Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

shaunpegg * contains spoilers (if you even care)* Now, I might have went into this film with the wrong attitude. I was expecting a full-on gory slasher. However, this is not what I got. OK, so the film begins with a mother reading her child a story. Then the mom gets killed by somebody strangling her with a rope. Then, we meet the group of teenagers, driving along in the woods to go perform a play. They get to the house and NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING exciting happens for about 20-25 minutes! So, then they go into the woods (except for Sophie, who stays behind). By this time I REALLY wanted to see someone chopped up with an axe or stabbed or something. But no. Instead, when one of the girls comes back, she takes a shower and then gets killed by the killer ramming her face into the mirror and then holding her head underwater. That's probably the most exciting kill in the whole movie, and it didn't excite me at all. Well, then the whole group comes back and so on and so forth. I'll let you see the rest. Sure, the twist ending was slightly surprising, but by then, I didn't really care. One more thing about one of the characters though: Sophie's laugh is extremely annoying. Just shut up! But about the movie: Please do not see this if you are a fan of blood and guts stuff. This has very little. It was extremely disappointing to me and I'm sure it will be to you. The acting and story were both pathetic and it had absolutely nothing to excite.

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) The debut of french director Lionel Delplanque is a strange horror film that serves as tribute to two apparently similar but different horror sub genres: The Italian Giallo and the American Slasher.The plot is quite typical: A group of young actors is hired by a mysterious rich man to go to his castle and perform the "Little Red Riding Hood" tale for his son in his birthday.The plot gives us everything a slasher demands: a young and very photogenic cast, a location where nobody can escape (the castle is located deep in the forest) and the "theme", in this case, the Little Red Riding Hood.Nevertheless, while the story moves pretty straightforward as any typical horror movie would go; the whole visual aspect is more in tone with the stylistic beauty of the Italian Giallo, with creepy Gothic atmospheres and a beautiful contrast of colors, red being the predominant of course.The cinematography shines and the visuals are of enormous beauty. The location is perfect for the movie and the handle of colors is awesome. Sadly (or fortunately?), most of the time this make you forget the clichéd plot full with twist ending.The acting is quite average, with François Berléand being the only worth mentioning, giving an outstanding performance as the eccentric millionaire. As many reviews have pointed out, the director seemed more concerned in the beauty of his composition than in directing his actors.The script is good, and even when it has scenes that border absurd (like any scene with the clichéd cop), it also includes beautiful surreal scenes, particularly in the killings; clearly inspired by Giallo movies.The film is worth a look, since the atmospheric suspense it develops is almost a rarity nowadays. Also, the beauty of its photography is something that must be seen to be believed. Don't expect too much and you'll be rewarded. 6/10

robertconnor Apparently this was a huge box office hit in France in 2000. So the French, starved of home-grown horror, lapped up this 'penny dreadful' (centime diabolical?).This gets one star for gorgeous lighting, sets and atmosphere, but no more. Lionel Delplanque and Annabelle Perrichon make the monumental error of creating an entire roll call of unpleasant and unsympathetic characters. Consequently, the viewer just doesn't care about what happens to any of them. Obnoxious Mathilde, ambivalent Jeanne, moody Wilfried, whining Sophie and characterless Matthieu turf up at a scary château. Spooky and unpleasant things happen. Who cares?Denis Lavant? Shame on you!

kendel_17 The movie itself was very confusing... even after viewing the entire thing I nor anybody else understood. In addition the first 30-45 mins of the movie were taken up mostly by sex scenes, one which looked like it might turn into an orgy and another between two girls. All in all it was not a bad movie, but it had a lot of holes in the story and too many sexual subplots.