red riding hood Archives - Virginia Madsen

Aha! An angsty, teen-driven reimagining of a classic folk tale, just what I was looking forward to when starting this whole Virginia Madsen website.

Said no one. Ever. Not even me.

This Red Riding Hood remake from 2011, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, boasts a cast that isn’t exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel. Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Julie Christie, and yes, Virginia Madsen are all on board. On paper, this should be half-decent.

I don’t think I need to explain Red Riding Hood. Little girl. Red cape. Big bad wolf. Big teeth. You know the drill.

Amanda Seyfried plays the red-caped heroine before red capes were really a thing, and she’s got two brooding hunks competing for her affection: Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), the bad boy woodcutter, and Henry (Max Irons), the good boy blacksmith.

The problem? Valerie’s heart belongs to Peter, but her mom, Suzette (Virginia Madsen), has arranged for her to marry Henry. Why? Well, because her mom promised, and it’s medieval times, where arranged marriages are the norm. Also, plot.
Then, just to add more plot, their village is terrorized by a werewolf. Enter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), the grizzled werewolf hunter, with, a giant metal elephant. No, really.

Oieeee. If all this sounds a little sardonic, it’s because… Well, it is.

No, I did not enjoy this film. In fact, I switched it off halfway through. I remember seeing reviews that compared it to Twilight, which I’d half-forgotten about until the whole thing reminded me way too much of Twilight.

(Catherine Hardwicke would also be the one resonsible for bringing us the first Twilight film, she was reportedly fired after the first one, some might think this was an attempt to take on that franchise…)

Virginia Madsen does her best here, but even she couldn’t salvage it. Her hair and makeup are… a choice. And while her acting is solid, it’s all very soap opera (as is most of the cast, to be fair). I’ve said before how often her talents are wasted, but after watching this, I now truly understand how much wastage is possible.So, would I recommend Red Riding Hood? No. Unless you’re a die-hard Virginia Madsen collector, and even then I’d ask, “Do you really need this on your shelf?”