Horribly Ever After

BY KAYLA LOKEINSKY

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived two men known as the Brothers Grimm. They were well known throughout the land for their frightening fairy tales. From gruesome love stories to fearful fables, their fairy tales were not as magical as they are perceived to be today. However, long after their death, the Brothers Grimm’s stories were re-written by Walt Disney, and turned into beloved animated classics. But now, the dark days are upon us once again, as those fairy tales are now being morphed back into their original, scary state with a batch of new releases that show that you don’t always live happily ever after.

The most recent attribute to the original Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales comes in the form of the 2011 movie, Red Riding Hood. Based on the original Little Red Riding Hood, in which red is eaten alive by the wolf, the feature film provides a new spin on the old classic. In Red Riding Hood, actress Amanda Seyfried plays Valerie, whose older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. Hungry for revenge, the people call on a famed werewolf hunter to help them kill the wolf. The hunter warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As panic grips the town, Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast–one that inexorably draws them together, making her both a suspect…and bait.

Another movie that’s in the works to become an original horror story once again is Snow White. In the original fairy tale, the wicked Queen actually asks for Snow White’s liver and lungs, which were to be served for dinner that night. Also in the original, Snow White wakes up when she is jostled by the prince’s horse as he carries her back to his castle – not from a magical kiss, The tale ends with the Queen being forced to dance to death in red hot iron shoes. This malevolence is being translated into not one, but three new versions.

The production company Relativity’s project, called The Brothers Grimm: Snow White, will begin with the bloody murder of Snow White’s father, the King, by his second wife. This fills a gap in the original tale, which was handed down orally and collected by the Brothers Grimm.

Another competing project, being made by Universal, is Snow White and the Huntsman. In this version of the fairy tale, a huntsman is ordered to take Snow White into the woods and kill her but instead he chooses to let her go and the two are evidently chained together for part of the movie as they make their escape. It is set to release in 2012.

Meanwhile, Disney is working on Snow White and the Seven, which features the dwarfs as Shaolin monks, and is set in 19th century China. Yes, China. The project, which Disney has been developing since 2002, is about a 19th century Englishwoman who returns to her Hong Kong home for her father’s funeral, only to discover that her stepmother is plotting against her. She escapes to main land China, finding solace among a rogue band of seven international warriors. Disney’s project may not exactly be a horror story, but it is an action packed adventure much unlike the original story.

Finally, the next set-to release movie that takes a frightening spin on the classic fairy tale is Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Although it’s a lesser-known fairy tale, probably due to the fact that there isn’t a hunky prince in it, director Tommy Wirkola is taking it back to its roots. It follows Hansel and Gretel 15 years after they were almost baked in the witch’s oven. The siblings are now famous witch hunters, who venture back to the gingerbread house to kill the woman who almost destroyed them. This new story line on the classic fable will show that revenge is almost as sweet as the gingerbread house.

Fairy tales are scary. They feature witches, burning ovens, poisonous apples and wicked stepmothers. And if you look at their original stories, many of them are quite gruesome. It could even be argued they aren’t for children; yet, we pretty them up and serve them to the young ones anyway. However, it seems like we’re finally realizing the potential these stories have to appeal to adults.  It doesn’t take a magic mirror to see that the future of fairy tales is a grim one, and that they will all live horribly ever after.