If you're looking for new bedtime stories to read to your kids, you may want to check out Stephen King's latest book. Yes, normally that would be a pretty terrible recommendation, but the horror novelist's new book is for children--and anyone who loves classic fairy tales. On Tuesday, HarperCollins published reimagined version of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel.
The early 20th century saw the debut of darker fairy tale tellings like Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes, but many of the timeless stories they drew inspiration from became synonymous with the Walt Disney Company's animated films. Even if the original fairy tales contained dark, provocative material, more mature film adaptations had to contend with family-friendly expectations tied to Disney classics like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.