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Red Riding Hood (2011)

~ Nikki Baughan

RedRidingHoodCrop

Greenlighting this updated Red Riding Hood must have seemed like a no-brainer; combine the current trend for modern gothic – angst-ridden vampires and emotionally conflicted werewolves – with the familiar set up of an ever-green fairy tale, a beautiful cast and the director of the teen behemoth Twilight and you’ve got a sure fire winner, right? But, as so often happens, it seems that so much stock has been placed in replicating a seemingly winning formula that no care was taken to ensure that the resulting film had any emotional heart, or even a cohesive narrative.

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Drive Angry 3D (2011)

~ Nikki Baughan

Motor mayhem

The fact that every seat at the press screening was adorned with a can of lager and a packet of crisps should be an instant clue as to what to expect from Drive Angry 3D – as if the insane trailer hasn’t been enough of a heads up. It’s a loud, brash, Saturday night kind of a movie, one that should be accompanied by a couple of beers and a large group of mates. If that’s what you’re after, then you’ll be in for a fine time; expect anything deeper – really, how could you with a title like that? – and prepare to be disappointed.

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Frozen (2010)

~ Nikki Baughan

Stone cold thriller

While writer/director Adam Green’s 2006 debut, tongue-in-cheek slasher Hatchet, marked him out as the new enfant terrible of modern horror, his follow-up, psychological drama Spiral, proved his depth as a filmmaker. And his latest, Frozen, is another completely different but equally as thrilling slice of genre entertainment.

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