Neil Jordan co-wrote and directed this mishmash of a story within a story within a dream within... herein lies one of the major concerns. What exactly are we watching? Beginning with a young girl's nightmare we journey through various tenuously connected - if at all - stories, flashbacks and sub-plots. we enter a nightmare world which is seemingly unbound by anything as urbane as geographical or historical context; realism being usurped by surrealism.
Apropos of the general confusion Angela Lansbury's lilting accent seems to defy any attempt to pin it down to even a country let alone a particular district. Added to this is her propensity to chew the scenery in an attempt to play the doting grandma doling out words of wisdom to the strangely unlikeable heroine Rosaleen played by Sarah Patterson.
There seems to be little in the way of a structured plot although the general ideas seem to involve the killing of werewolves and a rather strange updating of Little Red Riding Hood. The confusion continues scenically, chronically and symbolically.Giant mushrooms, haunted forests, a Rolls Royce, eggs hatching to reveal...? Settings, along with special effects are at times almost comical, at others rather unsettling. With little in the way of light-heartedness (oh how I prayed for Brian Glover to wrestle a werewolf!) and underlying - although frequently surfacing - sexual references the whole becomes a dark dingy effort which, even at 95 minutes seems overlong.
As with other efforts by Mr Jordan I feel as though I have been invited to a private party where everybody else knows the in-jokes...
Apropos of the general confusion Angela Lansbury's lilting accent seems to defy any attempt to pin it down to even a country let alone a particular district. Added to this is her propensity to chew the scenery in an attempt to play the doting grandma doling out words of wisdom to the strangely unlikeable heroine Rosaleen played by Sarah Patterson.
There seems to be little in the way of a structured plot although the general ideas seem to involve the killing of werewolves and a rather strange updating of Little Red Riding Hood. The confusion continues scenically, chronically and symbolically.Giant mushrooms, haunted forests, a Rolls Royce, eggs hatching to reveal...? Settings, along with special effects are at times almost comical, at others rather unsettling. With little in the way of light-heartedness (oh how I prayed for Brian Glover to wrestle a werewolf!) and underlying - although frequently surfacing - sexual references the whole becomes a dark dingy effort which, even at 95 minutes seems overlong.
As with other efforts by Mr Jordan I feel as though I have been invited to a private party where everybody else knows the in-jokes...