A small settlement has their own hero, an old woman - the 'Keeper of the forest' (its only 'Troi' from "Star Trek TNG" - Marina Sirtis). For years she has been protecting the small town of Stillwater and keeping the wolves at bay - literally. One day she invites her granddaughter Samantha (Bianca A. Santos) to visit her, and then turns into a wolf and rips out her throat - if that isn't love I don't know what is! She buries her granddaughter with some sacred artifacts including a red cape (or for want of a better description, a hood) and a sword and then goes missing. With no protector, wolf attacks begin to increase. Local sheriff (Eric Balfour) cannot stop them, nor can Samantha's boyfriend Danny (Romeo Miller), nor can local wildlife officer Victoria (Heather Tom). Danny finds a mysterious supernatural book that kind of tells him what's going on, but isn't until a young girl called Becky (Amy Argyle) arrives in town that Danny starts piecing things together - the wolves are looking for a new 'Denmother' - something the book prophesised. Thankfully though, Samantha has returned as a zombie/ werewolf/ witch/ supernatural butt-kicker to protect everyone as the new 'keeper of the forest', is she strong enough though yet though and does she have enough time?
This B-Movie is without a doubt based on Little Red Riding Hood, as if the title doesn't give that fact away. It also crosses into supernatural myths and lore to the point where it comes across a bit like a dark version of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The acting in the film is ok, there isn't much depth to the characters and at times the script doesn't help them out - there are throw away instances where a backstory is discussed, but it has no relevance to anything. The script also calls for the occasional tongue-in-cheek quip, the kind you'd expect in "Evil Dead - Army of Darkness", but it doesn't deliver them right so instead of an occasional chuckle, you have a nonsensically throw away quip that doesn't amuse anyone. The cast is primarily young teenagers and twenty-something year olds, which is obviously the intended audience of the film too. The general cinematography is decent, it doesn't always feel like a cheap B-Movie which is nice change from what you might expect. In the same breath though there are moments when things go a little too far too - the central character is occasionally over-sexualised with pointless slow motion sequences of her body and sometimes CGI is overused where instead a suggestion may have had greater impact. It is also worth mentioning that there are times where the movement and jerking of the camera does not help the plot but was added to make the film feel and look cooler. This in itself is a pity as there were some lovely visuals, decent horror effects, and from what I have read - real animals were used more often than computer generated copies (the use of real animals was a plus at times, but also a negative when you see a domesticated animal running at somebody with a look of playful fun in its eyes, rather than a furious bloodlust). In regards to the over sexualised Samantha, I noted that the character doesn't look like she appears on the film art work. Further investigation found multiple versions of the film poster/cover - which shows a clear change. The poster goes from Samantha as she appears in the film, to a version which has more skin on show and more of a menacing appearance with scars and fangs - clearly the art department tried to sell this film as sexy as well as a horror film (proving that sex sells!). Samantha wasn't the only sexualised character in the film as there is nudity as well as the gore of the horror. The final thing I want to mention before wrapping up is the pacing of the movie, despite a strong and quick start, the middle of the film only plods slowly before beginning to amble a little faster towards the end of the film. It's not often that the start of the film is better than the eventual outcome - but this one, in my opinion, achieved that brilliantly.
With all the mish-mash of supernatural elements I was expecting something a little more from this film, but it was still entertaining enough that I didn't hate it. I was surprised to find that this was an Asylum release because not all their films are that good - but this certainly was something better than their average film.
Horror, gore, sex and young people, with the sprinkling of a decent concept, a below average script, and a habit of delivering style over substance. I wouldn't recommend watching the film with the entire family present, it's certainly not kiddy or grandparent friendly. It's a decent enough film though that isn't a complete drain of your time for it's runtime. 6 out of 10.
This B-Movie is without a doubt based on Little Red Riding Hood, as if the title doesn't give that fact away. It also crosses into supernatural myths and lore to the point where it comes across a bit like a dark version of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". The acting in the film is ok, there isn't much depth to the characters and at times the script doesn't help them out - there are throw away instances where a backstory is discussed, but it has no relevance to anything. The script also calls for the occasional tongue-in-cheek quip, the kind you'd expect in "Evil Dead - Army of Darkness", but it doesn't deliver them right so instead of an occasional chuckle, you have a nonsensically throw away quip that doesn't amuse anyone. The cast is primarily young teenagers and twenty-something year olds, which is obviously the intended audience of the film too. The general cinematography is decent, it doesn't always feel like a cheap B-Movie which is nice change from what you might expect. In the same breath though there are moments when things go a little too far too - the central character is occasionally over-sexualised with pointless slow motion sequences of her body and sometimes CGI is overused where instead a suggestion may have had greater impact. It is also worth mentioning that there are times where the movement and jerking of the camera does not help the plot but was added to make the film feel and look cooler. This in itself is a pity as there were some lovely visuals, decent horror effects, and from what I have read - real animals were used more often than computer generated copies (the use of real animals was a plus at times, but also a negative when you see a domesticated animal running at somebody with a look of playful fun in its eyes, rather than a furious bloodlust). In regards to the over sexualised Samantha, I noted that the character doesn't look like she appears on the film art work. Further investigation found multiple versions of the film poster/cover - which shows a clear change. The poster goes from Samantha as she appears in the film, to a version which has more skin on show and more of a menacing appearance with scars and fangs - clearly the art department tried to sell this film as sexy as well as a horror film (proving that sex sells!). Samantha wasn't the only sexualised character in the film as there is nudity as well as the gore of the horror. The final thing I want to mention before wrapping up is the pacing of the movie, despite a strong and quick start, the middle of the film only plods slowly before beginning to amble a little faster towards the end of the film. It's not often that the start of the film is better than the eventual outcome - but this one, in my opinion, achieved that brilliantly.
With all the mish-mash of supernatural elements I was expecting something a little more from this film, but it was still entertaining enough that I didn't hate it. I was surprised to find that this was an Asylum release because not all their films are that good - but this certainly was something better than their average film.
Horror, gore, sex and young people, with the sprinkling of a decent concept, a below average script, and a habit of delivering style over substance. I wouldn't recommend watching the film with the entire family present, it's certainly not kiddy or grandparent friendly. It's a decent enough film though that isn't a complete drain of your time for it's runtime. 6 out of 10.