Mikes Film Talk

The 2016 horror film Little Dead Rotting Hood shows us the “Asylum does werewolves” offering. Like Sharknado but with werewolves. Get it?

It is shot in and around the Santa Clarita Hills, at Rene’s ’50s Town. Little Dead Rotting Hood is another helping of schlock from The Asylum. The same company want to produce Sharknado until the end of time. Yet amazingly they still manage to delight with Z Nation. They have now done werewolves. Without a tornado in sight.

This is written by real estate specialist Gabriel Campisi, which explains so much. Directed by Jared Cohn,  it stars a bored Eric Balfour. The film also features  a tiny, blink and you will miss it, cameo by Star Trek actress Marina Sirtis. 

The film also starts The Fosters  regular Bianca A. Santos as “Rotting Hood” and Romeo Miller as the love interest.  Little Dead Riding Hood  has a  meandering plot. It is set in the mountains. The place where the old wolf lady kills herself at the start of the film to empower her granddaughter.

The Story

Balfour’s sheriff  has his hands full with his kids being dropped off by his ex. There are also  increasing amounts of wolf attacks on the local citizenry. Santos is the granddaughter, whom granny lets die before empowering her, and Miller is Samantha’s boyfriend.

The Asylum’s practice of slapping storylines together that make no real sense like the werewolves for instance. These crop up toward the end of the film and they are a complete surprise. Also in keeping with nonsensical plot devices,  the head werewolf is a giant.

The FX for the enormous werewolf  leader  varies. In some shots the creature  looks okay and in others it resembles a draft effort. (Still the thing did look marginally better than the unintentionally  funny zombie gorilla in Zoombies. The gigantic werewolf leader may have looked dodgy. However, it did not elicit  eruptions of hysterical laughter like the big monkey did.

Balfour as  Sheriff Adam looks as though he misses his Haven costars Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant. It could be that he‘s not used to playing cops. He was the bad boy of Haven for five seasons after all.

Some Good Stuff

The storyline, such as it is, meanders all over the place and does not really hold together at all.  One has the feeling that a lot wound up in the cutting room floor,. Or the script was never meant to make a whole lot of sense.

On the plus side, the blood flows like a good claret and the wolves, when they attack, are very convincing. (IMDb states real wolves are used for the filming.)  On the very crowded minus side the film is very clearly shot in and around Santa Clarita. A  location that does not remotely resemble Maine or the Appalachian Mountains. Or where ever the film is really meant to be.

Pap

Little Dead Rotting Hood is atypical pap from The Asylum. Something to be watched while smoking pot and munching on stale pizza. (Or conversely drinking beer and eating stale pizza.)

This is “Drive-In” fare that would have preceded the main film back in the day.

The Verdict

Little Dead Rotting Hood is a real 2.5 star effort  that one should watch if only nothing else is available.  Confusing and boring, this is even worse than “Zoombies.” This is  streaming on Prime, Tubi, and Fawesome, et al. Approach with caution and arm yourself with mood altering substances before watching.

The Trailer