MovieChat Forums > Red Riding Hood (2011) Discussion > Dark/twisted film versions of fairy tale...

Dark/twisted film versions of fairy tales


Let's start a thread in which we recommend and discuss other dark/creepy film versions of classic fairy tales. I'll start with the obvious ones:

The Company of Wolves (Little Red Riding Hood)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpvPUgwMaVM

Snow White: A Tale of Terror (Snow White, obviously)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOlQ75fhWKE

Both are my two of my most treasured films. Both of them boast with beautiful, sinister Gothic atmosphere, and are not too shy to deliver underlying messages on sexuality and such, or please the gorehound viewers with many 'yuck' moments. Besides, many of the early versions of fairy tales, before the were sanitized for children, were bloody, gruesome, sex-packed things, the stuff today's horror is made of. Do some research on your own. Believe it or not, this is what many of our beloved fairy tales were crammed with: mutilations, cannibalism, necrophilia, rape, etc.

"Snow White: A Tale of Terror" I adore just a pinch more than the other one, mainly because of the wonderful, talented Sigourney Weaver, who plays Claudia, the stepmother. It's a very flawed film, but still beautifully shot, performed and directed. The production values are incredible. The idea of giving the viewer a little more insight on the villain and how he/she turned out evil is a most interesting idea, and it seems to work, because, despite Claudia turning evil, you are aware of her true motivations, how she feels, and why she does this -- she's no longer this 100% evil character. She's just a sad human being who does the wrong choices, unlike most one-dimensional Disney villains.

Also, there's a horror comedy cartoon version of the "Three Little Pigs". It was the last episode of "Tales from the Crypt". Check it out!

The Third Pig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUAsuGkFwtc

And here are some more of them:

The Brothers Grimm (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355295/)

Hansel & Gretel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1002567/)

Deadtime Stories (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092850/)

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Brotherhood of the Wolf (French)

Hansel and Gretel (Korean)

The Red Shoes (Korean)

Little Otik

City of Lost Children

Pan's Labyrinth

Beowulf

Sleepy Hollow

Valerie and her Week of Wonders

Lady in the Water

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Brotherhood of the wolf is one of my all-time favorite films, though it's not a fairy tale, it's actually (very loosely) based on true occurences. I liken it more to From Hell than anything else. What I really love though, are the production design (especially wardrobe/costumes, lighting, and general atmosphere) and the way it sort of crosses most every genre of film. Costume drama? Check. Monster movie? Check. Action? Check. Whodunnit/mystery? Check.
Also love city of lost children, sleepy hollow, lady in the water (It seems lots didn't like or understand it. The first criticism I always hear is 'the twist at the end was terrible!'. Come on, people, m. Night shyamalan is not a one-trick director!)
Beowulf was pretty good, but i. LOVED beowulf & grendel!

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"is this dangerous?"
"not clinically."

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I know that it says FILM versions, but can I add some books to the thread?

The Company of Wolves is loosely based off a short story in Angela Carter's collection of fairy tale retellings The Bloody Chamber. I was introduced to this book by my Fables and Tales professor. I absolutely LOVE it!

Neil Gaiman writes new versions of fairy tales all of the time. One of his most gruesome is Snow, Glass, Apples. My friend refuses to read any of his books because of it.

The comic series Fables is really fun.

Gregory Maguire has several novels that expand upon fairy tales. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (My favorite), Mirror, Mirror, and [iWicked[/i]...in a way.

The Child Thief by Brom is a dark version of Peter Pan.

Now it's time for the movies!!

Krysar is a REALLY cool Czech stop motion film based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174834/

Alice is another really cool stop motion film. This one is based on Alice in Wonderland http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095715/

There is a French film that I happened to see on instant Netflix called Bluebeard http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1355623/. It was a beautiful film; although, I must confess...the ending confuses me. The plot is a little slow, but the visuals will more than make up for it.

If I remember any others, I will be sure to post.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PinkCarnationProDux

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I was going to post some books here too, but it seems you beat me to it. Anyway, I love "Snow, Glass, Apples"! It was so twisted and gruesome I couldn't get enough of it! Seriously, Gaiman needs to do more of that! I'd love to read his version of Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

The collection "The Bloody Chamber" I happen to own and cherish, too. My favourite tales were "The Werewolf", "The Snow Child" and "The Erl-KIng". Too bad the first too were the shortest stories, they were pretty awesome.

Just today I've ordered the first book in an anthology series by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. These books include our beloved fairy tales, but retold in their dark, grim origins. The series goes like this, I think: "Snow White, Blood Red", "Black Thorn, White Rose", "Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears" and "Black Swan, White Raven".

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-White-Blood-Avonova-Book/dp/0688109136/ref= pd_sim_b_3

Also, be sure to check out the horror comic book series "Grimm Fairy Tales" by Zenescope Entertainment. It's the fairy tales, retold as horror stories. I have downloaded a bunch of them, they're amazing. My favourite one is Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs and Three Blind Mice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm_Fairy_Tales_(comics)

Moreover, check out the book or the film version, "Flowers in the Attic. It's very fairytale-ish, but very disturbing. Set in the '50s, a mother gets widowed and goes then bankrupt, and, being unable to support herself and her four children, she takes them to live at her rich, but fanatically religious parents' grand mansion. Her plan is to charm back her dying, bedridden father and inherit his enormous fortune, but, in order for her plan to succeed, she must hide her four children away from him, for until she wins back his love. The children are shut and locked in a distant bedroom, with connection to the spacious attic of the mansion, and the mother, Corrine, promises them riches beyond relief, if they can have a little patience and stay hidden for until her father forgives her for something she did in the past (I won't tell you what she did). The children decide to co-operate, but, in time, their mother starts to withdraw from her children, seduced by her new rich lifestyle, and are left in the care of their abusive, fanatic grandmother.

It's a series of 5 books, but the first one alone is very unsettling and depressing. It includes themes of incest, child abuse, betrayal, neglect, growing up in bizarre situations and revenge.

There's a film version, as I've said before, starring a young Kristy Swanson as the older sister, Cathy, and the great Louise Fletcher in a brilliant performance as the evil grandmother. Here's the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlwwxHS7ss4

Unfortunately, the novel was deemed too disturbing for all of its themes to be translated into screen, namely the incest, and many fans despise the film version because of its many differences with the book. The book is way more violent, and the film looks timid if you compare the two (that's because the studio that was making the film wanted it to be PG-13). But, if you actually watch and judge the film not as an adaptation, but as a stand-alone Gothic drama, it's actually pretty good. It's my favourite film, and unjustly underrated. Everybody's comparing it with the book, thus the plenty bad reviews, which you shouldn't allow to underwhelm you. It's a great film. Buy the DVD, or download it through a torrent, or, you can find the whole film in parts on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0etR9jzluhc

A, more faithful to the book, remake of the film is in the plans, and hopefully it will get made, but, in the meantime, read the book if you don't want to watch the film, or watch the film and then read the book -- not the other way around, if you don't want to hate the film.

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I was looking at the anthology series by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, please come back and tell us how it is. I recently bought Happily Ever After Edited by John Klima. I've read the shortest stories so far, and they haven't impressed me much.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PinkCarnationProDux

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Flowers in the Attic was crap, and the worst part is, they -- for some odd reason, at least here in Canada -- put VC Andrews books in the horror section.

Michael
http://s1.sfgame.us/index.php?rec=58163

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I'm sorry to hear that you didn't like it. Maybe you could expand on it. Btw, V.C. Andrews is actually dead, has been ever since 1986. She only wrote 9 novels (The 'Dollanganger' Series, My Sweet Audrina, and the first three books in the 'Casteel' series). These were Gothic/twisted fairytale dramas, not actually horror, but a little close. All the rest of the books that bear the name "V.C. Andrews" are actually ghost-written, and are supposedly based on VC's notes (yeah right), and admittedly, most of them are terrible. They're basically soap-operas that rehash the plot summaries of the original novels, but they're not as dark and edgy and 'gutsy' as the original books written by VC.

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The Attic series is great, but not really remotely in the same vein as other titles mentioned.

When you're 17 a cow can seem dangerous and forbidden...am I alone here?

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Did you know, fairy tales weren't originally meant for children, so if you could get your hands on the original stories you'd be quite surprised!

Michael
http://s1.sfgame.us/index.php?rec=58163

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Did you know, fairy tales weren't originally meant for children, so if you could get your hands on the original stories you'd be quite surprised!

Don't worry, I've been informed of this long, long ago, buddy. ;) Anyway, I can post the links to the twisted, early versions of the "fairy tales" here, so people can read them and see for themselves that we're telling the truth.

The Grandmother (Red Riding Hood with cannibalism and almost-sex with the wolf)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0333.html#millien

Cinderella (Grimm version with mutilation and birds eating people)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html

Snow White (Grimm version with a cannibal Queen and a necrophiliac/pedophile Prince Charming)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0709.html#snowwhite

Sleeping Beauty (The first part of this is the version we know, while the second part includes the Prince's nasty cannibalistic, grandchildren-craving ogre-mother)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0410.html#perrault

The Juniper Tree (Grimm tale with cannibalism and murder)
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm047.html

Babes in the Woods (Most depressing fairy tale ever)
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19361/19361-h/19361-h.htm

There's also a variant of Hansel and Gretel, The Lost Children, in which the two siblings don't encounter a witch, but Satan and his wife (!). It's got some nice over-the-top violence, and it's pretty much "Hansel and Gretel meets Saw', but I can't seem to find the tale itself anywhere, because of "copyright restrictions" as a website claims. Anyway, here's the link to the Wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Children_(French_fairy_tale)

There's also an Italian fairy tale, Penta of the Chopped-off Hands, which provides us with some good old incest and mutilation. Sadly, I can't find it anywhere, but there's info on Wikipedia and other websites. The second link directs you to an essay about fairy tales with incest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penta_of_the_Chopped-off_Hands

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/incest.html#basile

There are also versions of "Sleeping Beauty" and "Rapunzel" which are packed with some nice sex. Sleeping Beauty awakes from her coma, only to find out that she had been impregnated by the Prince while she was in her coma, and that she'd also given two babies birth! In Rapunzel, she and the Prince spend a little sexy-time with each other up at the tower, which results in (what else) pregnancy.

I'm desperately trying to find these two versions again, and still trying. Once I succeed, I'll post the links here.

And here's a wonderful website where you can find any fairy tale you want, including variants from all over the world, and other less-known fairy tales you probably never heard of.

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/


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I remember back in the '90s -- or was it the early 2Ks(?) -- a book came out with the original tales, I don't remember what it was called, but it's worth looking up as well.

Michael
http://s1.sfgame.us/index.php?rec=58163

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I studied Children's Literature in college and the book we used
"Children's Literature", I forgot which edition but it had a picture of a painting of a girl dressed in old fashioned women's clothing with a somber look on her face, it's a very thick book. Our teacher explained that children didn't smile in pictures in those days and that the tales were meant to scare the children into being good. It has the original tales written by The brothers Grimm, very creepy, 'The Almond Tree" really freaked me out.

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One word......


RUMPELSTILTSKIN

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Believe several people have already commented, but these stories were not ment to be happy happy joy joy stories for children.

All the Grimm original stories were dark. A witch that eats Children? How's that appropriate for kids?

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the korean hansel and grettel one really sticks out as a great movie.

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I've been vandalized by Elvis! -Ernest, Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)

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there are several versions of 'beauty and the beast' (1946?, 1976, 1978) that are quite gruesome.

I'm not sure if you want to consider 'ever after' in this category as well.

I believe there is at least one horror version of rumplestilskin as well.


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[deleted]

The most twisted movies based on fairy tales are......

* Freeway (1996)- Based on Little Red Riding Hood
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116361/

* Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)- Based on Hansel & Gretel
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0175536/

Both are really disturbing, but great movies none the less.

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I love dark/twisted versions of fairy tales!

http://www.grouphug.us Make a confession at grouphug.us

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Freeway (1996) :)

Cupid put too much poison in the dart.

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Anyone seen this movie ? Its based on a short story called Susanna's seven husbands, which is very similar to Bluebeard..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1629376/

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**NODS***
Still recall Grimm's rendition of Cinderella where one of the ugly stepsisters cut off part of her foot so she could fit into the slipper
The details of Red Riding Hood were equally 'grim'........
:D
BUT I did like it last night when the famous words "Grandmother what big eyes you have" was repeated followed by the rest, big ears, big teeth
Chuckled when I heard those words.

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