Monika Bartyzel, on cinematical, wonders “why we don’t get many classic fairy tale horror movies. I’m not referring to reimagining familial tales into something more adult (like Dorothy and BDSM), but rather going back to the source of the fairy tale”:
Hansel and Gretel: A family is starving, burning of the old woman, and her cannibalistic dreams. That the mother or stepmother happens to die when the children have killed the witch has suggested to many commentators that the mother or stepmother and the witch are, in fact, the same woman.
Sleeping Beauty: Originally published by Charles Perrault, the story consisted of two parts. The first is what we’re familiar with, except that the prince raped the sleeping girl. Then there is Part 2: Attempted infanticide and cannibalism, war, and an Ogress Queen torn apart by snakes and vipers.
Red Riding Hood: In an earlier version, the wolf was a werewolf, and he feeds grandma’s blood and meat to the little girl (more cannibalism). He then makes her strip, throw her clothes in the fire, and has her come to bed. However, before anything can happen, she figures things out and asks to go the bathroom so she can escape.
Rapunzel: A pregnant women who will agree to any demand, a witch, an imprisoned 12-year old girl who is impregnated by a passing prince, the prince is blinded by thorns after near fatal jump from a tower.
Rumpelstiltskin: A gold-spinning demon, an imprisoned daughter facing execution: "she would be skewered and then fricasseed like a pig,” a infant ransomed, and the gory end to Rumpelstiltskin: "in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two."
Snow White: Attempted murder by: poisoned apple, comb with poison, asphyxiation by tight dress and a kingdom’s retribution: "a pair of heated iron shoes were brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She was then forced to step into these and dance until she fell down dead."
The Juniper Tree: mother dies in child birth, stepmother decapitates child, daughter convinced she cause the child’s death, child’s body fed to Dad in pie, ghost seeks revenge on evil stepmother
There’s even a song that goes along with The Juniper Tree:
My mother, she butchered me,
My father, he ate me,
My sister, little Anne Marie,
She gathered up the bones of me,
and tied them in a silken cloth,
and laid them under the juniper.
Tweet tweet! What a pretty bird am I!
We came up with a few to add to Monika’s list:
The Red Shoes (paraphrased): Once there was a poor little girl, named Karen, was adopted by a rich old lady after her mother’s death. She grows up vain. Then, she buys a pair of red shoes and repeatedly wears them to church, without paying attention to the service. Her adoptive mother becomes ill, but Karen deserts her, preferring to attend a party in her red shoes. Once she begins dancing, she can’t stop. The shoes take over. She cannot control them and they are stuck to her feet. And the shoes continue to dance, through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day. She can’t even attend her adoptive mother’s funeral. An angel appears to her, condemning her to dance even as she grows cold and pale, as a warning to vain children everywhere. Karen then asks the executioner to chop off her feet. He does so and gives her a pair of wooden feet and crutches. Thinking that she has suffered enough for the red shoes Karen decides to go to church in order for the people to see her, but the chopped-off feet with the red shoes dance before her, barring the way.
The Girl without Hands: A deal with the devil, child’s hands chopped off, a king demands the queen and newborn child kill; the eyes and tongue as proof.
Godfather Death: Death becomes godfather to boy, physician receives the power to heal or condemn to death, tries to trick death, ends up dying in hell.
Struwwelpeter, a series of stories that include: boy bitten by a dog; a girl plays with matches and burns to death; a rabbit steals a rifle and hunts the hunter; a son told not to suck his thumbs – a roving tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors; a healthy, strong boy refuses to eat, over the next five days he wastes away and dies; a boy goes outside during a storm and is blown away to his doom.
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