Behind the Couch

Today is the last day to enter a competition to win a copy of my Devil's Advocates book on The Company of Wolves . Simply head over to FolkloreThursday.com and subscribe to their lovely (and completely free) newsletter (just underneath my article on the evolution of the tale of Red Riding Hood) for the chance to win a copy (valid August 2017; UK & ROI only). There are other folksy goodies to be won, including beautiful Wicker Man tea-towels designed by Hare & Tabor , and a copy of Kevan Manwaring's new book Ballad Tales: An Anthology of British Ballads Retold.  

Le Petit Chaperon Rouge by Paul Merwart Of all the folk and fairy tales known to us, the tale of Little Red Riding Hood is perhaps one of the most enduring and provocative. In its most basic form it is a tale of good vs. evil, and it is generally regarded as one of the most effective expressions of sexual curiosity and the ultimate loss of innocence. I recently wrote an article exploring the evolution of the tale and how its meaning changed throughout the years - from its supposed origins as an oral folktale warning girls of the dangers of predators, to Charles Perrault's literary fairy tale adaptation warning young women against exploring their sexual desires. Head over to Folklore Thursday to read the article, and for the chance to win thyself a copy of my Devil's Advocates book on The Company of Wolves (Neil Jordan's Gothic fantasy film based on Angela Carter's feminist reworking of Red Riding Hood). After you’ve read the article, simply subscribe to F...

'Snow, Glass, Apples' by Julie Dillon With filmmakers like Catherine Hardwicke directing modernised fairy tales for teen horror audiences, it is safe to assume that more will soon follow – think of what Twilight did for romanticising vampires and making them appealing to teen audiences. Love it or loathe it, its influence on popular culture is undeniable. Fans of Twilight no doubt flocked to Hardwicke’s latest offering. A number of Hollywood horror-tinged adaptations of fairy tales are actually already in the works. Amongst them is the Julia Roberts starring Mirror Mirror , with Roberts tipped to play the Evil Queen. Directed by Tarsem Singh ( The Cell ), the film is a dark twist on the classic fairy tale, in which Snow White and the seven dwarfs look to reclaim their destroyed kingdom. Another film that refigures the tale of Snow White, with Snow White leading the charge into battle, is Snow White and the Huntsman , starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White, and Chris Hem...

With its central image of a young woman being stalked and menaced through a dark and foreboding forest by a sly and slathering beast, Red Riding Hood has always had its roots firmly planted in horror. Later literary adaptations of the folk story, by the likes of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, demonstrate a harsh conservative morality akin to many horror films (particularly certain 80s slasher films) warning of what happens to young people who ‘stray from the path’ and let their curiosity get the better of them. It is essentially a dark tale about rite of passage and crossing the threshold from childhood to adulthood. The forest, a place used time and again in literature and cinema to represent a place of hidden danger, primal fear and dark threat (but also, interestingly, freedom from the restraint and pressures of conservative society) serves as the suitable backdrop; a place that is as far removed from civilisation as possible. What further embeds the tale in horror is...

Throughout the years many filmmakers have adapted various versions of Little Red Riding Hood for cinema, most to investigate or exploit its coming of age subtext. In the early Eighties Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan collaborated with English writer and novelist Angela Carter on an adaptation of her book 'The Bloody Chamber.' 'The Bloody Chamber' is a collection of fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, which Carter had reworked, reinterpreted and filtered through a 20th Century feminist viewpoint to give them a fresh and provocative perspective. Their resulting collaboration was 1984’s strikingly beautiful and dreamlike The Company of Wolves , a film that unfurls as the fever-dream of a young woman experiencing menstruation for the first time. Boasting a narrative of stories within stories and dreams within dreams, The Company of Wolves retains its haunting power even now, with its rich and intoxicating atmospherics. Angela Lansbury starred as the Grandmother w...

"The Company of Wolves II" by Olukemi With Snow White and the Huntsman galloping onto screens in the wake of, and from the same gothic fairy tale stable as Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood , and Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror to follow soon after, it looks like fairy tale adaptations are trending at the moment. They’re certainly not a new thing; fairy tales have often provided the basis for films throughout cinema history – either directly or loosely. I thought it might be interesting throughout the course of December to have a look at one of the most recognisable and enduring of these tales – Little Red Riding Hood. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood is centuries old. Most people will be familiar with it thanks to growing up with the likes of the slightly diluted version by the Brothers Grimm, in which a young girl and her grandmother are rescued from the belly of a ravenous wolf by a chivalrous woodsman. Earlier versions of the tale were much darker, and bleaker....

1996 Dir. Matthew Bright When Vanessa witnesses her mother and stepfather being hauled off to jail on drugs and prostitution charges, the teenage tearaway goes on the run from a social worker who wants to put her into care. She sets off to seek sanctuary at her grandmother's house. Along the way however, she encounters a sadistic serial killer who she discovers has been preying on vulnerable young women on the freeway… Matthew Bright’s cult indie hit Freeway is a thoroughly twisted take on the tale of 'Little Red Riding Hood’; a tale that has consistently proved it is ripe for reinterpretation time and again. Much like the original tale not just being a story about a girl eaten by a wolf (it’s actually a rite of passage story warning young women of the dangers of rape), Bright’s take isn’t just the tale of a girl who has a terrifying encounter with a serial killer – it actually unravels as a damning indictment of the US justice system and its inhumane treatment of the...

2003 Dir. David Morwick The grisly murders of several students at a quiet college campus coincide with recent sightings of a red-hooded figure creeping around the local woods. Student Peter Bloom decides to investigate, and before long he realises that the killer, who has a connection to the school library, is also obsessed with fairy tales. Peter must act quickly to figure out the bizarre modus operandi and stop the killer before they strike again… 'A flash of red... Then you're dead. ' I bought Little Erin Merryweather for £1 in a local discount shop. I wasn’t really expecting much; so was pleasantly surprised when it actually turned out to be not half bad. It certainly has its fair share of interesting moments and startling imagery. And it was £1. An intriguing opening sets the fairy tale-image drenched scene, as a young college student is lured into the woods by a mysterious figure in a red cape, only to be pounced upon and gutted. Even though we don’t see ...