An R-rated horror twist on a family classic that arrived 25 years before it was cool bares its teeth on Netflix

Thanks to movies that nobody was asking for like The Mean One and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, reinventing the iconic stars of beloved family classics into the centerpieces of R-rated horror stories is the new in thing, but Snow White: A Tale of Terror did it 25 years before it was cool.

A made-for-television feature that aired on Showtime back in August of 1997, the prohibitive adult-skewing twist on the famous fairy tale may have been the reason why it never saw the inside of a theater, because the production value and performances are exactly what you’d expect from a $30 million film starring Sigourney Weaver as the scenery-chewing antagonist.

A Tale of Terror may not have been showered in praise by either critics or Disney diehards curious about how the animated classic’s reputation had potentially been sullied by a gruesome spin on such a famed fable, but it did land three Primetime Emmy nominations for Lead Actress, Costume Design, and Makeup.

Never one to miss out on capitalizing on the latest hot trend, Snow White: A Tale of Terror being added to the Netflix library in many international markets has unsurprisingly reaped instantaneous rewards. Per FlixPatrol, the jealousy-driven Gothic fantasy packed full of unsettling atmosphere has become one of the most-watched flicks on the platform’s global charts, and it’s a damn sight more rewarding than sitting through the one-trick pony that was Blood and Honey.

Almost completely forgotten in the quarter of a century since premiering, it’s time for director Michael Cohn’s lost effort to reclaim its status as the hipster of the new craze; because A Tale of Terror did it long before it was cool.