Red Riding Hood DVD
RED RIDING HOOD
One of the first things to appear on screen is a caption that reads "don't ever tell this tale to your kids", and it should further read: unless you want them to grow up to be demented horror freaks who'll watch this sort of sick and twisted stuff, and what's wrong with that. Parenting 101: A+.No this is no fairy tale, this is not a Walt Disney sing-a-long, this is a wonderfully bizarre and deeply depraved little gem of a movie.
It goes something like this, once upon a time in a far away land called Rome, there lived a girl named Jenny, Jenny's mother had run off and left her all alone in a penthouse apartment with a credit card to survive. Poor Jenny had never gotten over the horrific murder of her beloved father,a judge, now her best friend is George, a puppy who has grown into a big bad wolf. Together, at night they stalk the streets looking for sinners to be punished, as Jenny tells us "god forgives, I don't."
Alas, all of Jenny's fun and bloodletting seems to becoming to an end when Rose (Kathleen Archebald), her dear ol' grandmum, comes to take her back to New York to lead a normal life. Unaware of Jenny's homicidal tendencies, or who George is, Rose discovers too late that her granddaughter will go to great lengths not leave her new adopted home. So what's a girl to do, but pull a Kathy Bates on dear ol' grandmum, now with holes in her shins, Jenny and George are free to roam about in search of shoplifters and adulterers, and to punish them with extreme prejudice.
As amazingly sick and grim as all this sounds, it is actually quite funny with a wonderfully ironic tone that keeps things from becoming too grim, and therefore unpleasant. I love the small touches like an almost annoying song played through out the movie that makes it sound like a theme to an American sitcom. And this thing comes to a great ending with a rotting corpse singing "que sera sera". Yes, this is an odd one, but it is great that such a movie can still be made somewhere in the world, in this case Italy.
The movie is grounded by a winning performance from young Susan Setta as Jenny. She plays the role with the right amount of innocence, sweetness (well, maybe not), and sadistic glee, for example in a scene where she orders with a smile a nail gun to be used on her dentist. Yes, children are precious. It is really a good performance, the best evil little girl since Patty McCormack.
The DVD could have used more (or any) extras, but that has nothing to do with the actual movie. This is the kinda film we could use more of, it reminds me just why I ponder over so many bad horror movies, so that I can find that one gem lurking in the pile that would otherwise remain unkown. This is a treat for the whole family, if your the Addams family, or a kindred spirit. So, show your children, and watch in horror as they grow up to be horror freaks like us.
Red Riding Hood is Rated R.