Red Kingdom Rising, 2012.
Directed by Navin Dev.
Starring Emily Stride, Silvana Maimone, David Caron and Etalia Turnbull.
SYNOPSIS:
A troubled young woman must come to terms with her horrific past when she is propelled through dreams into the terrifying fairy tale world of the Red Kingdom, where she encounters figures reminiscent of her memories and fears.
As well as entertaining children for generations, fairy tales have also been a rich source of material for Hollywood over the years, with the likes of Disney mining the vast library of stories to produce such classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Furthermore, the staggering financial success of Tim Burton’s live-action Alice in Wonderland has opened the studios’ eyes to the box-office potential that fairy tales present; this year alone audiences will be treated to two Snow White adaptations – Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror: The Untold Adventures of Snow White – while a host of productions are lined up for subsequent years, including Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Mark Romanek’s Cinderella, Tim Burton’s Peter Pan and Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent, which has Angelina Jolie signed on as the ‘Mistress of All Evil’.
In addition to lining the pockets of the Hollywood studios, fairy tales – with their dark and often violent undertones – are also perfect fodder for the fantasy/horror genre, and that’s the approach that British filmmaker Navin Dev has taken with his micro-budget feature debut, Red Kingdom Rising. Taking inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – and, more specifically, its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass – Red Kingdom Rising centres on a young woman, Mary Ann (Emily Stride), who returns to her childhood home following the death of her father. Mary Ann’s arrival stirs up painful memories long suppressed, and as she begins to confront her past she finds herself swept into a nightmarish dream world, where a young girl dressed as Alice (albeit with her face obscured by a Cheshire Cat mask) explains that her only chance of escape is to confront the sinister Red King – the embodiment of her childhood fears, and her darkest secrets.
Despite being filmed on a shoestring budget, the acting in Red Kingdom Rising is decent throughout and the decision to shoot on Super 16 film stock as opposed to digital video makes a refreshing change for an independent production. While some aspects of the film – particularly the ‘real world’ scenes – have a kind of ‘television’ feel about them, that certainly isn’t the case when it comes to the dream world. Working with production designer Anna Mould, Dev has managed to conjure an eerie and imaginative dark fantasy dreamscape with a visual style reminiscent of directors such as Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro, which is also enhanced by some fine make-up work from VFX artist Mike Peel, who counts Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Descent and The Zombie Diaries among his credits.
Overall, Red Kingdom Rising is a solid piece of filmmaking that rarely suffers from its limitations. If you’re familiar with the original tellings of folk stories as Donkeyskin, then you’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s in store once the narrative unfolds. If not, then believe me when I say this is one fairy tale you won’t want to watch with the kids.
Originally published February 14, 2012. Updated April 12, 2018.
