“Big Bad Wolf” Review

How much more grim do these fairy tales have to get before they’re pure trash? Yeah, I understand the fun to be had with pumping classics such as Hansel & Gretel and Snow White with lots of action and violence. Heck, I’m all for it if it can be done with a certain level of creativity. But ‘Big Bad Wolf’ (also known as ‘Huff’) is ground-zero for these types of adaptations with uninspired ideas and a disgustingly hateful script based on ‘The Three Little Pigs’.

The stepfather known as Huff (get it?) has three stepdaughters that he preaches the dark word of the Bible to on a daily basis. The stepdaughters are named Brixi, Styx and Shay (GET IT!?). When Huff isn’t screaming at his family, beating his family or deciding who to rape in his family, he likes to dabble in selling drugs. But when the wife swipes the drug money and forces her daughters out the door for a better life, Huff gets steamed and goes hunting with Bible and knife in hand.

So why is Huff such a hypocritical zealot who is abusive to every human on Earth? At one point it seems like it may have something to do with his inhaler, but that trait (as with the mafia subplot) just doesn’t go anywhere. We never once get a chance to see his backstory or his inner demons as the film seems far more preoccupied with the hunt. And that’s all the film really is: a brutal hunt. Huff tracks down a stepdaughter, demands his money, rips her clothes off, stabs her and moves on. Why does he need to murder them? It may be the Jesus in his head telling him to smite the wicked, but, again, this is never focused on for very long. We don’t need to develop any of these characters because the director thinks that a stepfather viciously raping and killing his daughters is entertainment enough.

There’s just nothing to like about this movie. The acting is phoned in by all involved, the violence towards family members is unwatchable and the grand finale where Huff finally gets a taste of his own medicine is very underwhelming. In an interview with director Paul Morrell, he states that his reasoning for making this film was because he’s never seen a horror feature based on ‘The Three Little Pigs’ motif. Well, congratulations, Paul, you’re the first to make such a movie. It’s a terrible movie, but at least you get to have that claim to fame if nothing else.

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