Writer(s): Tom Szollosi and Deborah Serra, from a story by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Monica Keena, and Gil Bellows
I had wanted to see Snow White: A Tale of Terror for a
long time. It first caught my eye when I
was a teenager, but for whatever reason, I would always pass it up at the video
store, probably in favor of more violent fare.
Then the older I got, the less and less it appealed to me, and I
completely forgot about it.
That is, until I stumbled on it on an online streaming
service. My wife also really wanted to
see it, to bring back memories of her own; she had watched a scary Snow White
movie several times with her sister and mother when she was very young (ironic,
considering her parents forbid movies like this from being anywhere near the
house) and wanted to relive it again as an adult. Eager for two different reasons, we settled
in.
Honestly, my biggest fear going in was that I would be bored
out of my mind. While my wife is a huge
fan of fairy tales in general (like a lot of women), I tend to avoid them like
the plague (like most men). Obviously, I
knew this was geared more toward adults, but seeing as how it had two big-name
stars (in Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill), I just expected it to be a watered-down
horror film with a lot of talking and very little imagination. Boy was I wrong.
The coolest aspect is that it is more or less a fairy tale
in name only. Sure, it borrows events
and basic ideas from Snow White, but, for example, there is no one ever called
“Snow White” in it. Just as none of the
seven dwarves, who in this movie are seven miners (and only one of whom is
actually short), are ever referred to by name.
As the film opens, Frederick Hoffman (pronounced
“Free-der-ick”; played by Sam Neill) and his wife Lilliana are taking a
carriage ride through the woods, on their way back home. Lilliana is several months pregnant and
appears as if she could burst open at any time.
Then tragedy strikes: The
carriage hits a fallen tree trunk, causing a wheel to fall off, and causing the
carriage—and the accompanying horse—to slide down an embankment. Lilliana is injured, and will not survive;
her dying wish is for Frederick
to cut open her stomach and deliver the child.
That child is Lilli, the “Snow White” of the title. After a few years of raising Lilli on his
own, he is finally arranged to marry a noblewoman known as Lady Claudia
(Sigourney Weaver). Jealous at the idea
that Claudia will take time away from her and her father, Lilli
hates her right off the bat—by the time the story progresses to her teenage
years, the hatred has grown mutual.
One night, during an event in their large castle, Lilli
defies her stepmother’s orders by wearing an old gown that used to belong to her
biological mother. At first, her father
is shocked, but then grows to love the idea and the two of them spend the night
dancing together. Infuriated by this,
Claudia retreats to her room, where she is taken under the spell of an evil
mirror, and vows to kill her stepdaughter by any means necessary, which then
becomes the film’s entire focus.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a dark film to be sure,
and I don’t mean it’s not well-lit; it deals with some themes that truly
shocked me, and also features a small helping of some rather brutal (though
simulated) animal cruelty that will no doubt be hard for some to stomach. But what really elevates this beyond typical
genre fare is the area I feared it would falter: its imagination. For example, while under the spell of the
mirror, everything that Claudia does in the mansion, is reciprocated wherever
Lilli is. So, for example, when Claudia
goes on a rampage down a mansion hallway, spinning and tipping over large decorum,
her spinning causes a tornado in the woods where Lilli is staying, and the
tipped-over statues become falling trees that spell danger for her and the dwarves.
These little nuances, of which there are many, really help
to maintain the fairy tale atmosphere, while still imbuing it with its own
brand of unique creativity. It’s a fine-line
to toe, but director Michael Cohn is up to the task. He’s also game to coax an excellent
performance out of the entire cast, but Sigourney Weaver steals the show as
Claudia, whose gradual descent into madness and pure evil feels eerily
authentic. Rather than overplaying her
role, which seems to be the preferred tactic of many actors playing a villain
role, she keeps her performance grounded, and the effect is far more chilling--not
to mention eerily human--than if she would have gone overboard.
Monica Keena is also good as “Snow White”, but the approach
the writers took to her character is rather weird: She is technically the aggressor in her
relationship with Claudia, absolutely refusing to have anything to do with her,
while Claudia at least tries to tolerate her.
I’ve actually read many people say that they preferred Claudia’s
character, simply because Lilli is so callous and cold toward her new
stepmother that they found her hard to root for. The writers also stumble a
bit with the “dwarves”, as they don’t really seem to know what to do with them. Several of them appear in just a couple
scenes, and only one interacts with her at length—in other words, most of them
are just throwaways, included only to create more similarities between this and
the source material.
Despite these flaws, Snow White: A Tale of Terror manages
to be surprisingly good. Director Cohn’s
success here is rather unexpected, given that his entire filmography up to this
point consisted of just two films: A below-average sci-fi movie
(Interceptor), and a mild thriller starring Ally Walker and Martin Sheen
(When the Bough Breaks). Startlingly,
you would think a movie like this would have jumpstarted his career, but he did
not make another movie until 2014, with Sacrifice, a little-seen (it’s only
been reviewed by 14 people on the IMDb) and boringly-titled thriller that
sounds like millions of other thrillers (though it did get a slightly
above-average review from Variety). It’s
kind of a shame that he wasn’t given more opportunities, because this showed exactly what he was capable of.
RECAP: Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a surprisingly
imaginative film, featuring an amazing central performance from Sigourney
Weaver as the evil witch. But make no
mistake: This is a dark, dark film that
tackles some disturbing issues head-on, so keep the little ones away. The special effects (especially the makeup)
are really well done. The biggest
complaint is the writing, which doesn’t do much with the “dwarf” characters,
and oddly makes Lilli the initial aggressor in her relationship with Claudia
(rather than eliciting sympathy by making her a victim). Flaws aside, though, it’s a fascinating film,
and one that has enough tricks up its sleeve to hold the viewer’s attention
from the beginning, to the end.
RATING: 7/10
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