Originally titled The Grimm Brothers' Snow White in the Black Forest, the film began development in 1993, after producer Tom Engelman successfully proposed the project to Polygram. Several screenwriters spent three years working on the story, which was conceived as a darker and more realistic retelling of the tale. Michael Cohn was appointed director of the film, which became his first big-budget production. Principal photography took place at Barrandov Studios in Prague, as well as at several other locations throughout the Czech Republic, beginning in October 1995 and continuing into 1996.
In 1493 Germany,[5]Baron Frederick Hoffman and his pregnant wife Lilliana are driving home through the woods when Lilliana goes into labor. Their carriage is attacked by wolves, which kill their coachman, while 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 his deceased wife.
Seven years later, Frederick remarries the French noblewoman Claudia Alvise, who arrives at the Hoffman residence with her mute brother Gustav and an ornate mirror that belonged to their witch mother. Although Claudia tries to win over Lilli, the latter still mourns her mother and refuses to accept her stepmother. On Frederick and Claudia's wedding night, Lilli witnesses her nanny being killed by a mysterious force from Claudia's 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. Feeling guilty, Lilli 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 pig's heart, as if it were Lilli's, but the mirror reveals his trick, and Claudia curses 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 mine collapse and kill Lilli, but Will saves her, 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 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 breaking the spell.
Together with Will and Peter, Lilli returns to her castle and discovers that the entire household is under a spell that has driven them into a mindless and hostile state. Claudia forcibly takes Frederick to the chapel, where she begins 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 to death by debris. With Claudia gone, her spells are broken, and Lilli reunites with her father and Will outside the castle.
Sigourney Weaver as Lady Claudia Hoffman (nee 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.[5][6][7] 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."[2]
Weaver also plays the Mirror, a manipulative spirit that acts as Claudia's confidant and manifests itself in her reflection.[2][7] Producer Tom Engelman commented on the film's interpretation of the mirror as "two-fold. It could be Claudia's alter-ego, the reflected ravings of a mad woman and the excuse for her hallucinations. Or it could be a supernatural entity taking on a form that's most pleasing to Claudia—herself!"[5]
Karen Hart provided Claudia's singing voice.
Sam Neill as Baron Frederick Hoffman, Lilli's widowed father and Claudia's husband, who desperately wants to unite his family.[7][8][9] Commenting on the character, Weaver said that "it all hinges on Frederick. [Claudia and Lilli] both wanted Frederick, to be first in his heart. And when [Claudia] saw that she couldn't be because she'd lost the heir, the son, she just crumbled. It meant everything to her to have his love."[6]
Monica Keena as Lilliana "Lilli" Hoffman, Frederick's 16-year-old daughter and Claudia's stepdaughter, who forms a rivalry with her stepmother.[4][10] 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."[2] Engelman elaborated that Lilli is not "a naive individual who doesn't even think twice about taking a bite from an apple offered to her by a complete stranger. She's smarter than that. One of the reasons Claudia doesn't like her is because Lilli hasn't even tried to make an effort [to trust her]."[5]
I was reading the Grimm tale to my young niece, and as I was reading, I felt this sudden rush of discovery. Here was an untouched—at least by filmmakers—malevolent rollercoaster ride dealing with a young girl surviving a tough ordeal and emerging from it as a strong and determined woman. Not only that. In the course of her brutal experiences she's forced to descend into her own private Hell (the spell cast by the Queen) and must face her psychological confusion and some terrifying personal demons.
—Tom Engelman, on coming up with the idea of the film[14]
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".[14] He came up with the project after reading the tale to his niece, considering it a good basis for a complex coming-of-age story and wanting to create a closer retelling of the tale than in the widely known Walt Disney's animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).[14] Tom Szollosi, Deborah Serra, and Stephen Metcalfe penned the initial screenplay, which underwent many changes over the next three years, with a number of screenwriters involved in its development.[5][15][16] One of the earlier versions of the story reportedly suggested a New York City setting and had the dwarfs reimagined as gang members.[6] More than 30 famous and little-known directors were interviewed for the project before Michael Cohn landed the job; by that time, it was finally decided that the film would be a Gothicthriller, originally titled The Grimm Brothers' Snow White in the Black Forest.[16] Cohn got involved with the project after unsuccessfully trying to pitch a potential script for HBO to PolyGram's subsidiary, Interscope Communications, whose representatives instead offered him to work on Snow White, and he signed up after spending the next eight weeks discussing the direction and tone of the film with them.[16] The project marked the first high-budget production for Cohn, who had earlier worked on two direct-to-video films, Interceptor (1992) and When the Bough Breaks (1994).[2][16] Engelman stated that Cohn "fully embraced the dark philosophy of the piece. I didn't want a technology-driven movie at the expense of character and Michael's past two films proved he knew how to build suspense, how to handle special effects and let the actors work in a natural vein… We took a leap of faith."[16]
During the writing process, Engelman insisted on a thorough analysis of the original tale in order to make "specific what the Brothers Grimm left general"; his premise for the script was to tell a more realistic and expanded version of the tale, making the characters more complex and physiologically driven, as well as adding a historical context to the story.[14] The screenwriters chose the late 15th century Germany for the setting of the story, which they wrote from the point of view of the evil queen, who had been named Claudia.[5][17] 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.[5] Although the screenwriters retained her obsession with beauty, it was decided that Claudia would not start as a villain and resent Lilli because of jealousy of her appearance, as in the Grimms' tale; instead, it was written that Claudia genuinely fell in love with Lilli's father, who had been named Frederick, and tried to bond with her, despite Lilli constantly rejecting Claudia and fighting with her for Frederick's attention.[2][5][18] After years of trying to conceive a child, Claudia would suffer a miscarriage, preceded by Lilli upstaging her at the ball, resulting in Claudia being driven to madness and blaming Lilli for her misfortunes, with the spirit from her mother's mirror further fueling Claudia's hatred for Lilli.[2][5][18] Engelman stated that the screenwriters deliberately decided to make it ambiguous whether the mirror spirit was a hallucination of Claudia caused by her increasing insanity or an actual supernatural entity in order to "keep the psychological readings complex".[2][5]
Casting
Who else would have been the perfect Claudia? Sigourney has fought Aliens and Ghostbusters, for heaven's sake! Rarely have I ever had an actress so firmly in mind from the very beginning. It was a case of, if I can't make this with Sigourney, then it isn't worth making at all. Only she could bring a level of evil intensity to Claudia without sacrificing her humanity or intelligence. Claudia was the hero of her own story and she had to be real and be played straight.
Sigourney Weaver, who had collaborated with Tom Engelman on Working Girl (1988), was the only choice for the role of Claudia; Engelman further stated that the film would not have been made if she had refused.[9] The casting process began by 1995, although the film's executive producer Robert W. Cort first approached Weaver in 1993.[9][19]Polygram paid Weaver $4 million (equivalent to $7,834,992in 2024) for her performance.[9][15]
Hundreds of European and American actresses auditioned for the role of Lilli, and Alicia Silverstone was the top contender for a while, before Monica Keena landed the part by September 1995.[16][20] 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]."[16]David Conrad was offered to play Peter Gutenberg during his last year in the graduate theater program at the Juilliard School, which he had to drop out to accept the role.[19] 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
Kost Castle in the Czech Republic served as the exterior of the Hoffman residence.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror premiered on Showtime on August 24, 1997.[27] The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and grossed $3 million (equivalent to $5,876,244in 2024).[28]
Home media
Snow White: A Tale of Terror was first released on VHS via Polygram on November 25, 1997.[29][30] It was re-issued on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment on August 13, 2002, containing identical artwork to the previous edition[31] and most recently on May 1, 2012 from Universal, containing newly commissioned artwork.[32] A multipack DVD including the film (with Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Firestarter 2: Rekindled) was made available from Universal.[33]
In the United Kingdom, Universal Home Entertainment released the film on VHS format on June 1, 1998,[34] while a re-issued VHS became available via Universal from September 17, 2001.[35] The film has been issued twice on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment in the UK, with the first on February 6, 2006,[36] and a subsequent version containing new artwork on May 14, 2012.[37] 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,[38] and for the first time in any country, on Blu-ray format on July 4, 2016.[39]
The film is additionally available to rent or buy on Amazon Video.[40]
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.[41]
Reception
Critical response
Weaver was widely praised for her performance, even by those who reviewed the film negatively.
The New York Daily News described 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.[50] Anita Gates from The New York Times gave a positive review, highlighting Weaver's acting, costume design, and cinematography.[51]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."[45] 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.[52] William Thomas of Empire awarded 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."[44]
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."[13]Ty Burr from Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D+" and called it a "lugubrious, overcooked mess that forgets fairy tales are meant to entertain as well as instruct."[48] A Time Out reviewer wrote that 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."[53] 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."[47] 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."[54]
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