MarketSnow White: A Tale of Terror
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Snow White: A Tale of Terror

Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a 1997 American Gothic dark fantasy horror film directed by Michael Cohn from a screenplay by Tom Szollosi and Deborah Serra. Co-produced by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Interscope Communications, it is based on the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, and stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Gil Bellows, and Monica Keena. Set in the 15th century Germany, the film follows Lilli Hoffman (Keena), a young noblewoman forced to flee her home into the forest and join a group of outcasts in order to escape from her stepmother Claudia (Weaver), who blames Lilli for her miscarriage and seeks to kill her.

Plot
In 1493 Germany, Baron Frederick Hoffman and his pregnant wife Lilliana are driving home through the woods when their carriage is attacked by wolves, and Lilliana is mortally wounded. Frederick is forced to perform a caesarean section on her to save their unborn daughter, whom he names Lilli in honor of her mother. Seven years later, Frederick remarries the French noblewoman Claudia Alvise, who arrives at his residence along with her mute brother Gustav and an ornate vanity that belonged to their mother. Despite Claudia's attempts to win over Lilli, the latter refuses to accept her, still mourning her mother and envying her father's attention to Claudia. On the Hoffmans' wedding night, Lilli witnesses her nanny being killed by a mysterious force from Claudia's vanity mirror, which increases her distrust of her stepmother. Nine years later, a teenaged Lilli starts a relationship with a young doctor, Peter Gutenberg, and dreams of leaving home, while Claudia is pregnant with her first child. The Hoffmans throw a ball, and Lilli arrives dressed in her mother's gown, taking Frederick's attention away from Claudia. Hurt and jealous, Claudia goes into premature labor and the baby is a stillborn, while she is rendered unable to have other children. The spirit from Claudia's mirror in the form of her reflection consoles her and promises revenge on Lilli. Lilli remorsefully apologizes to Claudia, unaware that the latter has decided to dispose of her. Several weeks later, Claudia sends Gustav to kill Lilli when she is walking outside, forcing the latter to flee into the woods. Gustav brings his sister a boar's heart, as if it were Lilli's, but the mirror reveals his trick, and Claudia bewitches her brother with hallucinations that drive him to suicide. Frederick and Peter go in search of Lilli, but the former gets injured and they are forced to return home. In the forest, Lilli stumbles upon an abandoned abbey, where she is confronted by a group of seven societal outcasts; one of them, Rolf, offers to get a ransom for Lilli and tries to rape her, but their leader, Will, drives him away. With nowhere else to go, Lilli follows the group into the mine. Claudia uses witchcraft to cause a cave-in at the mine, but Will saves Lilli, while one of the outcasts, Gilbert, is buried alive. Despite the initial mutual antagonism, Lilli warms up to Will after learning that he lost his family due to his refusal to fight for the Crusaders. The next day, Claudia tries to kill Lilli again by magically knocking down trees, but the latter manages to escape, although another outcast, Lars, is killed in the process. That night, Lilli and Will share their first kiss. Meanwhile, Claudia rapes Frederick to take his seed for the ritual resurrection of their stillborn child and turns Gustav's eviscerated heart into an apple. Disguised as an old crone, Claudia tracks down Lilli's whereabouts and tricks her into eating the apple, which plunges the latter into a death-like trance. Peter arrives shortly after and pronounces Lilli dead, but as he and the outcasts prepare to bury her, Will notices that her eyes have opened. He shakes Lilli, dislodging a piece of apple from her throat, and revives her. Accompanied by Will and Peter, Lilli returns to her castle and finds the entire household under a spell that has driven them into a mindless and hostile state. Claudia forcibly takes Frederick to the chapel, where she tries to exsanguinate him to complete the ritual. Lilli and Will find a weakened Frederick and take him to safety, while Claudia kills Peter by pushing him out of the window. Lilli finds Claudia cradling her revived child and fights her, setting fire to the room in the ensuing battle. Lilli stabs the mirror with a dagger, wounding Claudia, who is further injured by the shards and the spreading fire, before she and her child are crushed by debris. With Claudia gone, her spell is broken, and Lilli reunites with her father and Will. ==Cast==
Cast
Sigourney Weaver as Lady Claudia Hoffman (née Alvise), Frederick's narcissistic second wife and Lilli's stepmother, who becomes determined to destroy her stepdaughter after suffering a severe miscarriage, gradually descending into madness as the film progresses. Weaver described her character as an "impeccable woman—she's French, she's very beautiful, she's very seductive and she loves her husband very much. When she feels she loses him to [Lilli], she just goes berserk… Claudia's just a great character. She's diabolic." • Sam Neill as Baron Frederick Hoffman, Lilli's widowed father and Claudia's husband, who desperately wants to unite his family. Keena described her character as "pretty spunky, and she's sensitive and she's open to learn a lot of things just like anyone else growing up in the world." Appearing as a band of outcasts are Brian Glover as Lars, Anthony Brophy as Rolf, Christopher Bauer as Konrad, John Edward Allen as Bart, Andrew Tiernan as Scar, and Bryan Pringle as Father Gilbert. Frances Cuka plays Nannau, Lilli's devoted nanny. Miroslav Táborský plays Gustav, Claudia's enigmatic mute brother. Dale Wyatt plays Ilsa, Lilli's maidservant and best friend. Joanna Roth plays Lady Lilliana Hoffman, Frederick's first wife and Lilli's birth mother. ==Production==
Production
Development and writing In 1993, producer Tom Engelman approached PolyGram with the idea of making a film based on the Brothers Grimm's 1812 fairy tale "Snow White". One of the earlier versions of the story reportedly suggested a New York City setting and had the dwarfs reimagined as gang members. The Hoffman family was written as landowners, rather than royalty as in the original tale, to better match the setting, and the character of Snow White was renamed Lilli, leaving her original name only in the title of the screenplay. After years of trying to conceive a child, Claudia would suffer a miscarriage, resulting in her being driven to madness and blaming Lilli for her misfortunes, with the spirit from her mother's mirror further fueling Claudia's hatred for her stepdaughter. The film's executive producer Robert W. Cort first approached Weaver in 1993. Commenting on the choice of Keena, Engelman said that she "had the face of a Botticelli angel but also a level of toughness that would be requisite for a girl from this time period… You know she'd cope and survive to become strong enough to take on [Claudia]." Other principal cast members included Sam Neill as Frederick, Gil Bellows as Will, Taryn Davis as the younger Lilli, and Brian Glover as Lars. Filming Principal photography on Snow White in the Black Forest began on October 2, 1995, taking place at Barrandov Studios in Prague, as well as on locations and castles throughout the Czech Republic, including Kost, Dobřichovice, Pernštejn, and Valdek. Stromovka Park was used as the Black Forest. Shooting was reportedly continuing in May 1996; by then, the film had been renamed ''The Grimm Brothers' Snow White''. The film was completed later that same year. Music }} The film score for Snow White: A Tale of Terror was written and composed by John Ottman. Track listing ==Broadcast==
Broadcast
The film was originally planned for a theatrical release, but it was unable to secure a satisfactory deal with a distributor in the United States. The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and grossed $3 million (). Home media Snow White: A Tale of Terror was first released on VHS via Polygram on November 25, 1997. It was re-issued on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment on August 13, 2002, containing identical artwork to the previous edition and most recently on May 1, 2012 from Universal, containing newly commissioned artwork. A multipack DVD including the film (with Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Firestarter 2: Rekindled) was made available from Universal. In the United Kingdom, Universal Home Entertainment released the film on VHS format on June 1, 1998, while a re-issued VHS became available via Universal from September 17, 2001. The film has been issued twice on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment in the UK, with the first on February 6, 2006, and a subsequent version containing new artwork on May 14, 2012. All editions from Universal are now out-of-print as distribution company Fabulous Films currently acquire ownership rights for distribution in the United Kingdom. Fabulous released the film on April 4, 2016 on DVD, and for the first time in any country, on Blu-ray format on July 4, 2016. The film is additionally available to rent or buy on Amazon Video. The film finally debuted on Blu-ray in the United States for the first time on October 6, 2020 by Mill Creek Entertainment. The disc contains no special features. ==Reception==
Reception
Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that Snow White: A Tale of Terror had approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The New York Daily News described Snow White: A Tale of Terror as "intense and gruesome, although brilliant", and praised its use of locations in the Czech Republic, as well as the performances of the cast, particularly Weaver's. Anita Gates from The New York Times gave a positive review, highlighting Weaver's acting, costume design, and cinematography. TVGuide complimented the script, Michael Cohn's direction, and the performances, adding that the "quick pacing, excellent medieval costume design, top-flight makeup effects, and the beautiful locations in Prague and the Czech Republic also help to sharpen this slick effort." In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Howard Rosenberg called the film "delicious, at once fun and foreboding despite some plot gaps"; he also praised Weaver's acting, Cohn's direction, and the cinematography. William Thomas of Empire awarded Snow White: A Tale of Terror with three out of five stars, complimenting the performances of Weaver and Keena and stating that the film "succeeds by drawing deep, fearful uncertainty from its ambiguity." Writing for Variety, Sheri Linden praised the cinematography and production design, but criticized the pacing and performances of the cast (with the exception of Weaver's), concluding that while it is "good to look at, this Snow White isn't the chilling experience it should be." Ty Burr from Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D+", calling it a "lugubrious, overcooked mess that forgets fairy tales are meant to entertain as well as instruct." A Time Out reviewer wrote that Snow White: A Tale of Terror provides "insufficient atmosphere or developed characterisation to satisfy grown-ups. The film plays like light Hammer horror with inappropriate period finery and design." In his 2002 DVD review for The A.V. Club, Nathan Rabin criticized the film, but highlighted Weaver's acting, describing it as "easily the best thing about this muddled, confused and disappointing film." J. R. Southall from Starburst gave a strongly negative review, writing: "Thanks to an over-reliance on unconvincing ADR making most of the cast seem even more wooden than they would already be, badly chosen video effects and mid-1990s camerawork dating the project hideously, and what feels like television comedy pacing, this version of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale – which attempts to retain the dark fairytale aspect while ditching much of the plot and spinning a new one instead – is ultimately unsuccessful, fatally undermined by its poor production choices in spite of an interesting cast and some bold ideas." Accolades ==See also==
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