Red Riding Hood (2011 film)


Red Riding Hood is a 2011 American romance horror film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. The film is very loosely based on the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood collected by both Charles Perrault under the name Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and several decades later by the Brothers Grimm as Rotkäppchen. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the title role, with Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas and Julie Christie in supporting roles.
Red Riding Hood had its world premiere at Hollywood on March 7, 2011 and was theatrically released on March 11, 2011, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with praise for Seyfried's performance and atmosphere but criticized its characters and story. It had grossed over $89 million worldwide against a $42 million budget.

Plot

Valerie lives with her parents, Cesaire and Suzette, and older sister Lucie in the village of Daggerhorn, on the edge of a forest plagued by a werewolf. She is in love with the woodcutter and childhood friend Peter, but her parents arrange for her to marry Henry, son of the wealthy blacksmith Adrien Lazar. Valerie and Peter plan to elope, only to learn the Wolf has broken its truce not to prey on the townspeople and murdered Lucie.
Suzette tells Valerie that her marriage was also arranged and that she had loved another. The preacher Father Auguste calls upon the famous witch hunter Father Solomon for help, but the townspeople decide to venture into the Wolf's lair. Peter is separated from the group moments before the Wolf kills Adrien. The Wolf is cornered by the men and killed. Valerie finds Suzette mourning Adrien and deduces that he was her true love. She learns from her mother that Lucie, who was originally supposed to be engaged to Henry was actually his half-sister. As a result, Valerie became the next one in line.
As the village celebrates the end of the Wolf, Father Solomon arrives and declares that the slain animal is a common grey wolf, as the true werewolf would have reverted to human form, as he discovered for himself when he killed a Wolf that turned out to be his wife. He reveals they have entered Blood Moon Week, an event every thirteen years wherein anyone bitten by the Wolf is cursed to become one. Father Solomon's men, led by The Captain, isolate Daggerhorn and investigate the villagers to find out the Wolf’s identity. That night, the Wolf attacks, and the townspeople shelter in the church while Valerie and her friend Roxanne search for Roxanne's autistic brother, Claude. Cornered by the beast, Valerie discovers she is able to understand the Wolf, who threatens to kill Roxanne and destroy the village if Valerie does not leave with it. The Wolf escapes, vowing to return for Valerie's decision.
The next day, Claude is captured by Father Solomon's men. Father Solomon declares Claude, whom he witnessed perform a trick, a student of the dark arts; when the frightened Claude cannot reveal the Wolf's identity, Father Solomon locks him in an iron elephant. In exchange for Claude’s release, Roxanne reveals that Valerie is able to communicate with the Wolf, but realizes too late that her brother is already dead. Believing Valerie is a witch, Father Solomon displays her in the town square to lure the Wolf. Henry and Peter help Valerie escape; Peter is captured by the Captain and is thrown in the elephant, while Father Solomon orders Henry’s execution. Father Auguste saves Henry, before being killed by Father Solomon.
Henry brings Valerie to the church, where they are attacked by the Wolf, who bites off Father Solomon's hand with silver-coated fingernails. The villagers shield Valerie from the Wolf, who is again forced to flee after burning its right paw on the church’s holy ground. Due to the curse, the Captain has no choice but to kill Father Solomon.
Valerie then later dreams that the Wolf is her grandmother, and rushes to her nearby cabin. Finding Father Solomon's hand on the way, Valerie meets Peter, wearing a glove on his right hand. Assuming he is the wolf, she stabs him. At the cabin, Valerie finds her grandmother dead and discovers that her father, Cesaire, is the Wolf. He reveals the curse was passed to him by his own father, and he intended to leave the village with his children. He tried to pass the werewolf “gift” to Lucie, but realizing he was not her father, murdered her in a fit of rage, and took revenge against Adrien. He asks Valerie to accept the curse, but she refuses. Peter appears, and Cesaire bites him and throws him aside. Peter throws an axe into Cesaire's back, allowing Valerie to kill her father with Father Solomon’s hand. Peter realizes he'll become a werewolf and runs off, Valerie follows and they embrace. Valerie and Peter fill Cesaire's body with rocks and dump him in the lake in order to protect the secret from the villagers. Peter departs, vowing to return when he has learned to control the curse. Valerie says she'll wait for him.
About a year has passed, and Henry joins the Captain's monster hunters. Suzette accepts the loss of her husband, and the village continues to live in fear. With the secret she now bears, Valerie decides to move to her grandmother's house, leaving her old life behind. During a full moon, Peter returns in wolf form as Valerie smiles.
• In the alternate ending, when Peter returns in wolf form, Valerie is seen holding a baby girl which implies she and Peter had a child.

Cast

Under Appian Way Productions, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Ireland, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Alex Mace, and Julie Yorn produced the film. Early into production, the film was originally titled The Girl with the Red Riding Hood. Due to the fact that Seyfried did not like Fernandez based on a previous encounter at a dinner party, director Catherine Hardwicke had to persuade the actress to give the actor a chance. Principal photography took place in Vancouver from July 21 to September 16, 2010.

Release

The original release date, set for April 22, 2011, was moved to March 11, 2011. Red Riding Hood grossed $14,005,335 in ticket sales over the opening weekend, placing at number #3, behind and Rango. At the end of its run in 2011, the film grossed $37,662,162 in the United States and Canada, and grossed $51,500,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $89,162,162.

Reception

Red Riding Hood has a 10% approval rating at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 205 reviews, with an average score of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Amanda Seyfried is magnetic in Red Riding Hoods starring role, but she's let down by her uninspired leading men and a painfully cliched script." Metacritic calculated a score of 29 out of 100 based on the opinions of 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
USA Today complimented the production design, but wrote that, "it's a foolish story, marred by a strange blend of overacting and bland, offhand performances." Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, stating it is "a movie that cross-pollinates the Twilight formula with a werewolf and a girl who always wears a red-hooded cape, although I don't recall her doing any riding... it has the added inconvenience of being serious about a plot so preposterous, it demands to be filmed by Monty Python."
Mary Pols of Time magazine named it one of the 10 worst films of 2011.

Marketing

The teaser trailer and the poster were released in November 2010, featuring "The Wolf", a new song written exclusively for the film by Swedish act Fever Ray.
The second trailer was released in January 2011, featuring "The Hand That Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails.
The novelization received criticism for not including the story's final, concluding chapter, which instead was only made available for download online following the release of the film.

Soundtrack

  1. "Towers of the Void" – Brian Reitzell
  2. "Kids" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  3. "Dead Sister" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  4. "The Wolf" – Fever Ray
  5. "Mt. Grimoor" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  6. "Tavern Stalker" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  7. "Grandma’s House" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  8. "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" – Fever Ray
  9. "Wolf Attack" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  10. "Just a Fragment of You" – Anthony Gonzalez from M83 and Brian Reitzell
  11. "The Reveal" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  12. "Finale" – Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes
  13. "Crystal Visions" – The Big Pink
Some additional songs from the film are not featured on the official soundtrack: