Sigourney Weaver plays a wonderfully wicked stepmother and somehow she still comes off feeling somewhat pitiable. I don’t think I felt this way before I had my baby, but upon rewatching it I found that I did. As a mother I could somehow relate a little bit to her loss early in the movie. As her fear of losing her beauty to age and her continued loss, she finds herself listening to the evil mirror’s goading. She becomes more and more wicked as the story goes on and you just love to fear and hate her.
The character of Lilli comes off like a spoiled child early on in the movie, but grows a bit during her adventures in the forest. I think I would have liked a little more time for the miners to grow attached to her before they did, but it still worked well. Personally, I think they if they had had any sense they would have abandoned her as their fortune took a very bad turn very quickly once they befriended her. Still, it speaks to what sort of morals these raggedy men had toward a person in need.
All in all, this is a great little movie to check out. I know you can stream it on Netflix, but if you’re looking to add it to your DVD collection, you can pick up a copy from Amazon
I love this movie. Now I need to go dust it off and watch it again. Is Mirror Mirror based off the Macguire book? Cause that was a book about the Borgias with some Snow White stuff thrown in.
Yeah, I totally recommend this movie, even if it scares the crap out of me every time I see it. It’s also an interesting turn on the role of the mirror, because the mirror is not passive about everything, but an evil artefact that actually kills people it dislikes. And even though the stepmother is clearly evil later on, I always felt sorry for her loss.
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ve added it to my Netflix queue. I also like alternate takes on many of the classic fairytales, usually the first time I’ve seen them was through a Disney take. But I usually find I quite enjoy the older source material stories and other movie versions of them better. I’ve been enjoying the Erstwhile fairy tale adaptations tremendously. If I might suggest it, there was a TV movie of Snow White a few years back that was really quite charming starring Miranda Richardson as the Evil Queen and Kristin Kreuk as Snow White. I thought it’s treatment of the dwarves and the evil queen was rather interesting.
I agree. This is one of my favorite versions of the story. I truly felt for the stepmother in the beginning. Had Lilli just given her a chance, then the whole thing could have been avoided. But as you said, she started out as a spoiled brat. Gads, it has been so long. I need to re-watch it at some point…
I kept passing that one up in favor of watching many Hellraiser movies, but now I must seek it out again. This reminded me. Thanks! :)
I watched this a few days ago and, honestly, I thought it was awful. Lilli is just a brat throughout the ENTIRE movie, not just the beginning. Nothing was fully explained and it was entirely a waste of time.
Awe, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. ^^;
As a fellow mother who just had her second, there IS something different now about movies involving babies…
My husband didn’t care for this, but I haven’t seen it yet, I might give it a try.
I loved Snow White: A Tale of Terror. It was a wonderfully unexpected look at the story and was so lovely as far as location , costuming, and general feel. How many other so called Snow White Stories can boast at being shot in a forest not unlike that of the original story? Anyhow loved it, own it on DVD and recommend it.
I think it’s also on YouTube. I believe I once had it on my bookmarks toolbar. I never watched it though, but I will :)
Any time I feel like watching a scary movie (which is rarely), this is the one of the few I turn to. Some of the things she does just turn my stomach! Lilli though, I find I just can’t like her or cheer for her during the movie at all. The only one I wanted to win was the father!