Darker Fairytales

Originally fairytales were much darker and more for adults than children they were seen as warnings containing metaphors relating to life. Nowadays most of them have been watered down, particularly in the Disney versions, but those rare gems of darker retellings do crop up now and again in book and movie form. Not that long ago I mentioned some of them, including Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and a movie adaptation of some of those tales- In the Company of Wolves, a darker retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale.

Now I'm currently reading Tanith Lee's Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer, which like Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber contains short stories retelling common fairytales in a much darker setting. So far I've read 5 of them- Paid Piper, Red as Blood, Thorns, When the Clock Strikes and The Golden Rope, which are her versions of the Pied Piper, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Certainly they are different, poignant, sad and disturbing with much religious imagery combined with the dark arts and common myth often with places laid to waste and naive characters along with powerful adversaries who are not always so black and white. My favourite so far is Thorns where the rescuing of Sleeping Beauty is not as wonderful as it seems.

If you like the more twisted adult versions of fairytales I highly recommend getting this though it can be tricky to find, I got it at a bargain on ebay but I notice some people are selling it at around £7-10.

I also recently purchased and watched Snow White: A Tale of Terror on dvd, a horror version of the story starring Sam Neill, Sigourney Weaver, Monica Keena (of Dawson's Creek fame), Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal and Shawshank Redemption) and David Conrad (Ghost Whisperer).



A much darker version of the story there are no dwarves here but rather seven minesmen all wronged in their time and roughened by society. It centres around Lilli Hoffman, the Snow White of the story, a girl whose mother died in a terrible accident during her birth, she is raised by her father Lord Friederick Hoffman and his servants until he brings a new wife to their home, the Lady Claudia Hoffman. At first Claudia seems genuinely nice, presenting Lilli with a puppy, and doing her best to win her affection as the years roll by. Lilli however is spoilt and still mourns her dead mother whose picture she wears around her neck in a locket. Try as Claudia might she cannot win over Lilli and worse when Lilli comes to a ball in her dead mother's dress it becomes obvious to Claudia that she is a constant reminder to Friederick of his late wife and that he will not love Claudia with that reminder.

Claudia falls pregnant after nine years of trying but on the night of the ball the stress of losing attention to Lilli in her mother's dress seems to cause her to lose the baby and drives her mad. When Lilli is out in the woods she orders her mute brother to kill her but Lilli escapes into the woods where she comes across the seven minesmen.

Claudia, driven by a voice in her magic mirror, tries to kill Lilli with magic first with a collapse in the mine then with falling trees in the woods, which seems the demise of some of the miners.

The story is very creepy, Claudia in her crone form is just as scary as the Disney version and her dancing round the corridors laughing is very creepy indeed, combined with the zombie like servants and an unforgettable scene in the church, it makes for a very memorable movie. The rugged Gil Bellows is an excellent contrast to Lilli's handsome doctor fiance who is well groomed throughout movie and claims a deep devotion to Lilli but is easily swayed by the magnetic Claudia.

Combined with several slow deaths, the horrific imagery of Claudia cradelling her dead babe, the painful sight of her dragging a sickly Friederick to his would be doom, a bloodied servant half mad and the iconic image of Lilli in her glass coffin, it's a film of wonderful, powerful imagery not for the faint hearted.

It's not shy about harping back to the earlier darker origins of the fairytale presenting a more realistic version of it though it does not lack the infamous magic mirror or witchcraft, it's definitely worth the watch and deserves a better release on dvd and blueray (the only one out has no additions to the dvd bar a trailer and it has not been retouched).

Personally I don't really like the Disney Snow White movie, it's boring and even the dwarves don't make it fun for me, the prince has no personality and no name (he did get one you just never learn it in the movie), the Queen (also nameless in the movie) is more or less killed by natural causes (bit of an anti-climax) and I didn't even really like Snow White herself much as she lacked a personality. I understand why all this is, it was Disney's first movie after all and back then you just couldn't have all that, mind you the older movies are much better than today's.

I have not even cared much for the Snow White tale itself, though learning that in the original the Queen tried to kill her with laces and a comb before the apple and died at Snow's wedding, punished with iron shoes she was made to dance in until her death, but still it's never appealed much to me.

Snow White: A Tale of Terror however I love, it makes the story so much more interesting and Gil Bellows' character Will is just so much more sexier and appealing than any prince, plus I loved the contrast between him and Dr. Peter and it was nice to actually see the heroine's father and I love how her personality transforms as she forced from her noble life to a grittier one in the woods with half-wild men.


There is another version of the story I also enjoyed when I was young, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All, it came out in 2001, made by Hallmark (I love all their movies) starring Kristin Kreuk in the title role with Miranda Richardson as the Stepmother Elspeth. I don't remember much about it save for enjoying it but I plan to get it on dvd soon and watch it again. I do know it too got credit for being a darker version though it had much more humour than A Tale of Terror and was still suitable for children, it also includes the laces, which most versions omit. It also has the seven dwarves, a crone and a prince.

Needless to say with the latest surge of interest in fairytales Snow White is the latest up for a remark with Kristin Stewart taking the title role, Charlize Theron the evil stepmother, Sam Claflin (of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie) as the prince and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as the huntsman. It is called Snow White and the Huntsman and will start filming soon no doubt.

Personally I do not know whether I will like it or not, Red Riding Hood was a let down, and these movies are getting made awfully suddenly as everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon, which implies they're being made for money and nothing else so I suppose it's unlikely that we will get something edgy, original and noteworthy. It's a good cast though I cannot picture Kristin as Snow White, she does not strike me a raven haired and pale, though no doubt she will look the part with make-up, wigs and costumes.

I generally prefer cult films to Hollywood blockbusters so I am not holding out.