A Tale of Terror began development in 1993, after producer Tom Engelman successfully pitched the idea to Polygram. The script was developed by several screenwriters for three years before the final version was completed by Szollosi, Serra, and Stephen Metcalfe. 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 from October to December 1995.
In 1493 Germany,[1]Baron Frederick Hoffman and his pregnant wife Lilliana are travelling 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 after her mother.
Seven years later, Frederick remarries the French noblewoman Claudia Alvise, who brings with her an ornate mirror that belonged to her witch mother. Despite Claudia's attempts to win Lilli's favor, she still mourns her mother and refuses to accept her stepmother. On Frederick and Claudia's wedding night, Lilli witnesses her nanny being killed by an invisible force from Claudia's mirror, which further increases her distrust of her stepmother.
Nine years later, Claudia is pregnant with her first child. She gives Lilli a dress that belonged to her as a girl to wear to the ball they are hosting, but Lilli arrives wearing 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 (taking the form of her reflection) consoles her and promises revenge on Lilli.
Several weeks later, Claudia's mute brother Gustav tries to kill Lilli, forcing her to flee into the forest. Gustav brings Claudia a pig's heart as if it were Lilli's, but the mirror reveals his trick, and Claudia curses Gustav with hallucinations that drive him to suicide. Frederick goes in search of his daughter, but gets injured and is forced to return home. In the forest, Lilli discovers an abandoned abbey, where she is confronted by a group of societal outcasts; Will, Lars, Gilbert, Scar, Konrad, Bart, and Rolf. Rolf tries to rape Lilli, but their leader, Will, stops him and throws him out.
With nowhere else to go, Lilli follows the group into the mine. Claudia uses magic to kill Lilli by collapsing the mine, but Will saves her, while 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. Claudia tries to kill Lilli again by conjuring a gale to knock down the trees, but the outcasts manage to save her, although Lars is killed by a fallen tree. That night, Lilli and Will share their first kiss.
Meanwhile, Claudia rapes Frederick to take his seed for a ritual to resurrect their stillborn child. She then turns Gustav's eviscerated heart into an apple and tracks down Lilli's whereabouts. Disguised as an old crone, Claudia tricks Lilli into eating the apple, which puts her into a death-like trance. Lilli's fiance Dr. Peter Gutenberg arrives shortly after and declares her dead. As the outcasts prepare to bury Lilli, Will notices that her eyes have opened and shakes her, dislodging a piece of apple from Lilli's throat and reviving her.
Along with Will and Peter, Lilli returns to her castle, discovering that the entire household is under a spell that has driven them into a mindless and hostile state. Claudia takes Frederick to the chapel, where she tries to exsanguinate him to complete the ritual. Lilli and Will discover a weakened Frederick and take him to safety, while Claudia kills Peter by throwing him out of the window. Lilli finds Claudia cradling her revived child and confronts her, accidentally setting fire to the room in the ensuing fight. Lilli pierces the mirror with a dagger, wounding Claudia, who is further injured by the mirror shards and the spreading fire, before she and her child are crushed by debris. With Claudia gone, her spells are broken, and Lilli is reunited 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.[1][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."[3]
Weaver also portrays the Mirror, a manipulative spirit that serves as Claudia's confidant and manifests itself in her reflection.[3][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! We deliberately never answer that question to keep the psychological readings complex."[1]
Sam Neill as Baron Frederick Hoffman, Lilli's widowed father and Claudia's husband, who desperately wants his family to be united.[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.[5][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."[3] 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]."[1]
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 Snow White: A Tale of Terror[14]
Development on Snow White: A Tale of Terror began in 1993, when producer Tom Engelman approached PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to pitch a film adaptation of the eponymous 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.[14][15] He came up with the project after reading the tale to his niece, finding it a good basis for a complex coming-of-age story, as well as wanting to create a more accurate retelling of the tale and its darker elements than in the more commonly known Walt Disney's animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).[14] Tom Szollosi wrote the initial script, which underwent many changes over the course of three years, with a number of different screenwriters involved in the production; one of the earlier versions of the story suggested a New York City setting, with the seven dwarfs being replaced by gang members.[6][15][16] More than 30 famous and little-known directors were interviewed for the project before Michael Cohn landed the job; at this stage, it was fully decided that the film would be a Gothicthriller-type.[16] Cohn got involved with the project after an unsuccessful attempt to pitch a potential script for HBO to Interscope Communications, which instead suggested him to work on A Tale of Terror (originally titled The Grimm Brothers' Snow White in the Black Forest).[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).[3][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]
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 executive producer Robert W. Cort first approached Weaver in 1993.[9][17]Polygram paid Weaver $4 million (equivalent to $7,834,992in 2024) for her performance.[9][15]
Hundreds of European and American actresses were auditioned for the role of Lilli, with Alicia Silverstone being the top contender for a while, before Monica Keena was cast by September 1995.[16][18] 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.[17] Other principal cast members included Sam Neill as Frederick, Gil Bellows as Will, Taryn Davis as the younger Lilli, and Brian Glover as Lars. Snow White: A Tale of Terror marked one of the last performances of Glover, who died in July 1997, shortly before the film was released.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror premiered on Showtime on August 24, 1997.[25] The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and grossed $3 million (equivalent to $5,876,244in 2024).[26]
Home media
Snow White: A Tale of Terror was first released on VHS via Polygram on November 25, 1997.[27][28] It was re-issued on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment on August 13, 2002, containing identical artwork to the previous edition[29] and most recently on May 1, 2012 from Universal, containing newly commissioned artwork.[30] A multipack DVD including the film (with Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Firestarter 2: Rekindled) was made available from Universal.[31]
In the United Kingdom, Universal Home Entertainment released the film on VHS format on June 1, 1998,[32] while a re-issued VHS became available via Universal from September 17, 2001.[33] The film has been issued twice on DVD from Universal Home Entertainment in the UK, with the first on February 6, 2006,[34] and a subsequent version containing new artwork on May 14, 2012.[35] 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,[36] and for the first time in any country, on Blu-ray format on July 4, 2016.[37]
The film is additionally available to rent or buy on Amazon Video.[38]
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.[39]
Snow White: A Tale of Terror received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that Snow White: A Tale of Terror had a 55% approval rating based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10.[42]
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 Sigourney Weaver's.[43] Anita Gates from The New York Times gave a positive review, highlighting Weaver's acting, costume design, and cinematography.[44]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.[46] William Thomas of Empire awarded A Tale of Terror with three out of five stars, complimenting the performances of Weaver and Monica Keena and stating that the film "succeeds by drawing deep, fearful uncertainty from its ambiguity."[47]
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."[49] 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."[50] 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."[51]
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