"Pan's Labyrinth" and six other dark tales for winter evenings
"Edward Scissorhands"
Fantasy, drama, romance | 4.33 out of 5 on MyShows | 1990
In a hilltop castle lives Edward, a nearly perfect man. His creator died before he finished his work, so Edward has metal scissors instead of hands. Edward lives alone until one day a kind woman named Peg arrives and invites him to her home. Edward has to adjust to his new life and unfamiliar surroundings, but with his talent for cutting hair and hedges, he quickly manages to win the heart of everyone in town. But soon things begin to change. A winter gothic tale from one of the masters of the genre, Tim Burton.
"It's absolutely clear that this is one of Johnny Depp's best roles. He comes across as completely different in every frame. His role is a bit wordy, so facial expressions play a huge part. Despite his gloomy appearance, he is very charming and sweet, radiating sincerity. The conflict is that many people perceive the image visually, not everyone is able to see something light behind this gloomy picture of the image. The main trick of the director is to play on contrasts. On one side pastel houses and green lawns, on the other - a gray castle with cobwebs in the corners. The plot for today is predictable and simple, but for that time fire. Also - what a pitch, makeup, colors, the play of actors and separately Johnny, fabulous music with notes of mystery and sadness", — Want_chips.
"I closed my eyes to the simple sets and in early December found myself in a magical New Year's Eve world , where the gestures, movements, acting and, finally, the looks of the actors made me smile humbly to thank for the incredible picture", — IamBigGreyWolf.
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"Pan's Labyrinth" / El laberinto del fauno
Drama, fantasy, war | 4.08 out of 5 on MyShows | 2006
Guillermo del Toro's movie is set in Francoist Spain in 1944. Ofelia and her pregnant mother come to live in a small town with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain in the Spanish army. At night, Ofelia meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of a labyrinth. He tells her that she is a princess, but must prove her royal descent by enduring three gruesome tests. If she fails, she will never prove she is a real princess, which means she will never see her real father, the king, again.
"Undoubtedly one of Guillermo del Toro's best works. A dark, violent, but at the same time very beautiful fairy tale", — Barnaby.
"I love Guillermo del Toro's style. Fairy tales for adults. How I roared at the end of the movie", — Saltanat91.
"The movie is clearly not for children. Watched it as an adult and I was really scared of that creepy Faun and the nasty "pale man", — Stalker96kor.
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"MirrorMask"
Fantasy | 4.1 out of 5 on MyShows | 2005
A movie directed by Dave McKean, who co-wrote the screenplay with Neil Gaiman, author of "The Sandman". In the story Helena, a fifteen-year-old girl from a family of circus performers, often dreams of running away and joining "real life". One day the girl's mom falls ill, and Helena blames it all on herself — the day before she had a big fight with her parents.
The night before her mom's surgery, the girl wakes up in a strange world with two warring queens, giants, monkey birds, and dangerous sphinxes. In this new world not all is well: the white queen is sick. Only the Mirror Mask can save her, and Helena must find it to return home.
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"Crimson Peak"
Horror, romance | 3.91 out of 5 on MyShows | 2015
New York City, 1880s. Young writer Edith Cushing falls in love with English businessman Thomas Sharp and soon marries him. Edith moves to England to live with Thomas and his sister on their ancient and eerie estate. Once the girl settles into the house a bit, she begins to be haunted by nightmares that become more and more real. It's as if the house doesn't want to accept her.
Another Guillermo del Toro movie starring Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain. The gothic horror, shot in the recognizable style of the Mexican director, was positively received by critics, praising the atmosphere and visuals, but the film did not win any serious awards.
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"The City of Lost Children" / La Cité des Enfants Perdus
Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure | 3.89 out of 5 on MyShows | 1995
On a fog-shrouded derrick at sea, behind an old minefield, lives a scientist named Krank. He is aging rapidly because he lacks one vital function — the ability to dream. So he kidnaps children from the harbor town to steal dreams from them. One of the kidnapped children turns out to be the younger brother of carnival strongman One, who sets out to rescue his little brother with his young friend Miette.
Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's amazing film, which claimed the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and three César awards. "The City of Lost Children" was the last joint project of the directors: they soon parted, working on the fourth "Alien Resurrection". After that, Caro's career went downhill, and Jeunet a couple of years later shot one of the most high-profile French films of all time — "Amélie".
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"The Fall"
Fantasy, drama, adventure | 4.35 out of 5 on MyShows | 2006
Tarsem Singh's movie is set in a Los Angeles hospital in the 1920s. Young Alexandria is recovering from a broken arm when she meets Roy Walker, a movie stuntman whose legs were paralyzed after a fall from a height. Roy tells her an intricate story about six men of very different backgrounds who want to assassinate the corrupt Spanish governor Odious. As Alexandria immerses herself in the story, projecting images of the familiar onto the characters, a desperate Roy uses her naiveté to take his own life.
"A very moving movie. Watched it a long time ago, but the images of the main characters are very firmly etched in my head", — SevenBunny.
"The most beautiful movie I've ever seen", — Jane_Gerard.
"A gorgeous, touching film with a distinctly recognizable directorial handwriting", — trashed_lost.
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"Sleepy Hollow"
Fantasy, drama, horror, thriller, detective | 4.35 out of 5 on MyShows | 1999
In 1799, young detective Ichabod Crane travels from New York City to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious murders. On the spot, Crane learns that three of the murdered men were among the most famous and influential people in town, and according to the locals, they were killed by the deadly Headless Horseman. Crane doesn't believe these legends until he encounters the creepy ghost himself.
"I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. The cast is wonderful! Johnny Depp is great as always, unbelievably good. The movie itself, the plot and the atmosphere are just delightful. Tim Burton is a true master. Love his gothic, dark movies", — RinaAri.
"Delightful movie and atmosphere. Can be watched endlessly", — AnastasiaAzazel.
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Discuss this news
I am glad that they did not write the best ones in the title :))) Criticism works!
I'd add Ridley Scott's Legend here, it's not as dark as Fawn's Labyrinth, but insanely beautiful and atmospheric.
For dark fairy tales, I highly recommend going to the Czech cinema of the 1960s-80s, there are a lot of very strange and very good films, to begin with, here:
"Beauty and the Beast" https://myshows.me/movie/79458 /
"The Little Mermaid" https://myshows.me/movie/73841/
And not from the Czech Republic:
Orpheus Jean Cocteau, classics https://myshows.me/movie/74149 / "
Red Shoes" https://myshows.me/movie/72539 /
"Kaidan" https://myshows.me/movie/111755 /
"Duel" https://myshows.me/movie/430277 /
"Cloud Door" India https://myshows.me/movie/355717 /
"The Adventures of Prince Ahmed" 1920s, animation, full head off https://myshows.me/movie/217409 /
"Angel's Egg" Mamoru Hoshii https://myshows.me/movie/134779/
And "The Maze" with David Bowie https://myshows.me/movie/73139/
Relatively fresh:
"Daughters of Dance" https://myshows.me/movie/65422 /
"Wild Boys" 18+, but this is a movie about growing up actually 🤷♀️ https://myshows.me/movie/62935/
While I was writing, I remembered about the TV series The Cave of the Golden Rose. https://myshows.me/view/19056 / He was on TV in the early 00s, I remember that he was beautiful.
The maze with Bowie seemed like a creep in childhood, as did Alice Schwankmayer.
Now I just decided to read about the film. The script was written by Guillermo del Toro, who also directed. Doug Jones played the roles of Fawn and Pale Man, which is very interesting. As it turned out, the film is not horror, which is important for me, since I do not easily tolerate this genre, although I watch it periodically, but dark fantasy with horror elements. These three factors have aroused interest and a desire to reconsider, and this is thanks to the news on myshows.
It seems that I am closing the gestalt, because at the moment of viewing, some mechanism worked in my subconscious or too much influence was exerted, the consequences of which I still cannot understand. Age restrictions on films were not invented by fools and for a reason, this is very thin ice.
🤔🤔🤔
Crimson Peak is atmospheric, but I would not call it a fairy tale. It looks like classic Victorian horror.
Edward is a classic, in principle, all of Burton can be written here in the dark fairy tales section.
The city of lost children is more of a crypt, not a fairy tale. Although I liked it when I watched it. Here you can also "Dark City" (https://myshows.me/movie/72318 /) then - I clearly associate them with each other.
I can add more here
"Big Fish" https://myshows.me/movie/5574 / - just an amazing movie, I adored it in my youth, but now it's a little scary to review, suddenly I don't like something :D
"Bridge to Terabithia" https://myshows.me/movie/1378 / - a children's film, but very heavy, probably many have watched.
"Where the monsters live" https://myshows.me/movie/2216 /
"INK" https://myshows.me/movie/71056 / - once I watched it only because of the creepy poster
"An endless Story" https://myshows.me/movie/1563 / - this is also a direct nostalgia from childhood.
"Stardust" https://myshows.me/movie/6070/
And I suddenly realized, did we really have so much dark fantasy in our childhood? :D