Psycho's Movie Reviews #295: Snow White: A Tale Of Terror (1997)

Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a 1997 American gothic fantasy horror film based on the fairy tale of the same name. It was directed by Michael Cohn and stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill and Monica Keena. It premiered on Showtime on August 24, 1997.

Plot

As Lord Frederick Hoffman and his pregnant wife Lilliana are travelling home by carriage through the woods, they are accosted by a pack of wolves that attack both the horses and the coachman. In the chaos, Lilliana is fatally wounded and goes into labour; at his dying wife's urging, Frederick reluctantly performs a caesarean section to save their unborn daughter.

Years later, the young Lilli Hoffman, named after her late mother, plays mischievously on the grounds of the Hoffman estate. Frederick remarries a noble woman named Lady Claudia. Despite Claudia's kindness to her, Lilli is resentful towards her new stepmother, not even thanking Claudia for her gift of a Rottweiler puppy. On the Hoffmans' wedding night, Lilli runs from her nursemaid and hides under Claudia's bed. While searching for Lilli, the nursemaid is mysteriously killed by an unseen force when she looks into Claudia's ornate wardrobe mirror, which was passed down from her mother, a practitioner of witchcraft.

Nine years later, Lilli has grown into a beautiful but self-centred young woman. She still resents Claudia, now pregnant with her first child, despite her best efforts to be kind to Lilli. The Hoffmans throw a ball to celebrate the impending birth of Frederick and Claudia's son. Claudia gives Lilli a gown to wear to the ball that belonged to her as a child. Lilli rebuffs the gift and rebels by wearing one of her own mother's gowns to the ball, directing all the guests' attention to her and away from Claudia. Frederick is first startled, then pleased at Lilli's evocation of her mother. As the two dance, a hurt and jealous Claudia becomes so distressed that she goes into an early labour and delivers a stillborn boy. Dr. Peter Gutenberg, the Hoffmans' physician, informs Frederick that the stillbirth has rendered Claudia infertile. Distraught, she is soon corrupted by the power of the mirror and swears revenge on Lilli.

The next morning, a remorseful and sympathetic Lilli attempts to make peace with Claudia, who appears to forgive her. Dr. Gutenberg proposes to Lilli, who happily accepts; he goes to ask for her father's consent. While waiting for him, she is confronted by Claudia's mute brother Gustav, who tries to kill her per Claudia's orders but she escapes deep into the woods. Gustav then resorts to killing a boar instead and presents its heart to Claudia, who orders him to place the rest of the remains in the stew pot intended for the Hoffmans' dinner, which she later eats with wicked relish. However, when she coughs up the boar's blood, she realizes that Gustav has failed her. Enraged at his betrayal, she bewitches Gustav, which causes him to have horrific hallucinations that drive him to suicide. Frederick and the household search for Lilli in the woods, but Frederick falls from his horse and is injured.

In the meantime, Lilli is found by seven rough, combative miners, led by Will, who grudgingly take her under their wing. One of them attempts to rape Lilli, but is stopped by Will and thrown out. Claudia makes another attempt on Lilli's life using witchcraft to crush her in the mines, but Lilli escapes and one of the miners is killed instead. Dr. Gutenberg returns to the castle to find it almost abandoned save for Claudia, who, in an attempt to get rid of him, seduces and pleads with him to find Lilli.

Claudia again uses witchcraft to lure Lilli to her death by summoning a gale to knock down the trees and crush her to death. Lilli is almost crushed when she tries to save Lars, one of the miners, but she is pulled to safety by Will and Lars is killed. One of the miners spots a raven that had been following them and kills it after realizing it was bewitched. Under the mirror's influence, Claudia decides to deal with Lilli later and focuses on resurrecting her dead son in a ritual that requires her to "steal the father's seed and bathe the child in the father's blood". She then makes her way to the injured Frederick's bedchamber and rapes him. In the forest, while the four remaining miners mourn their losses, Lilli notices Will's scars, inflicted by Crusaders. Having fallen in love, the two share a kiss.

Claudia disguises herself as a crone and turns her brother's eviscerated heart into a poisoned apple. Transported to Lilli's refuge, she deceives her into accepting the apple, which puts her into a deathlike state. Will finds Lilli seemingly dead on the ground from a bite of the apple. Dr. Gutenberg eventually finds them and sadly pronounces her dead. The miners place her in a glass coffin and prepare to bury her. Will notices that her eyes have opened and pulls Lilli's body from the coffin, shaking her as he commands her to breathe, dislodging the piece of apple that had been stuck in her throat. In the castle, Claudia takes Frederick to the chapel, ties him to a crucifix and suspends it upside down, preparing to exsanguinate him to complete the resurrection of her son.

Gutenberg takes Lilli back to the castle to stop Claudia and rescue Frederick, followed by Will. On arriving, they discover that the entire household has been placed under a spell, rendering them mindless and feral. They find a weak and delirious Frederick, who believes Lilli to be a ghost, and Will takes him outside to safety. Claudia kills Gutenberg by pushing him out a window.

Lilli then finds Claudia cradling her newly revived but weak baby. The two engage in a fight, during which Claudia slams Lilli's head into a mirror and sadistically cuts her face with one of the shards. When Lilli accidentally sets the room on fire, Claudia becomes distracted by her son's cries of distress. This allows Lilli to grab a dagger and stab the mirror, wounding both Claudia and her reflection. Claudia removes the dagger from the mirror and is horrified to see her appearance transform to that of an old woman. The mirror then cracks and explodes; shards of glass go flying in Claudia’s face, causing her to accidentally step backwards into the path of the fire, setting her ablaze and killing her. Lilli then joins Will and Frederick outside. Her father finally comes to and is overjoyed to see her again. The film ends with snow falling on the trio.

Production

In 1995, David Conrad got an offer to play Prince Charming in Snow White in the Black Forest, in his last year in the graduate theatre program at the Juilliard School. Shooting for the film started in 1995 on locations in Prague, Barrandov Studios, and castles around the Czech Republic including Kost, Dobřichovice, Pernštejn, and Valdek. Stromovka Park was used as the Black Forest. Shooting was reportedly continuing in May 1996.

Release/Reception/Box Office

{Really nothing to find on this one... that's worrying}

On Rotten Tomatoes, 55% of 11 critic reviews are positive for the film, with an average rating of 6/10.

Budget $26-30 million

My Review

When the big diva stars of the 80's and 90's turned to grotesque roles (Glenn as Cruella, Angelica as the high grand witch, Meryl as Madeline Ashton), they all seemed to be having a grand old time chewing up the scenery. Here, it's Sigourney Weaver's turn, and she's incredible as Snow White's stepmother. The film takes a closer look into the Grimm fairy tale with Monica Keena a rather bratty Princess Lily, the product of King Sam Neill, left with her after his first wife was gravely injured and died after giving birth to her daughter. At first, the new queen Claudia (Weaver) seems to be a noble woman but a family curse through the mirror of her decreased witch mother drives her to hatred, especially when she realizes that she'll always be second to the princess nicknamed Snow White.

With a delightfully subtle knowledge that her role is the commanding one, Weaver draws the audience in and is equally as memorable as Disney's version, yet there's more empathy here for her. Obviously she has had a tragic life and tragedy continues when she miscarries her first child right before giving birth. Weaver never has to over-emote or go into Faye Dunaway ranting territory, and it's obvious that her talking reflection in the mirror is actually her mother.

The seven dwarfs are changed to simply seven woodsmen although one is a little person. There's actually a love story that grows between one of them and Lily, but the scenes when Weaver isn't on screen seem to drag because of how much of an impact she makes. This takes the original tale into different territory, giving it a Shakespeare tragedy historical tale feeling. Lady Claudia could easily be a variation of either Queen Gertrude from "Hamlet" or Lady Macbeth, or even Livia from "U Claudius". This, next to "Aliens", is Weaver's shining example of complete perfection on screen, and had this been theatrical rather than made for cable, she would have been a top Oscar contender for sure.

I wasn't sure if this film had ever even seen the inside of an UK cinema but I decided to give it a go anyway and I found it to be enjoyable even if it felt like a pantomime without the comedy dame and a really big budget. The plot was quite intriguing to one who has only ever know the cartoon version, but it is close enough to that tale to be instantly recognisable. The dark, adult edge to it adds in some ways but at times it feels like it's trying too hard to be nasty. The film isn't too long which helps it have a brisk pace about it and it tries to skip from one reasonable exciting scene to another.

What really makes it worth watching is Weaver giving a really good performance as Claudia. She portrays a human face gradually being led into worse deeds by the lies of her mirror. She avoids hamming it up and is very enjoyable to watch. Neill is very much on the side lines but another familiar face doesn't hurt. Keena isn't quite up to the role for me. She is good but when the danger comes she is really only a scream and not a character. The miners (7 dwarves) hold a few faces in Bellows and Glover but really they are either monsters or wear their "good guy really" badges on their sleeves from the start.

Overall this darker version is worth watching just to see a tale closer to the original version rather than the cartoon from Disney. Some of it feels like it doesn't have a good plot (the action scenes after the middle tended to blur together for me) but it holds together pretty well. The main reason for watching is a strong central role for Weaver. 9.6/10