(REVIEW) "EVER AFTER" Gives Fairy Tales a Body Count

Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

Some stories begin with “once upon a time” and end with everyone living happily ever after. Horror has always known better. Fairy tales were pretty messed up long before they were cleaned up, filled with catchy songs and turned into bedtime stories, and "EVER AFTER" seems more than happy to drag them back into the darkness where they belong. There are no singing animals, magical carriages, or helpful fairy godmothers waiting to save the day here. What we do get is blood, brutality, and enough deranged storybook characters to make wandering through the woods seem like a terrible idea for the foreseeable future.

Written by László Illés and László Krisztián Gera, and directed by Illés, "EVER AFTER" follows a group of women heading to a secluded forest lodge for a bachelorette getaway. Naturally, because this is a horror movie, the relaxing weekend doesn't exactly go according to plan. They soon discover the surrounding woods are filled with murderous fanatics who believe themselves to be characters from classic fairy tales. Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Witch, Prince Charming, and several other familiar characters have gotten one hell of a makeover, and these versions definitely aren't interested in delivering a happily-ever-after ending.

It didn't take long before "EVER AFTER" started giving me some serious "The Descent" vibes. Instead of being trapped underground with sightless monsters, though, these women are stuck in a forest with completely deranged fairy-tale cosplayers trying to kill them. I absolutely mean that as a compliment. The secluded setting does a lot of the heavy lifting because once the danger starts closing in, those endless trees suddenly feel less like an escape route and more like walls.

That forest setting also gives the movie plenty of atmosphere without needing to overcomplicate the premise. Darkness, isolation and the possibility that some homicidal character from your childhood could be standing ten feet away are more than enough to make the woods uncomfortable. Once the weekend goes bad, there is a constant feeling that another threat could come wandering out from between the trees. It fits the twisted-storybook concept extremely well.

The moment I realized just how many fairy-tale lunatics were roaming around these woods, I was completely on board. Horror usually gives us one central villain, and sometimes we get two if the filmmakers are feeling generous. "EVER AFTER" apparently looked at that rule and decided it wasn't nearly enough. Instead, there is an entire lineup of killers waiting for their turn to make somebody's night considerably worse.

That variety is one of the movie's biggest strengths because each character brings a different personality and kind of threat into the story. You aren't spending the entire movie waiting for the same killer to pop out from behind another tree. Instead, part of the fun comes from wondering who is going to appear next and what completely unhinged interpretation the movie is going to give them. It turns childhood nostalgia into a very strange guessing game with considerably more blood.

Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

Prince Charming might be my favorite example simply because of how perfectly backwards the idea is. This is supposed to be the guy who rides in, saves the day and helps deliver the happily-ever-after ending. Not this time. Here, he is someone you probably want running in the opposite direction. Forget losing a glass slipper, Cinderella got off easy compared with what these women are dealing with.

I also really enjoyed that "EVER AFTER" puts its female cast front and center. Maria De Sa, Lydia Pearl Pentz, Meg Vermette, Lara Sas, Jasmine Sumner and Laura Esti give the movie the group dynamic it needs before everything goes completely to hell. They have to go from enjoying a weekend together to figuring out how they are going to make it through the night, and watching that survival instinct kick in is a big part of what kept me invested.

I'm always down for some girl power in horror, especially when the women are actually allowed to fight back. I don't want to watch an entire movie where everyone waits around hoping someone else eventually shows up to save them. These women have to get their hands dirty, make decisions and kick some ass if they want to survive. They don't need Prince Charming riding in on a white horse, and considering this particular Prince Charming wants them dead, that would actually make things considerably worse.

The supporting cast deserves plenty of credit as well because the fairy-tale characters need personality for this concept to work. Riana Emma Balla helps bring Little Red Riding Hood into this warped storybook world, while Philippe Reinhardt takes on Prince Charming and Miklós B. Székely joins the madness as Grumpy. Rebecka Johnston, Denny Nolan, Alexander Hauck, and Rebecca Lara Müller also help make the forest feel packed with strange personalities rather than populated by one main villain and a bunch of disposable background characters.

Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

That larger ensemble could have easily made "EVER AFTER" feel overcrowded, but for me, it adds to the unpredictability. Every new face feels like another chance for the movie to get weird, and that's exactly what I wanted from a horror movie built around twisted fairy tales. The supporting performers help sell the idea that this isn't one lunatic hiding in the woods. This entire place has gone off the rails.

The gore is another area where "EVER AFTER" absolutely had my attention. I love practical effects, and I will take a convincing practical kill over a perfectly polished digital one almost every time. Give me fake blood, prosthetics, and something that probably took three people an hour to clean off the floor afterward. That's part of the fun, and "EVER AFTER" understands that sometimes the tried-and-true methods are still the best ones.

The practical work is especially important with these villains because they shouldn't look slick or overly polished. They need to look grimy, bloody, and like they actually crawled out of some seriously messed-up storybook. Physical makeup, costumes, and gore give them that extra bit of weight. These aren't colorful illustrations from something your parents read to you before bed anymore, and seeing those familiar ideas turned into something physical and nasty makes them considerably creepier.

Then there is the cast of horror legends, and this lineup is ridiculous in the best possible way. Mark Sheppard, Bonnie Aarons, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder and Malcolm McDowell all appearing in the same movie feels like somebody was putting together a horror convention guest list and accidentally made a film instead. Sheppard will immediately grab the attention of fans of "Supernatural"; Aarons has already scared the hell out of audiences with "The Nun"; Berryman is forever tied to "The Hills Have Eyes"; Hodder's legacy includes "Friday the 13th", and McDowell's incredible career includes "A Clockwork Orange".

Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

As a horror fan, I can only imagine what being on that set must have felt like with that much genre history in one place. I'd probably spend half the day forgetting I was supposed to be working and wondering how the hell all of these people were standing in the same room. There is enough horror history between them to fill an entire convention hall. Having them together gives the movie an extra layer of fun before the blood even starts flying.

What I really appreciate, though, is that their involvement doesn't leave everyone else standing in their shadow. It would have been incredibly easy to sell "EVER AFTER" entirely on those famous horror names and treat the rest of the cast as filler. Still, the women fighting for their lives and the supporting performers bringing these bizarre fairy-tale characters to life are just as important. The veterans are a huge bonus, but they aren't the entire movie. That balance helps "EVER AFTER" feel like an ensemble horror film rather than a collection of celebrity appearances stitched together for a poster.

Illés and Gera also seem to understand exactly what kind of premise they are working with. The idea is wild, and thankfully they don't spend the movie pretending otherwise. They lean into the fairy-tale insanity while still giving the story enough danger and suspense that the joke never completely overtakes the horror. A concept like this could easily become one long gimmick, but enough survival horror under the craziness keeps it moving.

"EVER AFTER" isn't trying to reinvent what makes horror fun, and in some ways, that is exactly why it worked for me. Give me creepy killers, practical gore, characters I want to see survive, and a premise crazy enough that I genuinely don't know what is coming around the next corner. Sometimes horror doesn't need to overcomplicate things. Sometimes it just needs to know exactly what kind of movie it wants to be and commit to the madness.

Courtesy of Level 33 Entertainment

Most importantly, "EVER AFTER" takes something familiar and safe and turns it against us. Instead of castles, romance, and happily-ever-afters, we get dark woods, blood-soaked survival, and a collection of characters who would probably be escorted out of the Magic Kingdom before they even made it through the front gate. That clash between childhood nostalgia and violent horror is where the movie really finds its personality. It takes stories we have known forever and gives them one seriously nasty new coat of paint.

With a group of women who aren't interested in waiting around to be rescued, a memorable supporting cast, fantastic practical gore, an unsettling forest setting, and enough genre legends to make a horror fan's head spin, "EVER AFTER" is exactly the kind of twisted fairy tale I can get behind. It takes characters we grew up knowing and asks a much more entertaining question: what if the people from those bedtime stories were the reason you were afraid to go to sleep?

"EVER AFTER" is now available in theaters through Level 33 Entertainment. If a bloody trip into the woods where childhood nostalgia goes to die sounds like your kind of night, grab some popcorn, forget everything those happily-ever-after stories taught you, and prepare for a fairy tale with a body count. You can get tickets via Fandango here.

Whether it’s slashers in the woods, ghosts in the attic, or killers in the cornfield, ILHM Reviews brings you the frightful horror flick recommendations worth watching. Follow us on Instagram, be sure to listen to the"I Love Horror" podcast, and remember that if you’re a true fan of horror, every night can be a FRIGHT NIGHT!