Snow White: A Tale of Terror
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Snow White: A Tale of Terror is a 1997 American horror television film based on the "Snow White" fairy tale. It is directed by Michael Cohn and stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill and Monica Keena. The original music score is composed by John Ottman. The film is marketed with the tagline "The fairy tale is over." The film received mixed reviews but is praised for staying with the dark formulas that were once present in fairy tales.
Plot summary
Lilliana Hoffman dies in a carriage accident in the woods, caused by wolves that attack both the horses and the coachman. Her husband Fredric, at his dying wife's urging, reluctantly performs a caesarean section to save their unborn daughter. Years later, the young Lily Hoffman—the Snow White of the title, although she is never addressed or referred to as such in the film—plays mischievously on the grounds of the Hoffman estate. Lily reluctantly meets her new stepmother, Lady Claudia who gives the reticent Lilli a Rottweiler puppy. Lily is pleased, but runs off with the puppy without thanking her.
On the Hoffmans' wedding night, Lily spoils the communal blessing of the marriage bed by dashing the contents of her small ceremonial cup at Claudia.
As Lily grows into womanhood, Claudia keeps her dressed in girl's clothing. On the night of a ball, Claudia gives Lily a dress that belonged to her mother and tells Lily that is now her turn to wear it as her step-daughter. Lily rebels by wearing one of her own mother's gowns to the ball. Her father is startled, then pleased at Lily's evocation of her mother; as the two dance. Claudia, in a paroxysm of jealousy, goes into an early labor and delivers a stillborn boy. The doctor informs Fredric that Claudia can never have another child. Claudia, looking haggard from her ordeal, stares into her wardrobe-like mirror, where an ideally beautiful reflection replaces her real one and demands revenge against Lily for doing this to her.
Claudia orders her brother Gustav to kill and eviscerate Lily in the woods. When Lily escapes, Gustav kills a pig and presents its organs to Claudia, who keeps what she believes to be Lily's heart. Claudia orders Gustav to place the rest of the remains in the stew pot, then coos over the deliciousness of the stew as she eats and urges Fredric to join her. When Claudia learns the truth from the mirror, she drives a terrified Gustav to suicide.
In the meantime, the quite alive Lily is found by seven rough, combative miners—outcast by civil or ecclesiastical authority—who grudgingly give her shelter. When one of them threatens her with rape, their unofficial leader, Will, stops him. Meanwhile Claudia discovers that Lily is still alive and uses her black magic to kill her, instead killing two of the miners (Father Gilbert and Lawrence), all the while keeping an injured Fredric infirm and afflicting the estate's staff with the black Death. Claudia then seduces Lily's fiancé, Dr. Peter Gutenberg, to convince him to continue searching for Lily.
As the four remaining miners mourn their losses, Lily touches Will's scars, inflicted by Crusaders, and the two fall in love. Claudia disguises herself as an old woman and turns her brother's eviscerated heart into a poisoned apple. Transported to Lily's refuge, the disguised Claudia speaks kindly to her and gives her the apple, which puts her into a locked-in syndrome that makes her appear dead. Will finds Lily seemingly dead on the ground from a bite of the apple. Dr. Gutenberg, the last person still searching for Lily, arrives and pronounces her dead. Seeing her eyes appear to open through her mosaic glass coffin during her burial, Will leaps into the grave, pulls Lily's body from the coffin, and shakes her as he commands her to breathe, causing the piece of apple lodged in her throat to fall out so that she wakes.
Gutenberg takes Lily back to the mansion to destroy Claudia; Will follows and joins them to help. Lily's grown dog attacks Will; Lily counterattacks with her torch, and they escape. On finding her father, Lily charges Will with getting him safely outside. Claudia kills Gutenberg, and Lily—rather gratuitously armed with a crossbow—confronts Claudia. Claudia gloats, clutching her newly revived, not fully formed baby boy; disappears; then reappears to attack Lily, smashing her into mirrors and deliberately cutting her face with one of the shards. Scrambling for safely, Lily knocks over a burning brazier. When the fire threatens the baby, Claudia is distracted; Lily finds a knife, and the evil mirror cries out to warn Claudia. Realizing the source of Claudia's strength and weakness, Lily plunges the knife into the mirror. Claudia then burns to death. Lily joins Will and a delirious Fredric, who finally recognizes her.
Awards
Sigourney Weaver's critically acclaimed performance earned her an Emmy Award nomination as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a TV Movie. The film also earned two Emmy nominations for Makeup and Costume Design.[1]
Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sigourney Weaver | Lady Claudia Hoffman |
| Sam Neill | Lord Fredric Hoffman |
| Monica Keena | Lily Hoffman |
| Gil Bellows | Will |
| David Conrad | Dr. Peter Gutenberg |
| Miroslav Taborsky | Gustav |
| Brian Glover | Lawrence |
| Andrew Tiernan | Scar |
| Anthony Brophy | Rolf |
| Chris Bauer | Conrad |
| Frances Cuka | Nannau |
| Bryan Pringle | Father Gilbert |
| Taryn Davis | Lily Hoffman (young) |
| Joanna Roth | Lilliana Hoffman |
References
- ^ Snow White: A Tale Of Terror at Emmys.com
