Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / SnowWhiteATaleOfTerror

Go To

1[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TaleOfTerror_5407.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:200:The fairytale is over.]]
3
4''Snow White: A Tale of Terror'' is a 1997 MadeForTVMovie adaptation of the ''Literature/SnowWhite'' fairytale, attempting to take the story back to its gothic and grotesque roots. It stars Creator/SigourneyWeaver, Creator/MonicaKeena, Creator/GilBellows and Creator/SamNeill.
5
6The film opens with a carriage accident, fatally wounding the pregnant noblewoman Lilliana Hoffman. 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 does not like her and turns up her nose at any attempts at friendship Claudia makes. Nine years after that, Claudia suffers a miscarriage and is rendered unable to have other children. She becomes convinced that Lilli is her enemy and tries to have her killed. Lilli escapes into the forest and hides out with seven gold miners, outcasts from the kingdom.
7
8The film serves to deconstruct the ''Snow White'' fairy tale in quite a new way. The stepmother Claudia starts off quite willing to love her would-be daughter. But years of the girl turning away and rebuffing her advances puts a strain on their relationship. It's not until Claudia miscarries that she actually becomes the villain. Many of the more famous revisionist fairy tales likely owe something to this film. Planned for a theatrical release, it premiered on ''Showtime'' instead. Sigourney Weaver received an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Claudia.
9----
10
11!!!'''This film provides examples of:'''
12
13%%* ActionSurvivor: Lilli, by the end. Will and Peter aren't exactly trained fighters either, [[spoiler: though Peter misses out on the "survivor" part.]]
14* AlasPoorVillain: Claudia [[spoiler:dies because she tried to rescue her baby from the fire in the room]].
15* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Played with, as Will is considered an outcast by the kingdom because [[spoiler:he wouldn't join the Crusaders and so his family were killed in punishment]].
16* AllThereInTheScript: 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.
17* AltoVillainess: Played with. Claudia sings in the alto range, but at this point in the film she is not the villain.
18* AndIMustScream: 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.
19* AnimalEyeSpy: Claudia uses this trick to spy on Lilli in the forest.
20* AntiVillain: 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, though this is eventually undercut by the fact that she is willing to brutally murder her husband to resurrect her child.
21* AttemptedRape: One of the miners, Rolf, gets as far as tearing Lilli's blouse and forcing a kiss on her before Will puts a knife to his throat and tells him to leave her be.
22* AxCrazy: Claudia was a bit unhinged from the beginning, but after her miscarriage, she dives into this trope with glee.
23* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Older Lilli's first scene is her wondering what's out in the world beyond her home. Congratulations, you get nearly murdered and forced to hide out in the woods with seven outcasts.
24* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: 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 stream. Then at the end, Claudia cuts her face with a pane of glass.
25* BerserkButton: Don't call Will a savage.
26* BettyAndVeronica: Lilli's two love interests, [[NiceGuy Peter]] and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Will]]. Also somewhat RichSuitorPoorSuitor, but money doesn't really matter because Lilli is significantly richer than both of them.
27* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Lilli cries for the first time seconds after her mother dies. Later, Claudia's child is born dead. [[spoiler:Claudia later seeks to reverse this, wanting to kill Friedrich to give her child life.]]
28* BookEnds: The film opens and ends with a fall of snow.
29* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Lilli, as far as Claudia's concerned. She gets better.
30* BreakTheHaughty: Lili starts off aloof and slightly bratty - though she's still fairly kind rather than being entirely bitchy. The haughtiness gets beaten out of her when she's forced to live in the woods.
31* BrickJoke: A dark example. When discussing Lilli's dress for the ball, Claudia politely asks Lilli's maid to cover her hair. Later on, when she [[spoiler:poisons the soup]], she grabs the maid by the hair and growls "cover your hair!" At the end, when Lilli encounters [[spoiler:the now possessed maid, her hair has been hacked off]].
32* ButNotTooWhite: 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.
33* BuyThemOff: Peter's giving money to Will and the other miners for their role in protecting Lilli comes across as at least partially an attempt to bribe Will to not pursue Lilli.
34* ChangedMyMindKid: Will goes after Lilli and Peter after initially walking away with the money Peter had given him for his help.
35* CompressedHair: It's a running gag that the servant girl Ilsa keeps forgetting to tuck her mass of curls under her cap.
36* CostumePorn: Claudia's wardrobe is quite stunning. This is lampshaded by Freideric when Claudia asks why he hasn't commented on her dress - and he remarks that she's always looking splendid.
37* CreepyRavens: Villainess Claudia's pet and familiar is a raven.
38* DaddysGirl: In a change from the Grimm tale and the Disney film, not only does her father feature in the story, but Lilli is his pet. His not taking action to save his daughter from his wife is thoroughly justified by Claudia's manipulation and a timely injury.
39* DancesAndBalls: The tension in the family comes to a head during one when Lilli enters looking almost exactly like her mother.
40* DarkAndTroubledPast: Will still has nightmares about the events that led to his banishment and scars.
41* DarkerAndEdgier: Even more so than the original fairytale.
42* DeadpanSnarker: Claudia gets some zingers. "Brought someone to keep you company" (addressed to Jesus on an inverted crucifix when she drags her husband's unconscious body into the Church).
43* DeathByChildbirth: Averted, technically. Lilliana (the mother) was already dying from a wound in her chest when Lilli was born. She instructed Frederich to cut the baby out of her because it was the only way to make sure Lilli didn't die with her mother.
44* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Peter gets pushed out a window by Claudia just to allow Will and Lilli to end up together.]]
45* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: 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 Lilli shies away from her, and that ends up leading to Claudia's FaceHeelTurn. Also, the miners aren't cheerful dwarves, but outcasts from the kingdom.
46* DeconReconSwitch: As noted above, the earlier deconstructions of the fairy tale characters get reconstructed to allow the story to play out normally.
47* DespairEventHorizon: When Claudia both loses her child and is told she can't have more children, she snaps.
48* DisneyDeath: Played with. [[spoiler: Lilli isn't actually killed by the poisoned apple; she just appears to be dead]].
49* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Inverted. It's Claudia who sends Peter falling to his death.]]
50* DistressedDude: Frederich towards the end.
51* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Mostly averted. Claudia forces herself on an injured Friederich as part of a spell. He doesn't seem to mind but it still technically counts as MaritalRapeLicense. It's also presented as a sign of Claudia's villainy and provides no {{Fanservice}}.
52* DownerBeginning: The film opens with Frederich and Liliana's carriage crashing in the snow, their driver being eaten by wolves, Liliana being mortally wounded and Frederich having to perform a C-section to save their baby daughter.
53* EveryoneHasStandards:
54** The miners are rather mean to Lilli, not feeding her and making her the butt of their jokes, but when Rolf [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil tries to rape her]], they take him up on his suggestion that he should leave--at knifepoint.
55** Lilli herself is dismissive to Claudia, but is horrified when she hears that her stepmother is left barren after her miscarriage.
56* EverythingsPreciousWithPuppies: Invoked by Claudia, who gives Lilli a puppy to try to win her over. Lilli is ''delighted''...and immediately turns to show the puppy to [[ParentalSubstitute Nannau]].
57* EvilCostumeSwitch: Claudia's outfits get a bit more vampy after her FaceHeelTurn.
58* EvilSoundsDeep: Claudia's speaking voice is notably lower than Lilli's, and her humming and singing are in the alto register.
59* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Lilli pokes a possessed maid in the eye with a burning candle. Incidentally, it was the same maid who never covered her hair when Claudia ordered her countless times to.]]
60* FairestOfThemAll: 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 Frederich's first wife, second, because her beauty is all she has left as a wife after a stillbirth leaves her barren.
61* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Not quite as brutal as being forced to dance in red-hot shoes, but [[spoiler: the mirror fragments fly at Claudia's face and she burns to death in her room]].
62* FallenPrincess:
63** Lilli technically. She's forced to run away and try and live in the wild.
64** It's 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.
65* FanDisservice: The Claudia/Frederich sex scene. Fully clothed but still icky to watch.
66* {{Foreshadowing}}: Nannau exclaims as she searches for Lilli that the girl will be the death of her. Guess how she died.
67* GentleGiant: The biggest of the miners is uncommonly large, but he is very childlike and simple and poses the least threat to Lilli.
68* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Technically not a queen, but Claudia is still a noblewoman.
69* GoodHairEvilHair: Claudia pre-FaceHeelTurn wears her hair in various updos with hair nets and ornaments. After she becomes the villain, it's usually down.
70* {{Grimmification}}: The film opens with Snow White's mother having to have the baby cut out of her, the evil queen turns her servants into zombies and Snow White is nearly raped.
71* HeirClubForMen: 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 his dead wife. Claudia, who admitted to her mirror that she really loved him, is not happy when she realizes this.
72* HeldGaze: Constantly between Lilli and Will after [[spoiler: their kiss]].
73* ImAHumanitarian: Claudia has (what she thinks) is Lilli's heart cut up to eat in a stew. [[{{Squick}} She also serves some to Frederich.]]
74* IncestSubtext:
75** Claudia and her brother seem very affectionate. After her miscarriage, she holds his face close to hers more like a lover would.
76** It's clear that Frederich sees his late wife in Lilli when they dance at the ball.
77* InverseLawOfFertility: 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.
78* IronicEcho:
79** 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.
80** 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.
81* {{Irony}}:
82** Lilli rebuffs Claudia's advances for years until the miscarriage. She tries to patch things up with her afterwards. However the miscarriage is what sends Claudia over the edge and turns her against her stepdaughter.
83** The doctor in the group is not the one [[spoiler: who revives Lilli by performing the Heimlich maneuver]] and tells the one who does to leave her, convinced that she's dead.
84* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Will isn't exactly the nicest guy, but he cares about his fellow miners and goes out of his way to protect Lilli even when there's nothing in it for him.
85* LadyOfBlackMagic: Claudia's mother is implied to have been one.
86* LettingHerHairDown: Claudia doesn't start wearing her hair down until after her FaceHeelTurn.
87* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Lilli is young, virginal and innocent (if bratty). Claudia is sexual and manipulative.
88* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Peter
89* TheLostLenore: The first Liliana Hoffman for Freiderich.
90* LovableRogue: Will definitely. Lars and Scar could probably count as well.
91* LowFantasy: Placed in a definite European setting, as there's mentions of Paris. Claudia is the only character with magic, and hers is still limited to what her mirror can give her.
92* MagicMirror: Of course. It's also implied that the spirit inside the mirror is [[spoiler: Claudia's mother.]]
93* MamaBear: [[spoiler: Claudia is going to protect that baby. Even though he's been dead.]]
94* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Nannau's death. Death by looking into magic mirror, or just an inconveniently-timed heart attack?
95* MissingMom: Lilli's mother dies at her birth.
96* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Lilli, after Claudia's miscarriage.
97* NamedByTheAdaptation: Holy hell, has there ever been an adaptation where '''all''' the characters are given names they didn't have in the original?
98* NiceToTheWaiter: Lilli. Too bad she's not as nice to her stepmother.
99* OffscreenTeleportation: One of Claudia's many magic tricks.
100* PapaWolf: Frederich goes out into the storm on his horse to find Lilli when he hears she's missing.
101* ParentalSubstitute: Lilli was raised by a nurse, who was an acceptable substitute for her mother. Lilli holds Nannau's death against her stepmother.
102* PastExperienceNightmare: Will [[spoiler:has nightmares about his family being killed]].
103* PimpedOutDress: Claudia's rather spectacular dress that she wears at the ball. She is annoyed when Frederich doesn't say anything about it.
104* PrettyInMink: A couple of Lilli's dresses have fur trims to them.
105* PrinceCharming: Peter fits the personality but he's just a doctor, as opposed to a prince.
106* PsychicAssistedSuicide: When Claudia discovers that Gustav faked Lilli's death with a pig's heart, she uses her magic to force him to stab himself.
107* RageAgainstTheReflection:
108** After her miscarriage, Claudia sees her reflection in the mirror and snaps.
109** [[spoiler: Lilli kills Claudia by stabbing her reflection in the magic mirror]].
110* RavenHairIvorySkin: Lilli's mother wished for her to have skin white as snow, hair black as the ebony window frame, and lips red as blood. Her beauty, and her resemblance to her late mother, are big factors into why Claudia wants her dead. Lilli's mother also counts, due to UncannyFamilyResemblance.
111* RejectedApology: Lilli feels terrible after her stepmother's miscarriage, and apologizes for never accepting her. But it's far too late to reach Claudia now...
112* RuleOfThree: 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.
113* SacrificialLamb: Nannau's death in the prologue serves to clue the viewer in that this fairy tale truly is DarkerAndEdgier.
114* SanitySlippage: Claudia was a little unstable from the beginning, but after the ball and her miscarriage, she starts to get a bit AxCrazy.
115* ScarsAreForever: Will has a telltale scar on his face from when his family was killed.
116* SheCleansUpNicely: A variation where it happens near the start of the film. Our 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.
117* ShirtlessScene: The miners work in the mine shirtless. Will also gets another later on.
118* ShowerOfAngst: This leads to [[spoiler: Will and Lilli's first kiss]].
119* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Lilli wants to marry Peter, who is a kind doctor and travels the world. [[spoiler: She ends up with Will, who is also a good man]].
120* SnowMeansDeath: Lilli's mother dies laid out in the snow. [[spoiler:Inverted in the end, when Lilli's father wakes up just as it starts snowing.]]
121* TokenEvilTeammate: Rolf, to the miners. He wants to ransom Lilli back to her father, then [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil tries to rape her, at which point the others decide it's time he left.]]
122* TookALevelInBadass: Lilli is certainly more badass at the end of the story than she was at the start.
123* TraumaticCSection: We don't actually see anything, but the spreading pool of blood suggests Lilliana the elder wasn't quite dead when Fredrich was forced to cut their daughter out of her. If nothing else, it was certainly traumatic for him.
124* TrueLovesKiss: [[spoiler: Averted, in keeping with the original fairy tale. Instead, Will revives Lilliana by shaking her (which dislodges the piece of apple stuck in her throat) and repeatedly urging her to "Breathe...breathe!".]]
125* UncannyFamilyResemblance: Lilli looks so much like her mother as to be a symbol for her continued lingering presence in Frederich's heart.
126* VainSorceress: 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.
127%%* VillainousBreakdown: Claudia has an utterly epic one after her miscarriage.
128* TheVoiceless: Gustav has functioning vocal chords, which he shows when he screams. But he never speaks.
129* WickedStepmother: Double subverted as Claudia is quite nice and friendly to Lilli when she arrives. Lilli's mistreatment of her as well as her miscarriage sends Claudia over the edge to become the wicked stepmother.
130* {{Yandere}}: Claudia appears to be partially motivated by feeling that Lilli is competition for Frederich's affections.
131* YouHaveFailedMe: 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.
132

Top