Red Riding Hood

[sagitario]

Red Riding Hood is an American/Canadian Dark fantasy film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Amanda Seyfried as the title role, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson. It is very loosely based on the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood collected by both Charles Perrault under the name "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge" (Little Red Riding Hood) and several decades later by the Brothers Grimm as "Rotkäppchen" (Little Redcap).

Plot

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) lives in the village of Daggerhorn, which is on the edge of a haunted black forest. As a child, she developed an affinity for hunting and sneaking out when she was told not to for a boy whom she grew to love, a woodsman named Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). Despite her feelings however, her mother Suzette (Virginia Madsen) and father Cesaire (Billy Burke) disapprove and instead promise her to wed Henry (Max Irons), the son of the wealthy blacksmith Adrian Lazar (Michael Shanks). For years, the small village has been plagued by a werewolf that comes out at night, feeding on livestock that the villagers sacrifice so that the wolf does not seek human prey. Things change when Valerie's sister Lucie (Alexandria Maillot) is found dead; slain by the werewolf. Several village men leave to hunt the beast where they believe it to live, they encounter a vicious wolf but not before Adrian is murdered in its den. Meanwhile, Valerie's grandmother (Julie Christie) consoles her granddaughter by giving her a wedding gift early: a beautiful red hooded cape.

Taking the wolf's head back to Daggerhorn, they decide to celebrate their liberation, but Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), a priest experienced in werewolves, having had to slay his own wife to protect their children disproves their theory that it is the actual werewolf as upon its death a werewolf would revert back to its human form. The villagers ignore this. Valerie learns afterward that her mother had been in love with Adrian years prior to meeting her husband, and unexpectedly had given birth to Lucie as a result, but Cesaire has been kept in the dark on this. During the celebrations that night, Valerie confronts Peter for rejecting her after being pressured by her mother to do so, after they share a romantic interlude in a barn, they are separated and shortly after the werewolf attacks; slaying many villagers and injuring one of Solomon's guards. The wolf confronts Valerie and her friend Roxanne (Shauna Kain) and both are horrified to learn that Valerie can not only speak to the werewolf, but can understand it when it speaks to her. The one clue provided to the wolf's identity is the color of his eyes, which look brown as human eyes.

The next morning, despite the guard's brother's objections, Solomon kills the injured guard. Having explained previously that during the blood moon; which is happening over the course of three days, anyone bitten by the werewolf is cursed to become one. And all cursed men must die. Henry tells Valerie he had seen her with Peter and they mutually agree to call off the engagement. Solomon instigates an investigation into the villagers' homes, deducing that the wolf is hiding among them. In the process, they discover Roxanne's autistic brother hiding and accuse him of witchcraft, stuffing him in a Brazen Bull when he does not relinquish the name of the werewolf and Roxanne, hoping to free her brother from his torture agrees to give up Valerie's name as a witch and the secret of her being able to understand the werewolf in exchange for him. Solomon relinquishes her brother, though traumatized and catatonic from the experience. Valerie is made to wear a wolf-like mask and offered as a sacrifice to appease the werewolf's demands, but Peter and Henry rescue her. The wolf comes, but is unable to cross holy ground to enter the church yard where Valerie and Henry had gone for sanctuary. Solomon tries to force Valerie to leave and in the conflict the wolf bites his hand off. The guard, exacting revenge for his own brother tells Solomon "A man bitten is a man cursed, and cursed men cannot live" before killing him.

Due to the circumstances of Peter's disappearance from the night before and a glove where an injury the wolf had gotten when he tried to cross onto the church grounds, Valerie begins to suspect him. She attacks him and flees to her grandmother's house, but is greeted instead by her father using her grandmother's voice. Cesaire reveals that he is the werewolf, and that all in his bloodline can speak to him. When Lucie, not born of his blood could not understand him, he realized that she was not his child and lost control. He offers Valerie an opportunity to become a werewolf as well, each generation being stronger than the last one, but when she refuses he tries to force her. Peter returns and the two men have a furious struggle and Peter is knocked out, but Valerie manages to kill her father using the dismembered hand of Solomon which, as a precaution had been lined with silver fingernails by Solomon. Peter realizes he had been bitten and too would be cursed to become the werewolf. Instead of killing him, he and Valerie dump Cesaire's body in the lake and Peter rows away, leaving Valerie behind. He promises to return when he has controlled the beast within. Valerie moves out of Daggerhorn and into her grandmother's cottage, awaiting the day Peter returns. Henry, having gone with Solomon's former troupe to face werewolves and other creatures, while her mother, having given up on Cesaire's return, returns to her normal life as well. One night, Valerie sees a werewolf, and the movie ends with her smiling mischievously.

In the alternate cut of the film, Valerie and Peter consummated their relationship after killing Cesaire. This was only very briefly shown while Peter was leaving in the original theatrical version, implying that it happens in the future or Valerie is imagining it. This has the result of, unlike the original, Valerie being shown holding a baby when Peter returns.

Cast

Amanda Seyfried as Valerie

Virginia Madsen as Suzette

Billy Burke as Cesaire

Julie Christie as Grandmother

Shiloh Fernandez as Peter

Gary Oldman as Father Solomon

Max Irons as Henry Lazar

Michael Shanks as Adrien Lazar

Christine Willes as Madame Lazar

Michael Hogan as The Reeve

Lukas Haas as Father Auguste

Alexandria Maillot as Lucie

Shauna Kain as Roxanne

Kacey Rohl as Prudence

Cole Heppell as Claude

Carmen Lavigne as Rose

Megan Charpentier as Young Valerie

Jennifer Halley as Marguerite

Dj Greenburg as Young Peter

Archie Rice as the voice of The Wolf

Source: Wikipédia

[Bobbie]

I actually loved this movie!

[jirongzhi]

Do love the fairy tale. When I was a kid, listening to the story is my most relaxing thing.

[acoonalouis]

Red Riding hood is a good movie all the time and i really love to go with it.

[Aussie87]

At the start of the movie, I thought Lukas Haas (father auguste) was the wolf. Just the way he walked inside as it got dark, then he was no where to be seen, when the wolf arrived. Definately loved this movie