How is the company of wolves gothic literature?

There is a lot of death and decay in the story, which usually involves a werewolf decapitating a traveller as they are passing through the forest. "You are always in danger in the forest, where no people are." Death and Decay are some of the main features the story, Death is the werewolves victims and decay is the way a werewolf transforms back into a decaying body once it is dead. The supernatural in the story is the fact that the werewolves are there. Werewolves are supernatural creatures. There is also a lot of superstition in the story it's believed that witches have the power to turn men into wolves and people believe that there's an ointment given to you by the devil that can turn you into a wolf. Doubling also features in the story as man turning into wolf, an example of this is that the grandmother is a werewolf and she changes into the wolf to try and get the little girl. Religious imagery features in the story as well. There is an old man who lives up the mountain who sings to Jesus all day long, but he gets killed buy a wolf, this relates to good and evil that evil has power over good and not even Jesus can save you. The grandmother had a bible, which she read from each day and a wolf killed her "You can hurl you bible at him...but it won't do you any good." Sexual imagery is also featured in the story this is more unique in 20th century gothic stories compared with 19th century. In the story the only people who can outwit the werewolves are the pure virgins " Carnivore incarnate, only immaculate flesh will appease him."

These are all features that can be used to class a story as a piece of gothic literature, they all occur in the Company of Wolves, which therefore makes it a gothic story.