Red Riding Hood
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke.
Hollywood will clearly try anything to make a quick buck. Re-imagining Red Riding Hood? Really? Are there no better ideas knocking around Tinseltown?
Catherine Hardwicke’s take on the fairytale doesn’t cut it, either as a horror film or romantic drama.
A wide-eyed Amanda Seyfried plays Valerie, a young woman who lives in medieval village Daggerhorn and is in love with woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez).
Problem is her parents have promised the local blacksmith that she will marry his son, Henry (Max Irons).
Valerie’s plan to run away with Peter is scuppered by the latest attack on a villager by a wolf that terrorises the community. When a famous hunter Father Solomon (Oldman) tells the town they are actually being stalked by a werewolf that walks among them, it results in a witchhunt.
Hamstrung by a nonsensical plot, terrible dialogue and ropey special effects, Red Riding Hood is laughably bad. Seyfried and Oldman put in charismatic performances but Hardwicke’s failure to ratchet the tension will leave you half asleep when the ludicrous finale arrives.
Good for: Twilight fans.
Watch the Red Riding Hood trailer here.
– Pierre de villiersSite Administration
