I'm surprised there aren't many hollywood productions coming out from fairy tales; instead we have the re-treading of old TV series and movies from 40 years back, sequels & prequels to lackluster summer so-so hits, and other abysmal attempts at entertainment. Fairy tales on the other hand has always been there; a pool of untapped tales of grim adventures and fatal lessons. Take aside Disney's attempts at envisioning the classic tales, you don't have many other effort undertaken by the major studios (except maybe the porn studios, but thats a whole other universe altogether with its own set of values, and erm, fans). So, its a nice surprise indeed to see something like this movie coming up, on a tale that is essentially very, very disturbing, interpretable on so many levels, dealing with so many issues.
The Skinny: Not so Little Red Riding Hood has to go to the granny's house but she has to be careful as there's a werewolf about. But who really is the werewolf? A mature take on a much loved horrific tale of innocence lost, cannibalism, hatchet death and dead grannies. Huzzah!
The Helmer: Catherine Hardwicke - Hamlet (2011), Freeheld (2011), Red Riding Hood (2011), Twilight (2008), The Nativity Story (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Thirteen (2003).
The Casts: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie, Shauna Kain.
Release Date: 21 August 2011 (Malaysia)
Tagline: Believe the Legend, Beware the Wolf
The Prediction: I'm not that familiar with the helmer except for the 2005 film Lords of Dogtown, the true story of the birth of skateboarding as an extreme sport. Impression of that movie was that it was okay, not bad. But then she went on ahead and did Twilight, the very unmanly movie of teen love with skinny paleface vampire, buff male-bimbo werewolf and a girl with fatal armpit smell. Based on that alone I'd give this movie a wide berth, drop it in the sink of hot magma, or have it trampled by an 18 wheeler truck bound for hell. But I like the look and feel of the trailer, and the mystery of the killer wolf running about killing the villagers. It has the distinct atmosphere of Neil Jordan's 1984 coming of age sexual awakening werewolf horror drama The Company of Wolves. That makes a slight difference. So maybe I'd recommend it. Only if it has lots of blood, where paleface vampire sissies and werewolf male bimbos are killed, butchered by real wolves. We can only hope.
