Deliciously Twisted Adult ‘Snow White’

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s the best Snow White of all?

Perhaps not “Snow White: A Tale of Terror.” But Showtime’s gothic, darkly comic, creatively mounted, lush new adult version of this classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale is a worthy alternative to the cuddlier “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

None of that kid stuff here. This is the unauthorized story that had to be told, the story that timid Disney wouldn’t dare tell. Its tormented and beleaguered young heroine is named Lilli Hoffman, not Snow White. Plus, you wait forever for the dwarfs to show, only to learn there’s but one, and that he’s less dopey, grumpy, sleepy and sneezy than horny.

There’s simmering incest, too, as Lilli’s stepmother (Sigourney Weaver) gets pretty chummy with her mute brother.

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However, the revisionist teleplay by Tom Szollosi and Deborah Serra does include some of the fable’s elements that have resonated stereophonically since the Disney animated feature arrived 60 years ago. You get the poisoned apple that temporarily consigns poor Lilli (Monica Keena) to a living death. The mirror on the wall is more pivotal than ever. Romance is again prominent, as is the forest.

And talk about your dysfunctional stepmothers. Weaver’s is about as evil as they come, in no way whistling while she works. Although the vain and beautiful second wife of widower Baron Frederick Hoffman (Sam Neill) oozes charm, she turns out to be a real (rhymes with witch), having an epic snit when her infant son dies, and using her magical powers to punish Lilli and her friends in the forest.

At her command post in the castle, she goes berserk, sending her brother to snuff Lilli, and later looking ever so pleased while dining on a scrumptious stew that she believes contains the remains of her stepdaughter. “Um, um. Delicious!”

Expertly directed by Michael Cohn and beautifully filmed in the Czech Republic, it’s this movie that’s delicious, at once fun and foreboding despite some plot gaps. And Weaver plays her character to the macabre hilt, even though you might say her dreams ultimately go up in flames.

* “Snow White: A Tale of Terror” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on Showtime.