The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

To begin with I have not read the book, and I can understand frustration when films aren't faithful to books, I hate that too.

I first saw this film when I was a kid and was enthralled by the atmosphere, characters and story and the memory stayed with me. I have seen it twice since then as an adult, and still love it.

I do understand worrying that it will scare children (and I certainly wouldn't show it to a 5 year old, it's not meant for small children) but I think that lots of children would love this film and parents should base it on their own knowledge of their children, most parents know roughly what their own kids will love and what they will find scary.

I've been trying to find a DVD of this but there isn't one :(

I can remember watching this at least 25 years ago and just remembered the films name after racking my brains. I could only remember Stephanie Beacham in it. The snow scenes were superb real snow, wow, for a change. I thought the film was very good as a children's/family film. Would love to know where it was filmed. I watched it with my brother who was about 20 at the time and he also enjoyed it. The scenery locations were beautiful. The scenes that really sticks in my mind is the scene where Stephanie Beachan was riding through the snow on a large sleigh being pulled by a pack of black wolves. Wonder if you can still buy it, if someone could tell me.

I do confess I have not read the book, but whether a film is faithful to its source rarely ruins it for me. That said, while there are one or two somewhat tedious scenes along the way and I would have liked the film to have lasted longer, I liked this film. I liked The Wolves of Willoughby Chase especially for the stunning scenery, the cute wolves and the evil governess marvellously played by Stephanie Beacham. The music is good too, the script is above average, the story is at least interesting and the direction is competent at least. The performances of Emily Hudson and Aleks Darowska are appealing and Mel Smith, Geraldine James and Richard O' Brien(The Rocky Horror Picture Show) while over-the-top are fun. Overall, a good film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I remember being enthralled by both the book and this film when I was little. Stephanie Beacham performs brilliantly as the evil Miss Slighcarp. She is well supported by Mel Smith, Jane Horrocks and Richard O'Brien (really likable as James and totally unrecognisable here from his "Rocky Horror" persona). The plot moves quickly and despite not faithfully mirroring the story of Joan Aiken's novel manages to portray all the characters just as they were depicted in the text. I continue to enjoy watching this as an adult - some fans of the book may be unhappy with some of the added material but as a fan of Joan Aiken myself, I think this adaptation and the actors' performances do great justice to her writing.

Alright, we'll be honest - the film isn't perfect. BUT it does have more redeeming features than a lot of modern crap that's hyped and huge (naming no names Mission Impossible 2 and 3!). Amongst these redeeming features is the stunning scenery. The luscious snow that we know was created by good ol' mother nature and not CGI - *cough*LotR**cough*. The beautiful house in which the girls live give the film a definite sense of period realism and creates the claustrophobia that makes the film scarier. Then there's the quite frankly marvellous Stephanie Beaucham. Whether her character is gorgeous or grotesque Beaucham always manages to camp it up wonderfully and seems to be having a truly good time chewing up all of the scenery. Her subtle nuances and facial ticks create so much humour for an older audience and she has all of the best lines. We also need to bare in mind that this film was made some seventeen years ago, meaning that yes, it probably has dated a little, but that doesn't mean that it can't be entertainment along the lines of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' for a new generation. Deaths aside.