SYNOPSIS:
Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter
(Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie
and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that
prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering
the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life.
Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's
arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As
the death toll rises with each moon.
ANALYSIS:
RED RIDING HOOD is very stylized. Wonderful production and costume design at work in the film. The performances of the actors are stronger here than in TWILIGHT.
Sometimes the film did cause me to be a little sarcastic about it at times, but still I enjoyed RED RIDING HOOD. Gary Oldman hams it up as Father
Solomon like he belongs in a Hammer Horror film. Seyfriend and the two
actors give more life into their characters than that other love triangle in TWILIGHT.
The dream sequences are quite interesting in addition to the use of two rock and roll songs during the film and it's
credit's sequence. I prefer the ending of the Alternate Cut more than the
theatrical ending because it makes more sense. (synopsis written
by Warner Bros. Pictures)
RED RIDING HOOD starts as a doomed romance
film that turns into a horror film before becoming a whodunit as people begin to question who is the werewolf in the village. I think that mystery aspect is the least successful of the three even though it did
make me think one person was the werewolf before it was revealed it was someone else.
Don't get me started on the two leads being so clean cut for the 1300s- they don't look scruffy enough for the time. Even though I think TWILIGHT is a better film, I do think the production design
and direction is stronger here in RED RIDING HOOD. Kudos also go to the
interesting music score. I think Hardwicke would really get a really great
film if she had better scripts to work with (even though the casting choices keep getting better). I imagine RED RIDING HOOD would have probably featured Heath Ledger if it was created 10 years ago. Now I wonder what version of RED RIDING HOOD will be made into film next. We have to wait and see while I enjoy Hardwicke's version with all of it wonders and
flaws.
SPECIAL FETAURES:
Catherine Hardwicke, Amanda Seyfried, Gary
Oldman, Shiloh Fernandez, and Max Irons are on the Picture-Picture Commentary aka SECRETS BEHIND THE RED CLOAK.
The gag reel is amusing while the four
deleted scenes provide a little extra meat in the character development department.
I enjoyed the two music videos (THE WOLF by Fever Ray, A FRAGMENT OF YOU by Anthony Gonzalez and Brian Reitzell) on
the disc even though the first one is more for the song itslef.
BEHIND THE STORY- series of several making-of
featurettes:
REINVENTION OF RED RIDING HOOD is a promo
featurette where cast, crew, and a Red Riding Hood scholar talk about the latest reinvention of Red Riding hood in addition
to the various versions of the story itself over the centuries.
RED RIDING HOOD: RED'S MEN- the cast and director talk about the way too clean for 1300s male leads of the film.
RED RIDING HOOD: MAKING OF THE SCORE- The
film's two composers discuss with director Catherine Hardwicke how they created the score with demonstrations and behind-the-scenes
footage.
BEFORE THE FUR... THE MAKING OF THE CGI
WOLF- a 40 second look at how they filmed and created the CGI wolf with before
and after shots.
RED RIDING HOOD IN 73 SECONDS is a pointless
featurette where I think they can't sum the film up in that short of time with fast forwarding and quick snippets. However, the casting tapes are interesting to watch as I try to place the brunette actress
the male leads are screen testing against in a couple of the tests (you never
clearly see her face even though the voice sounds familiar). Also some
rehearsals of three sequences (The Dance, The Festival, The Wolf Attack) are on the disc in this section of the special features.
The digital copy of the film is included
on the DVD disc that is included in this copy pack. The DVD has none of the extra
that are on the Blu-ray disc.
FINAL ANALYSIS: RED RIDING HOOD has lots of style and production design going for it including an interesting
music score. Though the story could have been more cohesive. Plenty of great extras for the Blu-ray.
this review is (c)6-18-2011 David
Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
Red
Riding Hood nor the Big Bad Wolf were harmed during the making of this film.
