This contemporary take is inspired by the famous fairytale involving a
young girl fixated with red, her ailing grandmother and a big bad wolf.
This story is clearly a huge take-off from the original almost
bloodless (in comparison) fairy tale. At the helm is Catherine
Hardwicke who opened with ‘Twilight’ - the vampire-werewolf hokus-pokus
that scored a massive hit with the teens The re-imagined script
by David Leslie Johnson gives her ample scope for flamboyance on her
pet theme- super-natural triangular love story with murder and
mayhem
as it’s backdrop. The film is fashioned as a thriller whodunit
with small-town superstition and religious paranoia providing the basis
for the conflict.
The film plays out
very much like the familiar ‘Twilight’ series.
In the isolated hamlet of Daggerhorn, the residents are in a tizzy. On
the red “Blood Moon day’ which arrives once in a blue moon, the wolf
which they had kept at bay by providing regular livestock sacrifices
decides to break the covenant by claiming the life of a young maiden.
Her parents (Virginia Madsen, Billy Burke) are devastated and her
crimson cloaked sister Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is flabbergasted that
she can communicate with the monster. Lymaybe she canthropy expert
Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) warns the villagers that the werewolf
dwells among them. Valerie also believes that she may know the evil
soul personally. So her long time sweetheart Peter (Shiloh
Fernandez), her unloved fiancé Henry(Max Irons) and even her
good old grandmother (Julie Christie) who alternates between sweet and
sinister, come under suspicion.
The body count escalates but the blood and gore are kept to the bare
minimum. The film reeks of feminist clichés as well as
werewolf/vampire ones. When Valerie runs off with Peter into the forest
, they snare a rabbit. It’s Valerie who ends up putting the knife
through the bunny because Peter refuses. She could be
predator too-not necessarily helpless. She is also the one who
eventually vanquishes the evil wolf. So it’s feminine power at the
forefront here.
The camera soars accross landscapes covered with snow where a
woman in a red cloak appears to be the only bright colour in an
otherwise unrelieved whitenesss. It’s stunning alright but what’s the
purpose? The modern twists don’t really come together with finesse.
Hardwicke fails to thread together a convincing narrative. The drama
never reaches fever pitch, there is very little tension and the
production values appear inconsistent. I was curious before I saw this
re-envisioned fairy tale , now I am just sad!
Red
Riding
Hood
is out on Blu-ray ™ Triple Play, DVD and digital download
on 22 August 2011. The Red Riding Hood Blu-ray Triple Play features an
alternate ending and a digital copy of the film.
EXTRA CONTENT
Red Riding Hood Blu-ray Trip Play contains the following special
features:
-
Alternate
Cut featuring an all-new ending not seen in theaters
- “Secrets Behind
the Red Cloak” picture in picture commentary
with Catherine Hardwicke, Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez and Max
Irons
- Reinvention of
Red Riding Hood
- Red Riding
Hood’s Men
- Making of the
Score
- Before the
Fur…Making of the CG Wolf
- Casting Tapes –
Casting Shiloh Fernandez
- Casting Tapes –
Casting Max Irons
- Casting Tapes –
Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons
- Rehearsals –
The Dance
- Rehearsals –
The Festival
- Rehearsals –
The Wolf Attack
- The Wolf –
Music Video by Fever Ray
- Just a Fragment
of You – Music Video by Anthony Gonzalez of M8
- Red Riding Hood
in 73 seconds
- Gag Reel
- Deleted Scenes
- Easter Egg –
The Wolf Goes to a Hamlet Audition