We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the tale of a girl in a red cloak who was to take a basket to her grandmother, but ended up being a nice snack for a hungry wolf. This year, a new and slightly twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood came out in theatres.
The movie, Red Riding Hood, is about a village that is on the hunt to kill a wolf that terrorizes and prowls about their homes. Every full moon, the villagers put an animal out to sacrifice when the wolf comes along, but after the wolf kills a human, the villagers finally decide to take action by killing the beast once and for all.
Although this movie wasn’t meant to be a comedy, I found it a bit amusing.
The main character, Valerie, is torn between two men; the brave Peter, who has been her love interest since they were young, and the wealthy blacksmith, Henry, who her parents arranged for her to marry.
Valerie and Peter plan to run away together until the wolf kills Valerie’s sister, petrifying the villagers. Normally, sacrificing food satisfies the wolf, but this time, putting out a pig wasn’t enough and the wolf turned to killing humans.
When the villagers are not successful at hunting down the wolf, they call the priest, Father Solomon, for help. Father Solomon tells the people that the wolf becomes human by day, and warns that one of the villagers is the wolf; it could be your husband, your mother, your sister – the person you least expect it to be.
Valerie begins to suspect that the wolf is one of her loved ones. Could it be Peter, Valerie’s lover? Her sweet mother? Father Solomon? Or will it end up being Valerie’s grandmother?
One day, Valerie goes to her grandmother’s house to learn the truth about the wolf’s identity. From there she is faced with that realization and the terrors that follow.
Although the movie is a sort of mystery to the audience, I expected it to be much more thrilling and horrific. Instead, I found it to be more boring and silly.
For example, when Valerie’s sister was killed, I expected her to look gruesome as the villagers made it seem. Instead, she had a mere scratch on her neck.
Also, there is one scene where the village is having a party and the setting doesn’t seem to fit with the time period. The story took place during medieval times, yet, the music and the dancing don’t match up. During the same scene, Valerie’s character seems to become twisted while she was dancing, and that seemed silly to me as well.
Along with the scenes not making much sense, what got me was how perfect everyone looked considering they were living in medieval times. Their costumes seemed a bit too clean, their skin was spotless and their hair was perfect. Of course, we all know Hollywood is never exactly accurate with these things, but I think they could’ve done a better job with this.
In the end, Red Riding Hood was not what I expected it to be. I was anticipating more of a horror film than an impractical version of the bedtime thriller.
