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Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a 1997 adaptation of the Snow White fairytale, attempting to take the story back to its gothic and grotesque roots. It stars Monica Keena, Sigourney Weaver, Gill Bellows and Sam Neill.
The film opens with a carriage accident, fatally wounding the pregnant noblewoman Lilliana Hoffman (Joanna Roth). Her husband Lord Frederich (Neill) is forced to perform a medieval C-section to save the baby girl, who is named Lilliana after her mother. Seven years later, Lilli's father is to marry another woman, Lady Claudia (Weaver). The new stepmother is a nice woman but Lilli (Taryn Davis) does not like her and turns up her nose at any attempts at friendship Claudia makes, especially after she blames her for the death of her belovwed caretaker Nannau.
Nine years after that, Claudia suffers a miscarriage and is rendered unable to have other children. Lilli (Keena) is genuinely shocked and saddened at this turn of events and tries to make peace with Claudia... but it's too late already, as Claudia has become convinced that Lilli is her enemy plus she's corrupted by a certain Magic Mirror and has her own brother Gustav try killing her. Lilli escapes into the forest and hides out with seven gold miners, outcasts from the kingdom, led by a young man named Will (Bellows) who's the closest to a Prince this story has...
The film serves to deconstruct both the original fairytale and the kid-friendly one. For the kid-friendly version, themes such as rape, incest, murder and discrimination are introduced into the story and the stepmother is given proper motivation to kill her stepdaughter. And for the original, the "princess" does not have Incorruptible Pure Pureness (in fact, she can be quite the Spoiled Brat at times) and also tries to be Genre Savvy, keeping her from simply being Too Dumb to Live regarding the attempts to kill her...
The film got a limited theatrical release in Europe but went straight to television in America and was well received by critics. Sigourney Weaver earned an Emmy for her portrayal of Claudia.
Tropes used in Snow White: A Tale of Terror include:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played with, as Will is considered an outcast by the kingdom because he wouldn't join the Crusaders and so his family were killed in punishment.
- All There in the Script: Apart from Rolph and Lars, who don't last long, you don't hear the names of any of the other miners until the credits roll.
- And I Must Scream: Claudia attempted to do this to Lilli with the apple. The apple would completely paralyze her, but give her full awareness in the "prison of her mind" as she was buried alive.
- Animal Eye Spy: Claudia uses this trick to spy on Lilli in the forest.
- Anti-Villain: Claudia. She is only really a villain once the miscarriage drives her mad and the enchanted mirror starts manipulating her. And then what does she want? A living child and the love of her husband.
- Ax Crazy: Claudia was a bit unhinged from the beginning, but after her miscarriage, she dives into this trope with glee.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played straight for the first half of the film. Lilli is involved in a cave-in underground and is seen with dirt all over her after they get out, but is perfectly clean the next time we see her. It's implied she washes herself in the nearby stream, though. Then at the end Claudia cuts her face with a pane of glass.
- Berserk Button: Don't call Will a savage.
- Big Badass Wolf: They even have glowing yellow eyes.
- Book Ends: The film opens and ends with a fall of snow.
- But Not Too White: Averted given that it is Snow White. Lilli is played by fair-skinned Monica Keena and is incredibly beautiful. Though you could say it's somewhat played straight given that the original fairytale says the princess has skin white as the snow.
- Costume Porn
- Daddy's Girl: In a change from the Grimm tale and the Disney film, not only does her father feature in the story, but Lilli is his dear little girl. His not taking action to save his daughter from his wife is thoroughly justified by Claudia's manipulation and a timely injury.
- Dances and Balls: The tension in the family comes to a head during one when Lilli enters looking almost exactly like her mother.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Will still has nightmares about the events that led to his banishment and scars.
- Darker and Edgier: Even more so than the original fairytale.
- Death by Childbirth: Averted, technically. Lilliana was already dying from a wound in her chest when Lilli was born. She went Mama Bear and instructed Frederich to cut the baby out of her because it was the only way to make sure Lilli didn't die with her.
- Death of the Hypotenuse: Lilli's other possible boyfriend, Peter
- Deconstruction: Both Lilli and Claudia are deconstructions of the original fairytale characters. Claudia starts out as a loving woman who wants to bond with her new stepdaughter, but the very sheltered and spoiled Lilli shies away from her and that ends up leading to Claudia's Face Heel Turn and to lots of suffer for Lilli.
- Also, the miners aren't cheerful dwarves, but outcasts from the kingdom. So is Will, one of the "Princes" (The other being Peter)
- Decon Recon Switch: The first half hour puts the fairytale in a realistic setting and then once Lilli is attacked, plays out normally.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Lilli
- Designated Girl Fight: Built up throughout the entire film in fact.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Claudia both loses her child and is told she can't have more children, she snaps.
- Disney Death: Played with. Lilli isn't actually killed by the poisoned apple; she just appears to be dead.
- Disney Villain Death: Inverted. It's Claudia who sends Peter falling to his death.
- Distressed Dude: Frederich towards the end.
- Fallen Princess: Lilli technically. She's forced to run away and try and live in the wild.
- Implied that Will is a Fallen Prince or nobleman. They don't make big shows of killing peasant families who refuse to join the crusades.
- Eye Scream: Lilli pokes a possessed maid in the eye with a burning candle.
- Fairest of Them All: Claudia isn't so much wanting to be fairest in the land as to be more beautiful than Lilli for two reasons: first, because she can surpass the shadow of Lilliana, second, because her beauty is all she has left as a wife after a stillbirth leaves her barren.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Not quite as brutal as being forced to dance in red-hot shoes but the mirror fragments fly at Claudia's face and she burns to death in her room.
- Fan Disservice: The Claudia/Frederich sex scene. Fully clothed but still icky to watch.
- Foreshadowing: Nannau exclaims as she searches for Lilli that the girl will be the death of her. Guess how she died.
- God Save Us From the Queen: Technically not a queen, but Claudia is still a noblewoman.
- Grimmification
- Heir Club for Men: Frederich is shown praying desperately for a son. It seems to be the only reason he married Claudia as he is still in love with the late Lilliana. Claudia, who admitted to her mirror that she really loved him, is not happy when she realizes this.
- Hospital Hottie: Peter is the family's handsome doctor, and quite the candidate for Lilli's affection.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Claudia has (what she thinks) is Lilli's heart cut up to eat in a stew. She also serves some to Frederich.
- Incest Subtext: Between Claudia and her brother Gustav.
- It's clear Frederich saw the late Lilliana when he danced with Lilli. So does Claudia.
- Inverse Law of Fertility: Claudia desperately wants a child, but she only carries to term/gets pregnant (the film doesn't specify which) the one time. The baby doesn't live.
- Ironic Echo: The miners mockingly call Lilli "princess" when she hides with them. Near the end, when she leaves them, one of the miners says "good journey, little princess" as a sign of affection.
- Inverted as when Lilli is in her coma, she hears her father saying "go away, phantom. My daughter is dead" and when she finds him again, he says just that.
- Lady of Black Magic: Claudia's mother is implied to have been one.
- The Lost Woods: Where Lilli runs away to and meets the miners.
- Lovable Rogue: Will definitely. Lars and Scar could probably count as well.
- Magic Mirror: Of course. It's also implied that the spirit inside the mirror is Claudia's mother.
- Mama Bear: Claudia is going to protect that baby. Even though he's been dead.
- Missing Mom: Lilli's mother dies at her birth.
- Named by the Adaptation: Holy hell, has there ever been an adaptation where all the characters are given names they didn't have in the original?
- Nice to the Waiter: Lilli. Too bad she's not as nice to her stepmother, and boy does that bite the poor girl in the ass later.
- Offscreen Teleportation: One of Claudia's many magic tricks.
- Papa Wolf: Frederich goes out into the storm on his horse to find Lilli when he hears she's missing.
- Parental Substitute: Lilli was raised by a nurse named Nannau, who was an acceptable substitute for her mother. THE reason why Lilli hates Claudia is that she blames her for Nannau's sudden death. Actually, Nannau died because she looked into the Magic Mirror; Lilli witnessed it and mistakenly thought Claudia directly killed her
- Pimped-Out Dress: Claudia's rather spectacular dress that she wears at the ball. She is annoyed when Frederich doesn't say anything about it.
- Pretty in Mink: A couple of Lilli's dresses have fur trims to them.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Claudia uses her magic to kill her brother Gustave (the Huntsman of the story) for not killing Lilli.
- Rage Against the Reflection: Both by Lilli and by Claudia.
- Ravens and Crows: Claudia's pet and familiar is a raven.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Lilli and her mother.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Peter (Rich) and Will (Poor), for Lilli.
- Rule of Three: Claudia does indeed try to kill Lilli three times but the first two are different from the original fairytale. She first tries to bury her in a mine cave-in and secondly by making trees fall in the forest.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: A variation where it happens near the start of the film. The first image of the older Lilli is her in a nightgown so she arrives at the ball wearing her mother's dress to the surprise of many guests.
- Shirtless Scene: The miners work in the mine shirtless. Will also gets another later on.
- Shower of Angst: Leads to Will and Lilli's first kiss.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Lilli wants to marry Peter, who is a kind doctor and travels the world. She ends up with Will, who is also a good man.
- Spoiled Sweet: Played with. Lilli is nice to the servants (especially her beloved Nannau), but treats Claudia very badly. In fact, as said above Lilli's hate of Claudia is NOT helped by her belief that Claudia murdered Nannau.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Lilli looks so much like Lilliana as to be a symbol for her continued lingering presence in Frederich's heart.
- Took a Level In Badass: Lilli is certainly more badass at the end of the story than she was at the start.
- Vain Sorceress: Like the original tale, Claudia is enamored with her physical appearance to the point that the magic mirror shows her to be beautiful in moments when she's not.
- Villainous Breakdown: Claudia has an utterly epic one after her miscarriage.
- The Voiceless: Gustav has functioning vocal chords, which he shows when he screams. But he never speaks.
- Wicked Stepmother: Double subverted as Claudia is quite nice and friendly to Lilli when she arrives. Lilli, however, REALLY cannot accept Claudia and her mistreatment of her (especially when she blames her for Nannau's death) as well as her miscarriage sends Claudia over the edge to become the wicked stepmother.
- Woman in White: Lilli appears at a party in pure white gown, which is visually striking as no one else does this. Plot-wise, it also spurs memories of her mother, which makes her father nostalgic and sends Claudia straight into labor.
- Yandere: Claudia
- You Have Failed Me: Gustav realizes what his sister will do to him when she finds out Lilli escaped. His deception was an attempt to buy more time before Claudia inevitably found out.