Coming soon, a Cinderella horror movie

From beloved childhood icons to haunting nightmares, Hollywood's pursuit of horror remakes takes on Cinderella, Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi, and the Grinch

To most of us, Disney’s Cinderella is an animated feature film based on the fairy tale story. The film was released in 1950. The main characters introduced in the first film included the titular protagonist Cinderella, her mouse friends Jaq and Gus, her stepmother and two stepsisters, her Fairy Godmother, and her love interest, Prince Charming. In the fairy tale, Cinderella is a young orphan with medium-length blonde hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. After her father dies, she is forced into servitude in her own home and is constantly tormented by her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and two stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella. Despite this, she maintains hope through her dreams and remains a kind, gentle and sweet soul. She has faith that her dreams of happiness will come true someday, and her kindness will be rewarded.

We also remember how Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother transformed her torn homemade gown into her now-iconic silver (powder blue in the shadows) ball gown, complete with a glittering puffed over-skirt, a delicately laced white petticoat and puffy sleeves; and how she wore her hair in a French twist supported by a silver headband, and her accessories included silver opera gloves, a black choker, and glass slippers to the ball.

However, there is intriguing (or rather horrifying) news on the Cinderella front. Following in the footsteps of fellow childhood favourites Winnie-the-Pooh and Bambi, it appears Cinderella will be the next childhood character being subjected to a horror remake. This time though, it won’t be an animated film, but a live-action movie ominously titled Cinderella’s Curse. ChampDog Films, the studio behind other horror adaptations Tooth Fairy and Cannibal Cabin, will produce the film.

Louisa Warren, who will be helming Cinderella’s Curse on behalf of ChampDog Films, has promised audiences “an incredibly unique spin on the Cinderella we all love and know”. Adding, “There are going to be some truly horrific deaths by her hands.” With this bit of information, it would seem as though the slasher in this feature will be the titular would-be princess herself. From what we know of the original rags-to-riches story, Cinderella is treated horribly by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, meaning that it’s more than likely that they’ll be the ones to fall into her crosshairs. There’s also the possibility that her fairy godmother will be more of a bloodthirsty and vengeance-driven character than the one who would turn pumpkins into coaches with a magical “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo”.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was first announced in the summer of 2022. It drew widespread attention due to its premise involving a character that was a beloved childhood icon, and it was met with divided reactions. The film was shot on a $100,000 budget in 10 days and was originally set for a nationwide one-night event, but there was a massive spike in online popularity. So the producers expanded it to a major worldwide theatrical release, netting $5.2 million at the box office.

For the past 80 years, Bambi — Great Prince of the Forest and his woodland pals Thumper and Flower have maintained a sweet, wholesome image, thanks to the eponymous 1942 Disney film (adapted from Felix Salten's 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods). Now, the once-adorable deer is set to show off his macabre and dark side in the upcoming horror movie Bambi: The Reckoning. The film will be an incredibly dark retelling of the 1923 story we all know and love, insiders say. Finding inspiration from the design used in Netflix’s The Ritual, Bambi will be a vicious killing machine that lurks in the wilderness. Sounds pretty ominous. Bambi’s out-for-blood avatar is expected to hit theatres soon.

And by the way, the Grinch is getting a similar treatment with The Mean One, which reimagines the green grouch as a merciless killer.

Why this wilful corruption of innocence? Hollywood perhaps thinks that stories aimed at younger audiences can also be serious and “grown-up.” One way to interpret this message is to give characters like Cinderella, Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi and the Grinch gritty, R-rated makeovers. Concurrently, today there is equally a strong fascination with “anti-nostalgia,” and viewing past movies and shows through a more critical lens. This kind of anti-nostalgia means audiences are also interested in viewing content that shows past heroes and icons in a new, less-than-stellar, sometimes even downright disturbing light.

My interpretation is that the power that fictional characters hold over our minds is only as valid as the stories we associate with them. So for older audiences, Cinderella, Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi and the Grinch might be innocent symbols of joy and redemption. But for new audiences whose first contact with Cinderella, or Pooh, or Grinch will be through their horror avatars, those same characters might just become a new source of unhappy nightmares. Hollywood has its ways!

And yes, will Bollywood follow soon?      

The writer is managing director of Rediffusion