Snow White – A Tale of Terror: Gloriously Grimdark

Shirleon joins Melvin to summarize a late-90s retelling-with-a-twist adaptation of a beloved fairytale: Snow White: A Tale of Terror! From its surprisingly nuanced characters to its downright diabolical antagonist, the two enjoy discussing the horrific ins-and-outs of this late-20th century oddity! 

Topics:

• The opening tone-setter for Snow White: A Tale of Terror really sells the atmosphere of dark fantasy.
• Interestingly, the opening dynamic between Claudia, the “Evil Queen” equivalent, and Lilli, the “Snow White” equivalent, is more of Claudia seeking a good relationship with Lilli while Lilli acts consistently bratty.
• Once the movie goes grimdark, it doesn’t stop topping itself with bizarre dark fantasy ideas.
• Discussing why they think classic fairytale villains, Disney or otherwise, are so compelling.
• The film is undeniably a horror film, but it’s largely psychological with some horror-lite sequences.
• The “Seven Dwarves” equivalent are essentially Highwaymen, and each one has some form of physical deformity or ailment which contrasts with Claudia’s unabashed vanity.
• The whole “catatonic Snow White” sequence that the fairytale is famous for starts and ends near immediately.
• The film is loaded with “show don’t tell”, but sometimes it’s to a fault.

Recommendations:

• Fairest of All by Serena Valentino (2009) (Book)
• Mirror, Mirror by Jen Calonia (2019) (Book)
• Event Horizon (1997) (Movie)

Snow White: A Tale of Terror is Rated R for some horror violence and a scene of sexuality. It features Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Monica Keena, Gil Bellows, Taryn Davis, Brian Glover, David Conrad, Anthony Brophy, Chris Bauer, and Miroslav Táborský. Directed by Michael Cohn. Snow White: A Tale of Terror is available here.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

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