Ferozz Wild Riding Hood is Not the Fairy Tale From Your Childhood
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Ferozz Wild Riding Hood is a gory and disturbing visit with the world’s most dysfunctional family who do the most unspeakable things.
Written by The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
December 22, 2010
Release: August 27, 2010 (Macabro Film Festival, Mexico)
Directed by: Jorge Molina
Written by: Jorge Molina (screenplay), Alaín Jiménez (story), Charles Perrault (story "Le petit chaperon rouge") and Edgar Soberón Torchia (screenplay)
Starring:
Dayana Legrá as Miranda
Roberto Perdomo as Inocencio
Ana Silvia Machado as Dolores
Francisco García as Doña Zulma
Raúl Capote as Dully
For those not familiar with Jorge Molina or his work, he is a Cuban director as well as a performer who has appeared in more than 80 feature length and short films. He made quite a name for himself right out of the gate when his film school thesis, Molina's Culpa, won a Coral award while simultaneously invoking the ire of the Catholic Church for it’s anti-religious content. Molina’s filmmaking is known for low budgets, extreme violence and sexuality and for taking on themes that most folks wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Molina also teaches directing in Havana.
Molina’s latest film release, Ferozz Wild Riding Hood (aka Ferozz: The Wild Riding Hood or simply Molina’s Ferozz) falls right in line with the Molina reputation.
Miranda is a young girl living in a remote rural area with her mother, grandmother and two uncles. Her father used to live with them before he died of a heart attack from the stress of violently raping her mother at the dinner table, egged on by her
disgustingly vile grandmother Doña Zulma (played by the decidedly and obviously male Francisco García). Punitive dinnertime rape is not the only dysfunctional thing happening in this family though. For example, one of her uncles, Dully (Raúl Capote) is the offspring of a union between her grandmother and her father, making Dully both Miranda’s uncle and brother, and her dead father’s brother and also son. The “good” uncle is both a devout Catholic and a closet Satan worshipper. Actually the whole family casts spells of one kind or another.
Miranda is reaching adulthood and feeling the urges that come with adolescence, but in her rural area the options for exploring her newfound femininity are limited (don’t ask about the puppy). Sure Dully lurks in the forest wanking himself whenever she skinny dips in the river, but that’s not what she’s after. The “good” uncle, Inocencio (Roberto Perdomo) is the man on her mind.
Ferozz Wild Riding Hood is no fairy tale. There are some parallels drawn to the classic story as there is indeed a grandma, Miranda does wear a red riding hood, and she does bring a basket of “goodies” to her grandma at some point. Otherwise this is a highly disturbing examination of a part of human nature that it is hard to believe really exists somewhere… though I’m sure it does. Ferozz Wild Riding Hood has it all, from multiple rapes, 
explicit beheadings, incest and even bestiality. As disturbing and difficult to watch as these shockers are, though, it is clear that Molina is trying to say something (other than “look Ma, how gross I am). I may, unfortunately, be too thick to get what that is.
The scenes are filled with symbolism and metaphors touching on religion, coming of age, sin and repentance, temptation and resistance, and the battle between good and evil. These observations may be highly insightful, or the futile attempts of the human mind to find some meaning in a sea of grotesque and campy insanity. Am I like those dorks wearing all black who gather around a painting made by worms debating the deep meaning just so their friends won’t find out that all they see is the result of worms covered in paint moving around a canvas? That’s the thing with art – it doesn’t actually have to mean anything if you can surround yourself with folks too insecure to admit they don’t get it. Ferozz Wild Riding Hood could go either way.
In spite of all of the taboos broken and reasons why one probably shouldn’t watch Ferozz Wild Riding Hood, it is clear that Molina is a talented 
filmmaker. The story is interesting and compelling with scenes shot beautifully in spite of an obviously low budget. The performances are all very good, albeit strategically over-acted, and there is a sense that Molina directly pulled the raw emotions from the actors. Molina’s talent is obvious, even if his message is less so.
The clearest theme is that in the ugliest of world situations there will emerge a beautiful glimmer of innocence occasionally, but only for a while. The darkness of evil will eventually overtake and destroy the light. Not a particularly optimistic view of the world, but it would seem that it is Molina’s view.
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