Red: Werewolf Hunter

While I hadn't expected much going in, I did expect this movie to either maintain a steady theme of mundane, or be laughably poorly directed. What I got was a mix of both.

The story was ripe with plot holes and confusion from the start, with an incredibly clueless main actor, and a main actress who should have been able to act much better than what she delivered. The supposed werewolf hunters may literally be blind, since they don't even notice when a werewolf is transforming a few feet away from them. None of their weapons look anything short of comical, and none of the hunters know how to handle the weapons.

That being said, while watching it I could barely even bring myself to criticize the horrible acting, or moronic dialog, or even the plot, because they all blended together to create one mind-numbing, boring mess.

The only (and I mean ONLY) good quality about this movie was the antagonist, who showed a fair amount of acting talent.

I personally would have deleted everything except around 5 minutes of footage. Overall, this movie has a few rare moments of quality, but spends most of its time lulling the audience to sleep, and isn't worth watching.

As with Tin Man, this is better than one would expect for a made 4 TV SyFy channel movie. While the story is anything but original, it gives us a somewhat darker view of the Little Red Riding Hood story, along with a cohesive afterwards.

Dialog delivery is a little stiff, but considering the source, I really enjoyed this, and cannot wait for it to come out on DVD/Blu-Ray, to watch it again and again. Honestly, Underworld, it ain't, but it does have a good story, some great innovatives, and a plausible delivery. It runs well, exhibits well, and follows through to a satisfactory ending.

All in all we recommend this one for any werewolf fan. It is more than just your run of the mill formula.

It gets an 8.2/10 on the M4TV scale from...

the Fiend :.

Nerd heartthrob Felicia Day stars as Red, a werewolf hunter who finds herself at odds with her werewolf hunting family when her fiancé turns in this ridiculous Syfy film that 'updates' the Little Red Rding Hood story.

Cheap, needlessly melodramatic, and pretty much uninteresting all the way around. Even the normally entertaining Day is pretty bad here. Writers Angela Mancuso and Brook Durham would later further subject hapless Syfy viewers with another, somehow more atrocious, fairy tell updating with the awful "Witchslayer Gretl"

My Grade: D

I really do NOT understand why people insist on watching movies that they know are movie of the week, straight to DVD, cable flicks or in this case SyFy movies and then complain about the production value, or the low budget.

Red: Werewolf Hunter IS a SyFy movie. It probably did not have a huge budget. It is still a very enjoyable film! A terrific cast including Felicia Day, Kavan Smith, Greg Bryk, and Stephen McHattie each delivered terrific overall performances. The premise was a new take on the Red Riding Hood theme and while a little underdeveloped is really a great idea. The special effects/ CGI were better then the other reviews may have you believe, and fun to watch.

My advise is to watch this with an open mind. Know when you begin that this is a SyFy movie and was probably made for less then James Cameron spent on his toilet paper when filming Avatar. It is not supposed to win Oscars. It is supposed to entertain, thrill and maybe scare you.

A terrific Friday night flick. Hire this with Dog Soldiers, The Howling, Teen Wolf, and The Wolfman, call over some friends, order some pizza, grab a few six packs and settle in for a fun night. Just not during a full moon!

After Tin Man and Alice, two excellent SyFy originals, I expected more from this film.

Felicia Day and Stephen McHattie are excellent as usual; however, its (not complete) lack of background music to set the mood and its weak story left a gaping hole in my heart.

The weak story: The idea that an entire town of werewolf denizens has a truce with a single family of Little Red Riding Hood descendants puts huge strain on my suspension of disbelief.

The cast: Felicia Day puts her all into this role and Stephen McHattie is a veteran in terms of horror villains. The rest of the cast, of whom I've never heard, also did fairly well in their various roles.

Character development: Practically non-existent.

In summary: Good cast, weak story, and I felt no connection to the characters.