"Little Red Riding Hood" was never a fairy tale of the Prince Charming variety, so it must have taken a bit of imagination to picture it as the basis of a heart-stopping romantic adventure story with a compelling love triangle. But the folks behind "Red Riding Hood" had a few tricks up their sleeves to bring us to their way of thinking: First, they hired "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke and Edward Cullen contender Shiloh Fernandez. Then they did a little slight of hand to bring in the young-adult novel fans by releasing a novelization of David Leslie Johnson's screenplay weeks before the movie's release this Friday.
In the intro to the "enhanced" ebook version of "Red Riding Hood," Catherine describes how she's known young author Sarah Blakley-Cartwright since she was 13 and even cast her in small roles in some of her films (she's credited in "Thirteen" and "Lords of Dogtown"). So, right after Sarah graduated from college (Barnard represent!), Catherine recruited her to write a novel that would examine the backstories of the characters and "fully explore the tangled web of emotions in the village of Daggorhorn." To write the book, Sarah visited the set, interviewed the actors and even danced across the hot coals set up for a party scene in the movie.
The result? A novel that does seem more fully developed than your typical novelization, though it at times feels almost too intimately involved with every character. The story is engaging: In the village of Daggorhorn, everyone is used to living in fear of the monthly arrival of a murderous werewolf, whom they try to appease by leaving animal sacrifices on an altar. Valerie is basically the only person in the whole darn town who isn't afraid—well, the only person after her best friend Peter left when they were 7. Flash-forward 10 years later, when Peter returns to help with the town's harvest. Their romantic reunion is interrupted by the appearance of the Wolf, and made complicated by the fact that Valerie's parents have arranged for her marriage to the wealthy blacksmith's son Henry. When the Wolf begins killing people again, the villagers turn against each other in a paranoid witch hunt.
The story is told from an omniscient viewpoint, in which we know at once what everyone in the scene (except the Wolf) is thinking—it's distracting and even off-putting at times. More distance could have created more mystery and dramatic tension. On the other hand, it does fulfill Catherine's wish to explore the characters' backstories and makes it an interesting companion piece to the movie itself. Speaking of the flick, the ebook version also includes conceptual artwork, illustrations of the costumes, maps and storyboards, in addition to video interviews with members of the crew that you can't actually see on a regular Nook or Kindle. These are the kinds of things "Twilight" fans ate up after they'd seen the movie, so this is, I suppose, anticipating that kind of fervor.
What I found most interesting (read: frustrating) about the book, though, is the conclusion—or lack thereof. To find out what really happens to Valerie, Henry and Peter (and Grandmother too!), we either have to head to theaters this weekend or download the last chapter next week from RedRidingHoodBook.com. Like I said, they're tricky!
Will you pick up a copy of the "Red Riding Hood" book? Tell us in the comments and on Twitter!
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