Red Riding Hood review

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Composer: Brian Reitzell/Alex Heffes

Number of tracks: 14

Total time: 50:15

Overview:

Ah, a beautiful young woman moping over two muscular guys while an evil creature lurks in the shadows. No, this isn't Twilight... or Vampire Diaries. Believe it or not, it's Little Red Riding Hood or as it's been abbreviated to: Red Riding Hood.

The plot follows the original legend but is Twilight-ified for modern audiences. A young woman named Valerie is betrothed to a young man in her village, though she actually loves the local woodcutter's lad. During a full moon, a giant wolf begins attacking the villagers which then leads the peasants to summon a famed hunter. Usual angst and havoc ensues....

Granted, the similarities to the first Twilight film and this film are probably more than just a coincidence seeing as how Catherine Hedgewick helmed both that.. erm, film and Red Riding Hood. One must give Miss Hedgewick credited for making a very Gothic looking film, though at the same time nearly ruining the mood with a truly awful and out of place score.

Review of the music:

The album opens with "Towers in the Void" which features a hypnotic cimbalom rhythm accompanied by strings and airy synth effects. It's a more modern sound, but at least has a certain fairy tale/dream quality that fits the setting. Unfortunately, all this subtly is quickly thrown out the window in the follow up track, "Kids". After opening with a continuation of the motif heard in the opening, a very intrusive pop-rock rhythm enters followed by electric guitars.

Regrettably, most of the score portion of this album is made up of minimalist orchestral tones overpowered by electronic textures or pop rhythms. The two composers credited with writing the score are as different as could be imagined: Alex Heffes is more of a traditional orchestral composer while Brian Reitzell is best known for his truly awful electronic noise soundtrack to the horror film 30 Days of Night.

I honestly feel if the score had been left solely to Heffes, it might have been good. Alas, it is not so. There are some highlights to the score, though. The opening track, "Wolf Attack Suite" and the last three score tracks are actually decent ambient horror cues. Interestingly enough, some of the best moments of the action/horror material seem to be "inspired" by superior scores, namely Alan Silvestri's Predator (1987) and the works of Elliot Goldenthal in the percussion and dissonance respectively.

Despite the highlights, the majority of the score resides in the ambient electronic/orchestral territory and thus feels horribly out of place in a Gothic film set in a village during the Middle Ages. Another unfortunate aspect of the score is that it lacks any discernible themes. There are some short possible thematic ideas that are toyed with in a few tracks, but nothing ever comes of them.

In a somewhat strange turn, the album includes four songs by indie/rock groups, probably to entice the emo crowd from the Twilight series. The only two standout songs are "The Wolf" and "Keep the Streets Empty For Me" both performed by Fever Ray. The first song is rather creepy and uninviting with strange vocal effects and the odd use of a set of didgeridoos. The latter song is actually quite nice with a melancholy ambiance about it and another surprise instrument making a guest appearance: a shahukachi flute.

Closing thoughts:

Red Riding Hood is another classic example of a missed opportunity with its score. The film desperately cries out for a full fledged classical Gothic score in the vein of Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman or Christopher Young. Instead, it gets a score that feels more at home in an urban horror story like Vampire Diaries or Ginger Snaps.

The album does have four or five highlight tracks that I would recommend looking into, but for the most part just stay away from this one. It's a wolf in cheap clothing (sorry, couldn't resist).

Note: This album can only be purchased either as a download or as a CD-R from Amazon.com

Score:

2 out of 5