Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this teen twist on Little Red Riding Hood from Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is a romance-and-horror mix that's not for young kids. While there are no overt love scenes, there are several scenes of the main couple kissing, groping, and breathing heavily in each other's presence; at one point, the lead boy is about to undress his girl but is interrupted. But the sexuality pales in comparison with the violence, which is frequent and disturbing and features dismembered limbs, torture, and a high body count. What's more, the movie's overall message of "love conquers all" is buried beneath the dangerous-for-teens idea that if you love someone, you should be willing to leave your family and home to be with them.
Sexual
Content
Valerie and Peter flirt as children and, as young adults, touch and kiss quite passionately several times, occasionally saying sexually charged things to each other. At one point he kisses her so fiercely that he picks her up; she wraps her legs around him, and he says, "I could eat you up." In another scene, they get horizontal, and she asks "Don't you want me?" which prompts him to start unfastening her top, until they're interrupted. Valerie also hugs Henry and gives him a kiss on the cheek, and Valerie and Prudence dance provocatively while Peter dances with Rose. A young woman offers her body in exchange for her brother's release, but she's refused.
Violence
The werewolf attacks the village many times, killing dozens of citizens. People are dismembered, decapitated, stabbed, and tortured to death. The violence is edited in a way that minimizes some of the more graphic, gorier deaths, but the audience still sees many people get killed, including a man whose arm is ripped off, a young man who's burned alive, and a few characters who are killed by loved ones or associates because of their connection to the wolf.
Language
Insulting language (particularly to young women) includes "slut," "harlot," "witch," "devil's daughter," "coward," and more. Also "oh my God."
Social
Behavior
Many of the movie's messages are focused on relationships, and they aren't necessarily positive for adolescents. Valerie says things like "I'd do anything to be with you," and Peter affirms that they should run away, leaving everyone and everything behind to be together. That's not a healthy message for teens already inundated with messages that Twilight-level obsessiveness equals the pinnacle of romance. Then there's the wolf, who, when revealed, expresses a desire to have a partner in using the vicious power to kill, terrorize, and reign over people.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
In several scenes, men and women drink -- in many cases to excess -- at the town pub and during a hedonistic celebration. A few men look drunk, and one character is shown passed out next to a pool of vomit.
