Red Riding Hood

It’s hard to believe Catherine Hardwicke is the director who made her debut with Thirteen back in 2003. Since then, she has fostered one nightmare after another, including The Nativity Story, Twilight and now this, a hilariously bad take on the famous fairytale. Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, a young woman living in a village terrorized by a werewolf. She has a red hood and a grandma, and the film is essentially a mystery seeing to answer the question: Who is the wolf? The wolf itself is a drab creation, and Seyfried drifts along aimlessly in the lead role, while Gary Oldman embarrasses himself as a religious wolf hunter. The film has the look of a painted village that one might find in a train set; the costuming is far too bright and clean; and the hair screams, “2011!” rather than, “Medieval times!” This is a lame Twilight wannabe and the worst film about a little village since, well, The Village.