[FrightFest Glasgow '26] FILM REVIEW: Red Riding

Red Riding - FrightFest Glasgow World Premiere Review

Director: Craig Conway

Starring: Victoria Tait, Lynsey Beauchamp, Bill Fellows, Ian Whyte, Michael Tominey

Written by: Peter Stylianou

Produced by: Paul Murray, Daniel Patrick Vaughan

Cinematography by: Daniel Patrick Vaughan

Original Score by: Roma Yagnik

Synopsis:

After her mother's overdose, teen Red Riding moves from London to her estranged grandmother's Scottish estate, where dark family secrets, missing children, and a monstrous wolf blur reality, forcing her to fight for survival.

Thoughts:

When I heard that Craig Conway's debut feature film was premiering at FrightFest Glasgow, it was no brainer for me. I didn't even need to know the synopsis. But my intrigue peaked even more when I learned that it was a modern take of the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale story. And while this isn't in the same realm as some of the recent public domain children's stories (it's way more grounded) it's definitely one of the better ones to be released.

Victoria Tait stars as Redele, an angry and disillusioned teenager who lives in a rundown block of flats with her drug addict Mother. She is deeply unhappy for a number of reasons but the primary one is because she has now become the adult and her Mother is the child. Not only does Redele have to go to school during the day like every other teen, she has to come home and hope that her mother hasn't burnt down the flat.

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But then her Mother overdoses and Redele is left with nothing and nobody...except an estranged Grandmother who lives in the desolate countryside of Scotland. With no other choices remaining Redele must pack up and move north to start a new life. It's here that she learns of her family's true wealth. Her Grandmother owns a large estate beyond Redele's wildest dreams. But after a few days, Redele begins to notice that this idyllic countryside life is boring and even more important, dangerous.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, this is no fairytale adaptation. This is modern day dramatic filmmaking that uses the basis of the original story to tell a new story. In reality, it only uses names as a connection but it has a very mindful approach to its characters and settings. The beginning sort of reminded of Andrea Arnold's fantastic 2009 kitchen sink drama 'Fish Tank'. Victoria Tait asserts herself really well from the opening scene as the protaganist that we have to get behind. Her attitude is stinking, rightfully so, and despite a terrible tragedy, it took a little while for me to fully get on board with her situation shall we say.

Tait is fantastic as the rebellious school girl who clearly doesn't give any fucks about anyone else's opinion of her. Redele becomes a fish out of water and Tait does a brilliant job of getting her confusion and difficulty at adapting to her new life over on screen. The unravelling of the story and the family secrets is a bit convuluted to begin with but eventually all balances out quite well into a really intriguing plot. There are twists and I think Conway deals with them astutely.

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I think Victoria Tait is the one obvious standout from the cast. The rest are doing their best but sometimes don't feel as authentic. Lynsey Beauchamp, who plays Penelope the Grandmother, is very creepy, but to the point where it feels a bit too forced. She's being shoehorned in straight away as this ominous character who might be a villain, which makes any revelation later on less than effective.

I loved the overall look of the film and felt that the estate location worked well to tell this story. I'd have liked more stuff happening in the woods and a little more traditional horror but there's some realy cool imagery that heightens the tension. 'Red Riding' is an impressive dramatic debut from Craig Conway and I hope he gets the opportunity to do it all again.

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Gavin Logan

'Red Riding' received its World Premiere at FrightFest Glasgow '26 on March 7th