Red Riding Hood

Movie: Red Riding Hood

Genre: fantasy-horror

Synopsis: Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) lives in a medieval village that has been plagued by a werewolf for generations.  A sort of truce has been in effect whereby once a month the village leaves an animal out for the werewolf – in return he (she?) does not kill any villagers. Valerie and Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) have been an item for 10 years.  Initially they were just best friends, but now they are in love.  Unfortunately, Valerie’s parents arrange for her to be married to a boy with better prospects.  The wedding plans are put on hold when the truce is broken when Valerie’s sister is killed by the werewolf.  Desperate to rid the village of the werewolf, the villagers bring in Solomon (Gary Oldman) – a kind of werewolf-killing priest.  Then things start getting really dicey as Solomon effectively takes over the entire village.

Some of the other cast: Billy Burke and Virginia Madsen as Valerie’s parents and Julie Christie as her grandmother.  One I did not recognize as Luke Haas as Father Auguste.  Luke was the little kid in Witness.

My two cents:  A decent horror movie.  It put an interesting twist on the old fairy tale.  I really enjoyed the movie.  I did not figure out who the werewolf was until the very end.  The werewolf was one of the better I have seen.  I rate the werewolf in An American Werewolf in London as my all-time favorite and probably number two would go to the one in Van Helsing . . . this one might get my vote for number three.

Bottom line:  Probably not destined to become a classic – but definitely worth seeing if you are a horror fan.

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