Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Valerie is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon, to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. Panic grips the town as the death toll rises with each red moon, tearing apart the once close-knit village. But it is Valerie who discovers she has a unique connection to the wolf that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect... and bait.

Warner delivers both the alternate cut and theatrical cut of Red Riding Hood for this release. The difference between the two is about a minute so I don’t think it cut into the video quality at all. The film features some pretty heavy handed post production work to the image but honestly I wasn’t very impressed with the production design. Heavy contrast is used extensively but at the toll of depth and dimension. The image looks a bit flat with fine detail only materializing on occasion. Despite the young cast we see obvious post production clean up of faces that wipes away the pores and detail one would expect. Colors are a bit oversaturated but chroma noise is not an issue. Overall I was surprised that a film that should be striking visually was anything but and actually had an image that took away from an already horrible production. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix wasn’t bad but the sound design, like the visual style, didn’t do the movie any favors. The choice of music throughout the film took away from the atmosphere and the score was actually frustrating. The rest of the sound design was as simple as the awful dialogue and did nothing to help with the mood of the film. Dynamic range is decent though and the surround soundstage was engaging enough.

The Blu-ray includes both cuts of the film, though I don’t know how much difference a minute can truly make. You also get a digital copy and DVD copy of the film. For supplements there is a video commentary with the director and principle actors that isn’t very good, a behind the scenes feature, some deleted scenes and music videos.

This may very well be the worst film I’ve seen in recent memory. You have a story that could have been delivered with great style and you have some good acting talent involved but instead you get a script that is almost painful to listen to, no character or scene development and a production style that is almost embarrassing. My grandmother, what an awful film you have.