Deception: Knight Chills Review of Red Riding Hood

      Not all tales are pulled out of thin air from some writer's overactive imagination.  Many are based on real events.  So when I sat down to watch the movie Red Riding Hood, what I understand to be the true story lingered in the back of my mind.  A Grimm tale usually entails a harsh lesson to be learned.  My take on the original spin is that a young lass, perhaps thirteen years old, chose to take the shortcut to grandma's house.  It's conceivable to think she had to travel through a heavily wooded area.  As a horror writer, I love walking in the woods.  There's something about the lure of the potential for evil to do its deed with little risk of being discovered.  Anyway, the redheaded teen ran into an older gentleman.  I have no reason to believe that he'd show himself to be anything other than noble and well mannered.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if his name was Mr. Wolf.  
     Now we all know that the big bad "man" gained the gullible child's trust.  His experience in knowing that Red's hormones were like wildfire ready to torch hundreds of acres probably added to his excitement.  Of course, we may never know if the child welcomed the change in routine to her eventual demise or if Mr. Wolf demonstrated a ruthless disregard for the young girl's life.  I don't doubt that first he stole her innocence.  Then he broke her to show his dominance and build up his ego until finally, he snuffed her life as if killing her would somehow bring him closer to immortality.  
     Immortality? Hmm, I shudder to think that Mr. Wolf has lived on in infamy by becoming the enemy to all decent men.  A real man doesn't need to abuse anyone or buy himself a bride (sex slave).  A real man will serve to protect the innocent and live to preserve dignity in the hopes that the youth will grow to improve mankind and showcase decency over horrendous deeds. 
     As far as the movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, poor Little Red Riding hood lives in a village terrorized by a werewolf.  Too bad the Twilight director brought in her version of a werewolf which to me, is just a wolf on steroids.  The movie featured nice scenery and there were a plethora of possible villains.  Yes, deception was the order of the day, but in the end what brought a smile to my face was how they incorporated the more innocent, well known version, down to the famous lines such as, "Why grandma, what big eyes you have."  I grinned because it was pretty lame. 
     I guess if it's a rainy day and you have no place to go, this movie would entertain, provided you don't have to pay theater prices. In fairness, it had its moments and Gary Oldman has always been a talented actor, but the romance angle didn't do it for this horror fan. 


     Knight Chills gives Red Riding Hood 3 kills out of 5.

      

© Copyright Nomar Knight 2011. All rights reserved. 

A Knight Chills movie review.