Amid genre cinema’s current obsession with reinventing childhood and fairy tale favourites as grimdark slasher films, one of the original Brothers Grimm stories gets a more traditionalist take, in line with its folk horror roots. Directed by Andy Edwards, Rumpelstiltskin is a surprisingly straight-faced adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name.
Making an enemy of a greedy, desperate King, Miller (Mark Cook) lands his daughter Evalina (Hannah Baxter-Eve) in hot water. Locked up in the King’s dungeon, Evalina is faced with an impossible ultimatum – spin a fortune in gold out of hay, or lose her head. Spotting an opportunity, the local woodland Imp (Joss Carter) offers to lend a hand. But he has a few conditions of his own. He’ll help, for the price of Eva’s firstborn son. Fast-forward a few years, and the Imp has come to collect…
Where the likes of Cinderella’s Curse, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare have been playing fast and loose with the book of fairy tales lately, Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t have to work too hard to turn its eponymous creature into a horror villain. After all, the original story is already pretty unsettling. As the titular goblin, Carter gives an enjoyably grotesque performance, which is backed up by a solid creature design.
Elsewhere, the budget is noticeably low, but the gloomy cinematography and rural England setting only serve to heighten the chilly atmosphere. While Edwards’ screenplay sticks fairly close to the childhood story, the nippy pacing ensures that it never outstays its welcome, even as it heads into its finale. We all know where this is headed (or at least, anyone whose mother ever read them fairy tales as a young ‘un does), and it’s to Rumplestiltskin’s credit that the film manages to eke a sense of tension and dread from one of our oldest stories.
RUMPELSTILTSKIN premiered at FrightFest Glasgow on March 8th, 2025.
