Red Riding Hood (2011)

Review by Mari Lynne Rupp



Written by and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Of course) all the reviews you've read about this on bigger, more popular movie sites are completely true. Twilight all over again, set in a different time, and rooting for Team Jacob.
The premise is Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is engaged to Henry, but in love with Peter, an unprosperous wood-cutter. Entangling this little love triangele is a werewolf that her little village is desperately trying to fend off, killing her little sister and breaking an age-old "pact" of peace with the little village. Father Solomon (Gary Oldman, which pretty much saves this piece) enters the scene to save the village from the evil.
Ok, come on. Same bad direction as Twilight. Same awkward pauses, same demasculinization of strong female characters, same predictability. Even identical CGI wolf effects. Seriously. You can't tell what a great actress Amanda Seyfried is, she's showing the same apathy that Hardwicke had Kristen Stewart do to death in the first Twilight film. This movie adds very little to the werewolf genre, and masking it in this fable does nothing to fool the horror fans. If you want an edgy werewolf movie with a "Red Riding Hood" feel, watch Neil Jordan's "Company of Wolves" and give this one a wide berth.
4/10