angeles Times called the film, "...subtle, complex and hypnotic...triumphant filmmaking!" Film critic Gene Siskel felt the film was "absolutely terrific" and Roger Ebert said "this is one of the best films I've ever seen about Man's relationship with the other animals on this planet". Both gave the film "Thumbs Up". Brendon Hanley of Allmovie also liked the film, especially Smith's performance, and wrote, "Wolf's protagonist is wonderfully played by the reliable character actor Charles Martin Smith." Ronald Holloway of Variety gave the film a mostly positive review, and wrote "For the masses out there who love nature films, and even those who don't, Carroll Ballard's more than fits the commercial bill and should score well too with critical suds on several counts."

Some critics found the premise of the film a bit hard to believe. Vincent Canby, film critic for The New York Times, wrote, "I find it difficult to accept the fact that the biologist, just after an airplane has left him in the middle of an icy wilderness, in a snowstorm, would promptly get out his typewriter and, wearing woolen gloves, attempt to type up his initial reactions. Canby added, the film was "a perfectly decent if unexceptional screen adaptation of Farley Mowat's best-selling book about the author's life among Arctic wolves."

The film opened in limited release October 7, 1983 and went into wide circulation January 20, 1984. It was in theaters for 27 weeks and the total US gross sales were $27,668,764. In its widest release the film appeared in 540 theaters.

There are several differences in the film compared to Mowat's book. In the book, Ootek and Mike's roles are reversed, Mike is actually Ootek's older brother (Ootek is a teenager) and Ootek speaks fluent English and communicates openly with Mowat while Mike is more reserved. The film adds a more spiritual element to the story while the book was a straight-forward story. In the film the characters are isolated, while in the book Mowat meets several people from different areas of the Arctic. Also in the book, the wolves are not killed and the bush pilot does not bring in investors to build a resort.

Dr. L. David Mech, an internationally recognized wildlife biologist who has researched wolves since 1958 in places such as Minnesota, Canada, Italy, Alaska, Yellowstone National Park, and on Isle Royale, criticized the work. He stated that Mowat is no scientist and that in all his studies, he had never encountered a wolf pack which regularly subsisted on small prey as shown in Mowat's book or the film adaptation.

On one DVD release, except for a small legal notice on the disc itself, you'd be hard-pressed to find proof this is Disney's product at all. The transfer to DVD was farmed out. Even the Disney studio logo at the film's start has been completely lobbed off and the logo of the company that transferred it to DVD replaces it. It's clear Disney wants nothing to do with this film today. Nothing in any of the studio's theme parks, collections of literature, or merchandizing even acknowledge its existence. The DVD has no extras--not even a theatrical trailer. The Internet Movie Database lists a TV documentary, "The Making of Never Cry Wolf," that surely could have been included. Most upsetting of all, the DVD is not enhanced or anamorphic. Comparing it to an old VHS copy, it appears the DVD was take from the same print of the film, meaning they may have just dubbed the VHS version to DVD.

NEVER CRY WOLF is now available in a number of different DVD releases. At least one is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. Although Disney finally released this in the enhanced picture format with better resolution, and although they now actually put their name on the front of both the box and the film, they still used the same crappy print, which looks like a run-of-the-mill theater print with many nicks and scratches, and which was used all the way back for the original VHS release in the 1980s. No extras, not even a trailer. There is a fullscreen DVD from Anchor Bay, re-released in two separate volumes. The film doesn't use audio much, since much of the film is about quiet solitude and isolation in nature, though the nature is under-represented aurally. The 2.0 soundtrack isn't too hot--the two native characters are often tough to understand, and a number of other characters are as well. Audio just hasn't been mixed very well, and though it probably wasn't the most high-tech audio track to begin with, it should sound better than this.

Since this movie appeared over twenty years ago, the public image of the wolf has greatly improved and wolves have been reintroduced to Yellowstone Park. Everybody in this fine production can take some credit for that. However, we must also keep in mind that this movie is about wolves in Canada, with the largest population of wolves in the world by far. Wolves have no protection whatsoever in Canada, and the country exports most of the world's wolf pelts. Only the American state of Alaska is as anti-wolf as Canada. Although Farley Mowat is Canadian and "Never Cry Wolf" is credited with shifting the mythology and fear of wolves, he has had zero impact on public opinion or government policies regarding wolves in Canada.

Teen Wolf (1985) * * ¾

High school student Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) is 17 years old, sick of being an average small-town studious nerd, and wishes to be special. His father runs a local hardware store. Scott is a basketball player on a losing team, and the girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), is dating Mick McAllister (Mark Arnold), a jerk from an opposing team. After another of the team's losses, Scott begins to notice strange changes to his body. While at a party, Scott keeps undergoing changes and eventually he returns home and undergoes a complete change and turns into a wolf, while his father demands that he open the door. He tries to refuse, only to finally give in and obey, to find his father has also transformed into a werewolf.

Harold: (upon seeing each other as werewolves) An explanation is probably long overdue.
Scott: An explanation? Jesus Christ, dad! An explanation? Look at me! Look at you.
Harold: It's not as bad as it looks.
Scott: Wait a minute, wait a minute, dad. You mean you knew about this? You knew about this and you didn't tell me?
Harold: I was hoping I wouldn't have to. Sometimes it skips a generation. I was hoping it would pass you by.
Scott: Well, Dad it didn't pass me by. It landed on my face. What the hell am I gonna do?
Harold: (Scott slams his bedroom door behind him) Scott, we really need to talk about this.
Scott: Forget it, dad. I don't want to talk. Go away.

Harold Howard (James Hampton) never told his son about the hereditary condition because "sometimes it skips a generation" and he was hoping it wouldn't happen to Scott. The condition involves only excessive body hair and strength. Scott first reveals his transformation to the public at one of his basketball games, after getting pinned in a pile-up. After momentarily stunning the crowd with The Wolf, Scott goes on to wow them with his basketball skills and he finishes the game with a quadruple double. He realizes that his full-moon transformation bring him girls, glory and a conflict of values. Turning into a werewolf is an asset in his popularity at school. It seems very obvious that the hairy change in teenage Scott is a metaphor for puberty.

Scott: Hi. I'd like a keg of beer please?
Old man clerk: You don't say.
Scott: Yeah. How much is that?
Old man clerk: You little bastards just don't give up, do you? Listen, no I.D. no goddamn beer. Can't you get that through your thick skull?
Scott: (his eyes turn red and his voice changes) Give me, a keg, of beer. (the clerk steps back in fear and gets a keg, then Scott turns back to normal holding some licorice) And these.

Scott subsequently learns to use his family "curse" to gain popularity at school, becoming the team's star basketball player, and learns to transform at will between his normal self and The Wolf. His basketball team goes from last to first, and Scott begins spending most of his school time as The Wolf. He also wins the heart of Pamela while ignoring the affections of his best friend, Lisa "Boof" Marconi (Susan Ursitti), who has loved him since childhood.

Meanwhile, Scott's other best friend Rupert "Stiles" Stilinski (Jerry Levine), a party animal with an entrepreneurial streak, quickly cashes in on Scott's new-found popularity, selling Teen Wolf T-shirts and other merchandise. Stiles' "wolfmania" reaches such extremes that he trades in his own vehicle for a van he names the "Wolfmobile".

Scott: Listen, Stiles. Do you know anything about a rash that's going around?
Stiles: Why, you looking to catch something?
Scott: No, I'm serious.
Stiles: No... but I heard Mr. Murphy, you know, the shop teacher?
Scott: Yeah?
Stiles: Got his dick caught in a vacuum cleaner.
Scott: Styles, I got something to tell you. It's kind of hard, but...
Stiles: Look, are you gonna tell me you're a fag because if you're gonna tell me you're a fag, I don't think I can handle it.
Scott: I'm not a fag. I'm... a werewolf.

Coach Finstock: Look Scotty, I know what you're going through. Couple years back, a kid came to me much the same way you're coming to me now, saying the same thing that you're saying. He wanted to drop off the team. His mother was a widow, all crippled up. She was scrubbing floors. She had this pin in her hip. So he wanted to drop basketball and get a job. Now these were poor people, these were hungry people with real problems. Understand what I'm saying?
Scott: What happened to the kid?
Coach Finstock: I don't know. He quit. He was a third stringer, I didn't need him.

After a freak encounter with Mick at the Spring Dance that almost turns violent, Scott wishes to be himself. During the final basketball game, Scott refuses to "wolf out" and insists on winning the game on his own. Coach Bobby Finstock (Jay Tarses) tells Scott that the team is doomed to fail without The Wolf, but Scott is able to prove him wrong. In a dramatic ending, Scott is able to rally the team back to within a point as time is expiring. Scott is fouled by Mick on the final play and given two shots. In a clear violation of the rules, Mick is able to stand underneath the basket as Scott attempts his foul shots. Despite having to jump to complete the free throws, Scott makes them both and the Beavers win the game.

Stiles: Boof, how the hell are you?
Scott: Say no.
Boof: No!
Stiles: Great talking to you.

Pamela attempts to get Scott's attention after the game is over, but he passes her by to lift Boof in his arms, kissing her passionately.

TEEN WOLF is a campy variation of the horrific I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957), the Michael Landon classic. This version is given a 1980's spin with more emphasis on comedy and romance rather than horror. Lycanthropy makes Scott a big man on campus, more popular with his high school peers when he is a hairy athletic wolf. Although his werewolf makeup makes him look more like Bigfoot than Lon Chaney, Jr., Fox manages to convey his peppy personality even under all the hair. An otherwise routine teen comedy, this one works because of Michael J. Fox in one of his first leading roles. It was shot before BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985), sat on the shelf for some time, then given a major release on August 23, 1985 by by Atlantic Releasing Corporation. TEEN WOLF was a box-office success. With BACK TO THE FUTURE at number 1 and TEEN WOLF at number 2, a new teen star had been born.

The cast also includes: Matt Adler (Lewis), Jim McKrell (Vice Principal Rusty Thorne), Mark Holton (Chubby), Scott Paulin (Kirk Lolley), Elizabeth Gorcey (Tina), Melanie Manos (Dina), Doug Savant (Brad), Charles Zucker (Malcolm), Harvey Vernon (Old man clerk), Clare Peck (Miss Mott), Gregory Itzin (English teacher), Doris Hess (Science teacher), Troy Evans (Dragon basketball coach), Lynda Wiesmeier (Rhonda), Rodney Kageyama (Janitor), Carl Steven (Whistle boy), Richard Brooks (Lemonade), Richard Domeier (Linebacker), Brian Sheehan (Cadet 5), Jay Footlik (Student 1), Richard Baker (Referee), Fred Nelson (Meechum basketball coach), Tanna Herr (The Beaver), Kris Hagerty (Fan 2), Mark L. Flowers (Dragon bowler), Larry B. Daugherty (Basketball player), Tamara Carrera (Student), and Cort McCown (Teammate). Miles Goodman composed the incidental music. Matthew Weisman and Jeph Loeb wrote the screenplay. Rod Daniel directed.

The soundtrack has some memorable 1980's movie tunes, such as "Win In the End," "Shooting For the Moon", and "Way To Go". The humor and themes are still relevant today too. Be sure to check out a classic film flub during the end credits: an extra wearing a red sweater is seen walking down the grandstands after the big basketball game with his schlong exposed. He quickly zips up before the crew could catch on. It's an unintentional gag in this howlingly funny comedy.

The basic premise for TEEN WOLF comes from I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF with Michael Landon playing Tony Rivers, a teenager with an uncontrollable temper that leads him into the hands of devious Dr. Alfred Brandon (Whit Bissell) out to make a name for himself. The doctor uses Tony for an experiment, giving him an injection that regresses him so far back in time that he turns into a werewolf. An adult human turning into a beast was nothing new in movies, but in 1957 the idea of a teenager doing it was considered fresh. The film was a huge hit for American International Pictures, and immediately became a classic of pop culture history. Today, the film is regarded by most critics as a cult classic and a source of camp humor. An unsuccessful comedy on the teenage werewolf theme came out several years earlier with FULL MOON HIGH (1981). The trend continued in the sitcom BIG WOLF ON CAMPUS (1999), which was more inspired by the TEEN WOLF cartoon spin-off than by the live action film.

For its Italian release, Fox's character name was changed from Scott to Marty in order to capitalize on the success of the Universal film. In Brazil, the film was released with the title O GAROTO DO FUTURO, which roughly translates as "The Boy from the Future", in another move to associate the film with the success of BACK TO THE FUTURE.

The movie was followed by a cartoon spin-off in 1986, and a sequel in 1987 titled TEEN WOLF TOO, with Jason Bateman starring as Todd Howard, Scott's cousin. On August 27, 2002 both TEEN WOLF films were released on a single-disc DVD by MGM Home Entertainment, the current rights holders of the films. In June, 2009, MTV announced that they would be adapting TEEN WOLF into a television series "with a greater emphasis on romance, horror and werewolf mythology".

TEEN WOLF TOO (1987)

Todd Howard (Jason Bateman), the cousin of Scott Howard has recently been accepted into Hamilton University on a full athletic scholarship--a boxing scholarship, although he has never boxed before. It seems the coach knows the family secret, and before long Todd is turning into a wolf just the way his cousin did, with very few special effects. Todd's eyes turn red, his forehead bulges and suddenly there's a shot of some horrified onlooker. Cut back to Todd, now in full werewolf makeup. Having never been good at sports he soon realizes that he is there for one reason--because werewolves run in the family. In this outing, basketball is replaced by boxing and high school girls are replaced by sorority co-eds. At first Todd is certain that Coach Finstock (Paul Sand) has got the wrong guy, but at the first boxing match of the year the wolf in him emerges. His friend Stiles is played by Stuart Fratkin in this sequel.

Stiles: (after Todds first transformation into the Wolf) You seem a little upset...
Todd: Upset? Me Stiles? Upset? (Stiles nods) I just had a beard over every inch of my body... fingernails the size of french fries... teeth from here to Texas... and she called me a dog... A dog...
Stiles: So...?

With his new found fame comes girls, top grades and even the Dean's car. But as the year goes on, Todd realizes that he is losing his friends and self respect. His jilted girlfriend confronts him in biology class and says, ''They don't like you, only the wolf." The boxing scenes are so awful they make ROCKY V (1990) look like Oscar material. It also has one of the worst depictions of college life on film, and there is nothing realistic about any of it. The women are portrayed as ditzy and the guys are just as incompetent. No college in the world would let Todd on its boxing team, wolf or not. In fact, there are even high school-like hijinks taking place in college classrooms. Witness the frog dissection scene and you'll understand. The wolf-like tendencies start to take hold after Todd dances with a blonde girl. All of a sudden, he has amazing strength and the hairier he gets the better his boxing becomes. He is now big man on campus but he starts to annoy people and everybody begins to dislike him except for understanding Professor Tanya Brooks (Kim Darby) and over-achieving student Nicki (Estee Chandler).

In both the TEEN WOLF movies, Fox and Bateman do not look like werewolves but like PLANET OF THE APES (1968) rejects. One improvement over the original is that Bateman’s acting actually improves with the amount of fur covering him, whereas Michael J. Fox was much better without the makeup gimmickry. Todd is much more jaded than Scott. The sole bright spot is veteran actor Paul Sand as the boxing coach. Critics almost universally panned the film. Siskel and Ebert gave it two enthusiastic thumbs down, with Roger Ebert complaining that they had picked, along with DATE WITH AN ANGEL (1987), the two worst movies possible. Nevertheless, TEEN WOLF TOO was a success at the box office.

White Wolves (1993 - 2000) * * ¾

The three WHITE WOLVES movies are sequels to A CRY IN THE WILD, a 1990 film based on the 1987 book "Hatchet", written by Gary Paulsen. It features a bear and other animals, whereas wolves dominate the three sequels: WHITE WOLVES: A CRY IN THE WILD II, WHITE WOLVES II : LEGEND OF THE WILD, and WHITE WOLVES III: CRY OF THE WHITE WOLF.

In A CRY IN THE WILD, 13 year old Brian Robeson (Jared Rushton) is the sole survivor after a plane crashes in the woods of the Yukon, and with hatchet in hand, he must find his way out. He eventually finds some company in a pair of orphaned grizzly bear cubs. The obstacles that Brian faces are demonstrated in a realistic fashion and keep the viewer wondering what is going to happen next.

Brian Robeson: (sings to himself) Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I'm gonna eat some worms.

The movie follows closely the plot of Gary Paulsen's book "Hatchet." It's quite realistic with the main characer Brian involved in a life and death struggle to survive in the wilds of Canada. The way Brian finds the will, creativity, and courage to stay the course keeps you glued to your seat. All the natural beauty of the forest is revealed in its glory and unforeseen danger. If you enjoy realistic, survival-type films, then definitely see this one. It's first-rate.

The cast also includes: Ned Beatty (Pilot Jake Holcomb), Pamela Sue Martin (June Robeson), Stephen Meadows (Brad Robeson), Terence H. Winkless (Boyfriend Steve), Louise Baker (Woman at Picnic), Deke Anderson (Store Clerk), John Jakes (Rescue Plane Pilot), Lois Mallory (Grandma), and Ollie Mann (Grandpa). Arthur Kempel composed the original music. Catherine Cyran and Gary Paulsen wrote the screenplay from Paulsen's novel. Mark Griffiths directed.

WHITE WOLVES: A CRY IN THE WILD II (1993)

The movie is set in the wilderness areas of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. As the film opens we see a school bus driving to the base camp and inside are two groups of teenagers and two teachers about to embark on a two week trek vacation. The teens have attitude problems and are assigned to stay at a camp that is trying to increase the wolf population. Cara (Amy Dolenz) is a campus queen who has a somewhat condescending attitude about the others. Adam (David Moscow) has a little bit of the class clown in him, but is also lacking in self-confidence. Pandra (Amy O'Neill) is Cara's naive younger sister, who was a last minute substitution on the trip, made to go by her parents so she could spend some "quality time" with Cara. Benny (Marc Riffon) is a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks, but asked to go on the trip by Jake (Matt McCoy), who has been mentoring him as his Big Brother. Naturally, poor Benny isn't treated well by the rest of the teens, and he has an attitude problem to boot.


Both groups split up when they reach base camp, with the idea that they will meet again in several days. One group is called The White Wolves, and their trip involves rafting down a mountain river, and then climbing up a very steep peak where there is an incredible view of the entire region. Their teacher Jake or Mr. B takes his group of five teenagers into the wilderness. WHITE WOLVES starts innocently enough, with a crew of rowdy teens embarking on a camping trip with woodsman and role model Mr. B as their guide. But after some mountaintop horseplay goes awry, Mr. B falls approximately twenty thousand feet to the ground below, and somehow survives.

The teens have to rescue Mr. B, and each has his or her own style, which leads to frequent clashes. When the teenagers find the teacher the next day, they have to put aside their differences and work together to save the life of their dying teacher. And the teenager who decides to go and fetch help is Benny. Scott (Zach Morris) is an authoritarian thug who almost murders Adam in a rage. Cara is distraught when Mr. B's accident seriously cuts into her flirting schedule. Benny is a malcontent delinquent who can hardly function without his father figure. And Pandra is the weirdest one of all, as demonstrated by a romantic scene in which she and Adam confess their attraction to each other. It's one of the strangest moments of teen love ever captured on film.

Just when you think this movie can't get any more weirdly, bizarrely entertaining, with ghostly white wolves appearing and disappearing, the kids get attacked by a bear. You should watch this scene in slow motion to see its fakeness and sheer absurdity. However, when a wolf they found recently is killed by a bear, the group must protect its pups. The film focuses on the group, The White Wolves, led by their enthusiastic teacher. Years before Mr. B was once lost in the wilderness, and tells a story about how he was assisted and saved by a white wolf.

Acting from the amateur cast ranges from good to mediocre throughout--sometimes in the same scene. We are treated to some nice scenery, with a white wolf and a savage bear. Curiously, you never see any of the characters in any of these animal shots, so it's probably recycled footage from the first film.

It's a formula movie produced by Julie Corman, Roger Corman's wife, and overall seems to be generic. While there are a lot of holes in the story, it has a 1980's feel with the clothing, hair styles and some lame special effects. It does have some wonderful scenery, good storyline and a strong message about taking on responsibility and challenges. There is a brief reference to a plane crash that leads one to believe this is a sequel to A CRY IN THE WILD. WHITE WOLVES certainly isn't the worst movie following this formula. But you've seen it before. It's so bad it's good.

WHITE WOLVES II: LEGEND OF THE WILD (1995)

As a plea-bargain to clear their school records, a group of misfit teens go into the majestic but unforgiving wilderness to help young wolf researcher Ben Harris (Corin Nemec) save the vanishing wolves. At the beginning of the film several teenagers are forced together through the Lupine Foundation which sends them out into the wilderness for a nature hike. They were all assigned to the Lupine Foundation in lieu of juvenile hall where they all would have been for various petty crimes. Beri Jones (Ele Keats) is the only one who won't confess her crime. Crystal Myers (Elizabeth Berkley) was arrested for petty theft and "Miami" Steve was arrested for tagging. Steve (Ernie Reyes Jr) has a difficult time in the woods because he still has the desire to tag. Ben Harris, who has had a lot of experience in the wilderness, is their leader and also involved in the Foundation's funding to save the wolves. He claims that sometime in the past, when he was out in the wilderness alone, a white wolf actually led him to safety, and saved his life.

After taking canoes across a lake, the foursome exit and start their hike up into the forest. Shortly after their trek begins, they see a mother wolf and her two baby cubs. The adorable cubs romp and wrestle in a meadow while the mother wolf looks on. The next day, our group meet Mason (Jeremy London) and Jeff (Justin Whalin), brothers who are up there parasailing. As the winds have changed, Mason and Jeff join the group on their hike.

Along the way, our group of now six, come across the mother wolf who has been killed by a mountain lion. It now becomes a quest to locate the baby cubs and make sure they are taken care of until another wolf family can take them. Miami Steve eventually finds the cubs and the group takes turns caring for them. They name the cubs Burt and Ernie. It is Crystal and Beri's turn to watch Burt and Ernie, who are now on leashes tied to a tree. As the cubs play, Mason and Jeff invite the girls to watch Mason parasail. Knowing the cubs should be okay for awhile, they agree to go. In the meantime, Burt and Ernie have exhausted themselves playing so fall asleep. When they awaken and are alone, they start whining as they try to pull on the leashes to escape. They eventually chew the leashes off and run off into the woods. Later, when Ben and Steve return, they find that Burt and Ernie are missing and realize that Crystal and Beri have left them alone. After lashing out at the girls for leaving the cubs alone, Steve takes off looking for them. He finds them nearby eating out of a ditch. As Steve calls them, they come bouncing over to him.

Throughout their trip, Ben has emphasized the necessity of burying food scraps at least 100 yards from the campsite. Miami Steve, annoyed about something that was said around the campfire, buries the scraps approximately 20 yards away. As a result, a bear, smelling the food, roars and comes charging into the campsite. The cubs are scooped up by one of the group and run into the tent. The bear, looking for food, tears the stuffing out of the sleeping bags. Steve, Jeff, Crystal and Beri grab Burt and Ernie, put them in an ice chest for protection, and run down to the river to the canoes. Our group jumps into the canoes and take off, leaving the bear roaring at them back on the river bank.

In the meantime, Ben and Mason, both injured, are further down the river, unconscious. Once again, the same white wolf saves Ben and Mason's life by dragging them from the river. In their search for Ben and Mason, Jeff and Beri see the white wolf on the riverbank. Remembering Ben's story about the white wolf saving his life, Jeff and Beri follow the wolf. When they get to a cave, they find a family of white mice huddled together. Meanwhile, back at the new campsite, Crystal supervises Ben and Ernie playing on the riverbank with a fish in one of their mouths. After Ben and Mason have been rescued, the white wolf stands majestically nearby. After seeing that, Steve releases Burt and Ernie who run to the white wolf, whom it seems will become the cubs' new guardian. The intent of this film is to display the resourcefulness of young people when confronted with life threatening situations, as well as the true good nature of wolves.

WHITE WOLVES III: CRY OF THE WHITE WOLF (2000)

In this outdoor adventure, three young people find themselves fighting for survival in a frozen wilderness. They are put to the test when the plane taking them to a wilderness boot camp for juvenile offenders crashes. Their Indian pilot, Quentin (Rodney A Grant), injured and ununable to make the dangerous journey, teaches them the ways of his ancient people and to have faith in the spirit of the white wolf as well as themselves. Pamela (Mercedes McNab) and Jack (Mick Cain) must call upon an ancient Native American spirit of a legendary white wolf to help them survive. This movie shows how different characters have to work together, trust each other and the white wolf to lead them to safety. They only have to walk 200 miles to find the tiny ranger station in the middle of nowhere. Forced to rely on their wits and their limited knowledge of fending for themselves in the arctic, they receive life-saving assistance from an unlikely source--a white wolf which seems to understand their predicament as he helps them find food and shelter and guides them back to civilization.

Jack's mom: (Watching Pamela and her family coming) You're daughter better watch out, my son's a real ladies man.
Jack: Yeah. Haven't you heard I'm a "real ladies man"?

Pamela: (trying to start a fire with two sticks) This is impossible!
Quentin: Keep going. It's how man first made fire.
Pamela: Well that just shows you how great men are. If a woman had created this, it would be a lot easier!

Silver Wolf (1999) * * ½

The movie opens by introducing us to 16 year old Jesse McLean (Shane Meier), his father, and uncle Roy McLean (Michael Biehn). Roy is a Park Ranger and helicopter pilot who drops the father and son off at the top of a beautiful mountain for snow boarding when a sudden storm hits. After some impressive skiing and snowboarding footage, a tragedy occurs when Dad tries to rescue Jesse in the wilderness, but plummets down the mountain to his death. Jesse finds a seriously wounded young gray wolf he names Silver. However, when Jesse is rescued, Silver disappears and Jesse is desperate to find him.

Since Jesse and his Mom don't get along very well, Uncle Roy invites him to stay with him in his Park Ranger log cabin up in the mountains of Washington. Almost immediately upon his arrival, Jesse clashes with the local bullies and meets a cute young girl named Lucinda "Lucy" Rockwell (Kimberley Warnat). His new peer group sees him as an urban wonder. Jesse soon finds Silver, which he promptly decides to adopt and nurse back to health. After some hair raising experiences, with Silver almost biting off a couple of Jesse's fingers, the wolf bonds with Jesse and becomes like a domesticated dog and best friend. Unfortunately, Lucy's father John Rockwell (Roy Scheider), is a wolf-hater who often takes to the woods with his son Clay (Jade Pawluk) to shoot wolves. It was Rockwell who shot Silver. Rockwell wears a baseball cap instead of a Stetson and worries about his two children. He also cooks dinner for them, but that is the extent of the film's biographical details.

Jesse is trying to put his life back together after the death of his father, and bonds with Silver. Uncle Roy understands the dangers of trying to tend to a wild animal, but he allows Jesse to keep him. He is in charge of the wildlife in cattle country and helps his nephew to understand wolves. Roy suggests that donating the wolf to a zoo might be a better idea, realizing that the enraged Rockwell will kill it. However, Jesse, who is fond of snowboarding, teaches Silver to be his partner in skijoring, a sport in which a dog is used to haul a man on skis. There are some great shots of snowboarding and the use of dog pulling on skis, and also a big dog skijoaring competition.

The cattlemen's association is definitely against wolves running wild in their territory. John Rockwell is president of the association, and the owner of a nearby ranch with plans for Jesse's wolf. He angrily sees it as a threat to his stock and is determined that the wolf be destroyed. Rockwell is shocked and in despair when Lucy becomes very friendly and accepted by Silver.

Silver is allowed to enter the annual cross-country skijoaring contest with Jesse. They win despite Clay tormenting the wolf by sticking a wooden whip in it's face, causing Silver to attack. The movie concludes with the race in which Jesse uses a snowboard instead of skis, and a wild wolf instead of the family pet dog. Then it is time for Silver to go home to his wolf family. It is sad to watch him leave, but to see a wild animal that was captive become free makes the movie better. One early morning Jesse and Lucy take Silver in Uncle Roy's van into the deep woods around the majestic Cypress Mountain. They let Silver loose to reunite with the wolf pack that he was separated from when Rockwell shot him at the beginning of the movie.

Much of the film deals with the burgeoning friendship between Jesse and the recuperating wolf. There are several opportunities for Jesse to run afoul of the anti-wolf bullies and prove his worth by staying loyal to Silver, while always finding time to do a little snowboarding and woo the lovely Lucy. It's a good coming of age story tied nicely together with outstanding snowboarding and skijoaring footage.

More or less an updated variation on Jack London's classic "White Fang", SILVER WOLF is an old fashioned boy and his wolf melodrama that manages to hit all the right buttons without being too manipulative. Roy Scheider's menacing wealthy rancher John Rockwell is so much a caricature of a small town villain he should be twirling a long mustache, and the identity of the father of young Jesse McLean's love interest Lucy is howlingly obvious. The outcome of the big dog sled race is never in doubt, although there's a twist. But there's an innocent charm in SILVER WOLF that overcomes the genre's inherent obstacles. With many ideas appropriated from other family movies, SILVER WOLF will never win any awards for originality. Although it doesn't offer much that's new, the film as a whole is worth a look for those who love animals in general and wolves specifically.

Performances are a mixed bag with Michael Biehn as Uncle Roy and Kimberley Warnat as Lucy faring the best. Kim Warnat shows a lot of charm and screen presence as Lucy--apparently the filmmakers felt the same way and dress the pretty 17 year old in costumes that show a lot of cleavage. As Jesse, Shane Meier shows some fairly strong chops in a blandly written lead role. Meier does a fine a job interacting with canines as well as with humans. For sheer camp value, Roy Scheider is worth the price of admission. In his few scenes, he chews the scenery recklessly and seems to truly enjoy playing this one-dimensional authority figure with holy fury. He's a real hoot here. Veteran character actor Biehn offers a solid, if unspectacular, performance. He's effective, if a little remote, as the cheerful back-country lawman. It's not the usual action type film that Biehn is known for. In fact he's quite subdued here, yet gives a good performance helping his nephew come to grips with his father's death and saving a young wolf in the process. The wolf actor playing Silver gives a dignified and believable performance. This is a good family movie about a troubled teen who just lost his father, and is exposed to the great outdoors and given a new outlook on life.

The cast also includes: Lynda Boyd (Anna McLean), Don MacKay (Sonny LaFrambois), Trevor Roberts (Buddy), Ron Sauvé (Sheriff), T.J. Shanks (Clay's Friend), Reg Tupper (Funeral guest), A. J. Bond (Chaz), Samaya Jarley (Mary Clifton), Shaun Johnson, Reg Tupper (Investor), Christine Willes (Mrs. Gaten), and John Hawkes (David). Robert Carli composed the original music. Michael Amo wrote the screenplay. Peter Svatek directed.

One third OLD YELLER (1957), one third ROCKY (1976) and one third stunning snowboarding footage, SILVER WOLF suffers in large part from a simple lack of originality. Yet there are enough strong components to watch it if you like wolf movies. It's a simple little film that probably won't challenge adult movie fans, but with its positive messages and somewhat trite presentation, SILVER WOLF is at the very least a film you won't mind your kids watching. Unfortunately, this movie is difficult to find on DVD or VHS, a tragedy because it is a good film with a lot of emotion.

SILVER WOLF premiered as a made-for-TV Fox Family Channel original on January 10, 1999. A review compared the film to the "made for TV wildlife stories that were the weekly mainstay of "the Wonderful World of Disney" in the 1970s", but the reviewer acknowledged there are "certain story and visual elements that give the boy-and-wolf yarn a 90s spin. Silver Wolf is a pretty straight-forward film, relatively free of sentiment." Vancouver Today wrote: "The chief villain is Rancher John (Roy Scheider). Family films usually make their villains simple and Scheider's character is all gruffness and macho posturing. Silver Wolf won't be collecting any best-picture Oscars, but as family films go, you could do a lot worse."

The movie has some strikingly magnificent cinematography and its choreographed snowboarding scenes are breathtaking and quick paced. This film has great intentions and is entertaining for kids and adult animal lovers. The relationship between Meier and the young wolf is endearing as they develop an honest friendship. SILVER WOLF was shot on location in the Vancouver area, and one noteworthy component is the outdoor photography. The Canadian Rockies, with the scenic mountains at Whistler and Blackcomb, British Columbia are displayed in gorgeous fashion.

The Company of Wolves (1984) * * *

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES is a Freudian film version of Charles Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood" set in modern times. It takes place in the frightening dreams of pubescent girl Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson). She dreams that she lives in a fairytale forest with her parents (Tusse Silberg and David Warner) and sister Alice (Georgia Slowe), but one day her sister is killed by wolves. While her parents are mourning, Rosaleen goes to live with her grandmother (Angela Lansbury), who knits a bright red shawl for her to wear. Granny warns her to never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle and to be wary, not of the wolves that haunt the forest, but of the men who are hairy on the inside.

Granny: Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle. Oh, they're nice as pie until they've had their way with you. But once the bloom is gone... oh, the beast comes out. Your only sister, all alone in the woods, and nobody there to save her. Poor little lamb.
Rosaleen: Why couldn't she save herself?

Mother: You pay too much attention to your granny. She knows a lot but she doesn't know everything. And if there's a beast in men, it meets its match in women, too.

Rosaleen returns to the village where her parents live, but finds that she must deal with the advances of an amorous boy (Shane Johnstone). Rosaleen and the boy take a walk through the forest, but the boy discovers that the village's cattle have come under attack from a wolf. The villagers set out to hunt the wolf, but once caught and killed, the wolf's corpse transforms into that of a human being.

Later Rosaleen takes a basket of goods through the woods to her grandmother's cottage, but on her way she encounters an attractive huntsman (Micha Bergese) whose eyebrows meet in the middle. He challenges her, saying that he can find his way to her grandmother's house before she can, and the pair set off. The hunter arrives at Rosaleen's grandmother's house first, where he reveals his bestial nature and eats her. Rosaleen arrives later and discovers the carnage, but her need to avenge her grandmother is complicated by her desire for the hunter. Ultimately the villagers arrive at the house, looking for a werewolf within, only to discover a transformed Rosaleen.

Granny: Get ye back to Hell from whence ye came!
Huntsman: I don't come from Hell, I come from the forest.
Granny: What have you done with my Grand-daughter?
Huntsman: Nothing she didn't want!

Rosaleen: (a lock of hair singes in the fireplace) Is that all you left of her? Your kind can't stomach hair, can you? Even if the worst wolves are hairy on the inside.
Huntsman: Are you very much afraid?
Rosaleen: It wouldn't do me much good to be afraid, would it? What big eyes you have.
Huntsman: All the better to see you with.
Rosaleen: They say seeing is believing, but I'd never swear to it. They say the Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. And as it turns out, they're right. A fine gentleman. Poor creatures. It's freezing cold out there. No wonder they howl so. I'm sorry. I never knew a wolf could cry.

Back in the present day, Rosaleen wakes with a scream. Countless wolves descend on her home, but most are actually large dogs--they don't have manes. The film ends in slow motion with a wolf smashing through Rosaleen's bedroom window: a very obvious phallic symbol. This wolf doesn't only smash the window, it also shatters the toys that are in its way.

Charles Perrault's moral from "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge" (1697) is then read over the beginning of the credits. The moral warns girls to beware of charming strangers.

Throughout the course of this gothic fantasy-horror film, a number of stories are interspersed into the main narrative as tales are told by several of the characters. Granny tells Rosaleen about a young groom (Stephen Rea) who is about to bed his new bride (Kathryn Pogson) when a call of nature summons him outside. He completely disappears and his bride is terrified to see wolves howling. A search the following day yields only a wolf paw print. Years later, she remarries and has children, only to have her original husband finally return. Angered at her having had children with a new husband, the groom transforms into werewolf form, but is slain when the new husband (Jim Carter) returns. Granny's second tale to Rosaleen is about a young man walking through the enchanted forest when he encounters the Devil (Terence Stamp), arriving in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce, who offers the boy a transformation potion, which ultimately monstrously transforms him against his will.

Rosaleen tells her mother about a woman (Dawn Archibald) who was "done a terrible wrong" by a rich young nobleman (Richard Morant) who turns up at his wedding party. She magically transforms the groom, the bride and the guests into wolves. They escape into the forest, but the sorceress commands the wolves to serenade her and her child each night. Rosaleen also tells the huntsman/wolf about a she-wolf who arrives at a village. Despite meaning no harm, she is shot by a villager. She reveals herself in her human form (Danielle Dax) to an old priest (Graham Crowden), who bandages her wound. Ultimately she returns to hell through the village well.

Old Priest: (to wolf-girl) Are you God's work, or the Devil's? Oh, what do I care whose work you are? You poor, silent creature. (he binds her wound) It will heal. In time.

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES takes you into the disturbing world of a young girl's imagination where wolves run wild and witches cast spells. The ethereal setting develops into a Freudian nightmare, explaining adolescence through a twisted reenactment of "Little Red Riding Hood." Definitely one of the strangest movies made--a strangeness that alienates itself from high ratings but guarantees it a top place as a cult classic. It successfully combines the complexity of written literature with the visual symbolism of film. But the depth of abstract ideas it delivers come at the cost of fluent comprehension. Many of the ideas in the film require the complete understanding of the smallest detail. This movie requires viewers to actively connect ideas from each scene and is not suitable for those only prepared to watch a superficial horror flick.

Essentially a coming-of-age story, the movie came from a compilation of several short stories from Angela Carter, a short story writer who writes about women and adulthood. Carter is known for her attempts to deconstruct fairy tales in terms of adult meaning and to bring out an underlying Freudian subtext. Neil Jordan, the director of the movie, is a less known writer of horror novels, but a very well known director. Both took an active part in the adapting and expanding the story for the movie. The film is mostly based on Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves" and "Wolf-Alice" from her book "The Bloody Chamber".

There is no linear story, rather the film is a series of vignettes and dreams within dreams, all of which point to old wives tales and folk superstitions. The film is a dark retelling of the classic fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood", making explicit its sexual and Freudian subtext. Perrault's original morality fable warns children not to trust strangers or stray from the path. However, Rosaleen doesn't simply fear being devoured by a wolf: she fears being sexually devoured. It is this fear and fascination with sexuality that is the heart of the film, a theme emphasized by the recurrent apple and the snake in Eden motif symbolizing sexual temptation, seduction, and loss of innocence. Despite her blossoming sexual awareness, Rosaleen fears marriage and adult responsibilities. Granny's warnings do nothing to dispel these fears, and she kisses a handsome man-wolf, choosing to become a wolf rather than his victim. She escapes the dreary conventional life that would have faced her, and instead finds personal and sexual freedom. The film uses the changing body of the werewolf as a metaphor for the horrors of puberty, menstruation, and sexual maturity. It's symbolism suggests that while adulthood and sexuality can be threatening, it can also be a desirable and necessary transition.

The cast also includes: Brian Glover (Amorous Boy's father), Susan Porrett (Amorous Boy's mother), Dawn Archibald (Witch Woman), Vincent McClaren (Devil Boy), Ruby Buchanan (Dowager), Jimmy Gardner (Ancient), Roy Evans (Eyepatch), Edward Marsen (Lame Fiddler), Jim Brown (Blind Fiddler), and Jim Carter (Second Husband). George Fenton composed the original music. Neil Jordan wrote the screenplay from Angela Carter's story. Neil Jordan directed.

The choice of music and sound becomes part of what the movie conveys. Classical and Irish music goes well with THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, creating the eerie ethereal atmosphere for the movie. In the wedding scene there is a good mix of classical and carnival music, re-enforcing the paradox amid the chaos of the ensuing horror brewing in the pack of wolves.

Music Track listing

1. "The Message And Main Theme"
2. "Rosaleen's First Dream"
3. "The Story Of The Bride And Groom: The Village Wedding/The Return Of The Groom"
4. "The Forest And The Huntsman's Theme"
5. "The Wedding Party"
6. "The Boy And The Devil"
7. "One Sunday Afternoon"
8. "All The Better To Eat You With: Arriving At Granny's Cottage/The Promise And Transformation"
9. "The Wolfgirl"
10. "Liberation"

Good acting in the movie definitely adds to the power of the story. Sarah Patterson and Angela Lansbury do an excellent job. The entire cast is impressive, even the priest in the trees. Special effects used in the movie are a little outdated by today's digital-age standards. However, the incredible setting, scenery shots, and props successfully maintain the enchanting atmosphere required by the story. Almost everything in the movie is deliberate. Grandma's head is supposed to shatter, because it was intended to be symbolic.

It's difficult to make sense of THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, but it is frequently quite funny, and often meant to be. The special-effects people come up with a couple of comparatively conventional, horror-film decapitations and several unconventional ways in which men can turn into wolves on camera. This Red Riding Hood, sharing a single-room cabin with her mother and father, witnesses what in analysis is usually called ''the primal scene.'' The next morning she asks her mother if her father had hurt her. Mother answers, ''If there's a beast in men, it meets its match in women, too.''

The wolves are also a key to understanding this superficially puzzling film. It is very important that not all of the wolves in the film are male. The beast in women that Rosaleen's mother assures her daughter of is a feminist rebuke of the young woman as hapless victim--as sexual prey for a predatory male. These assurances also become fantastical reality later in the film. After Rosaleen's huntsman is reduced to a rather tame and whimpering wolf, she pets him and tells him the tale of a she-wolf before becoming one herself. Rosaleen's transformation seems both voluntary and freeing. It offers us a definitive reversal of the victim role in which Red Riding Hood and those interchangeable female horror film characters are typically cast. Although it is a lurid horror film, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES does not simply play on or reinforce the sexual anxieties of its audience. Instead, it presents both sides of sexuality, both threatening and desirable, as well as a level playing field for both genders.

Filming took place at Shepperton studios in England, with a cast primarily made up of British actors. THE COMPANY OF WOLVES found an appreciative audience among audiences and critics in the UK, but its US release was a disaster. Cannon bought the distribition rights and tried to market it as a gory horror film. There are some gruesome moments, but this movie would never satisfy an audience looking for cheap thrills. Financially, the film only broke even on its opening weekend in the U.S., having been made for approximately $2 million and taking $2,234,776 in 995 theaters. However, in total, the film took over $4 million in the U.S.

Critics generally responded positively to the film's aesthetics. Feminist critic Maggie Anwell decried the film for its over-emphasis on bloody werewolf special effects, but Charlotte Crofts argued that the film is a sensitive adaptation of Carter's reworking of Charles Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood" fairytale. The film won one award for best film and best special effects and was nominated for four BAFTAs for costume design, make up, production design/art direction and special visual effects.

In the DVD commentary, Neil Jordan notes the difficulty of having to create the look of the film on a limited budget, having to create a fairytale forest out of "twelve trees." He nevertheless succeeded in creating a sunless, mystical, wondrous and claustrophobic setting saturated with fantastic elements and symbols. The script required a great number of wolves to appear. However, due to budgetary constraints and other factors such as cast safety, most of the "wolves" shown in the film are Belgian Shepherd Dogs, mainly Terveurens and Groenendals, whose fur was specially dyed. In the DVD commentary for the film, Jordan notes the bravery of young star Sarah Patterson when acting among the genuine wolves. Using particular light angles, the eyes of both real and "shepherd" wolves are made to glow dramatically in the film.