Whats with all the fairy tale-gone-dark movies coming out lately? Hollywood sure knows how to beat a concept into the ground.

eddy | December 04, 16:01 CET

Well, most fairy tales were actually pretty dark to begin with, so "going dark" is actually more tonally faithful than the freshly-scrubbed Disneyfied versions. But I agree that Hollywood is really cashing in on the more gothy fantasy stuff lately. Ever since the Twilight Saga proved that there was a market for that kinda thing. And the Hot Topic sales are probably also a solid barometer for that kinda thing.

We had the re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood earlier this year. There's the Snow White one coming up. A darker more violent (and therefore more in keeping with the tone of the original tale) Little Mermaid will probably be next. I'll be very amused to see the line-up of "dark" princesses next to their Disney counterparts.

wenxina | December 04, 16:10 CET

The film people are just coming around to what the book people have been doing for years. They're late to the party as always. ;-)

My personal favorite dark fairy/folk/myth tale re-imaginings in novel form:

Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Tam Lin by Patricia Dean
and the more loosely based American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I guess I must just like this stuff since I'm working on a retelling of The Breman Town Musicians myself.

BreathesStory | December 04, 18:52 CET

I've always liked that story, BreathesStory.

I'm trying to remember which one it is where the villain got turned into a black dog forced to eat live coals. I want to say it was "The Pink," but I might have my stories confused. The illustration in the book I have reminds me of the Black Dog of England. In fact, I started a fic some time back where the Scoobies are gathered around the fireplace & Giles is telling them stories of Ireland, Scotland and England - Prince Llewelyn and his hunting dog Gelert, King Herla and the Wild Hunt, baobhan sith. Lots of good fodder for "Buffy" stories in those tales.

ShadowQuest | December 04, 20:25 CET

Actually, there are *two" "Snow White" movies coming up, one with Chris Hemsworth. And of course, there is "Once Upon a Time."

Shapenew | December 05, 01:38 CET

There's also Bryan Singer's "Jack the Giant killer" with an impressive cast.

Effulgent | December 05, 02:55 CET

Gretel is hot.

dispatch | December 05, 03:22 CET

Is the Cast & Crew tag gonna become unwieldy once Avengers comes out? I mean, Samuel L Jackson is in it, and he shows up in EVERYTHING. Has there been any talk of limiting Cast & Crew to those of Whedon's own creations (i.e., Firefly, Buffy, Dollhouse, Angel, Dr. Horrible, etc...)?

SpendTheNightAlone | December 05, 20:30 CET