The public domain is a funny thing. One second you’ve got a character whose image is clean and curated, and the next they’re going on murderous rampages against unwitting college kids. It’s the thing to do once you outgrow your copyright protection, I guess.
It’s also seemingly one of the newest trends in filmmaking to take beloved childhood stories and twist them into nearly unrecognizable horror shows. So far, Winnie the Pooh and his friends have already undergone this treatment with the Blood and Honey films, and just this past month, other Disney darlings like Mickey Mouse and Cinderella have followed suit with Screamboat and The Ugly Stepsister, respectively.
Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios are all set to make more dark films based on beloved childhood characters like Pinocchio, Bambi and Peter Pan as they enter into the public domain leading up to a crossover “Poohniverse” movie, which got me thinking, what are some other titles that would lend themselves to a more macabre vision?
1. The Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum’s magical world of Oz is experiencing renewed attention in pop culture right now thanks to the film adaptation of the Wicked musical, so what better time to explore a darker side of the world. Growing up, I remember many kids saying that the flying monkeys from the original 1939 film terrified them, and though I never found them particularly scary, there could be something there. Instead of the bright and magical world full of friendship and song, what if Dorothy’s experience in Oz was one of curses, evil witches, murderous munchkins, sinister talking trees, hungry animals and, of course, frightening flying monkeys.
2. Alice in Wonderland
While we’re on the topic of girls getting isekaied to magical lands, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has been in the public domain since 1907. Wonderland is full of fanciful characters and though we got an edgier reboot from Tim Burton in 2010, a true horror spin on the story could easily make use of the Mad Hatter, enigmatic Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts who’s a little too open to beheadings. Over the years, the story of Alice has been tied to drugs and psychedelics (whether Carroll intended this messaging or not), and a drug trip gone terrifyingly wrong could be an interesting spin on the classic children’s tale.
3. Beauty and the Beast
Though Disney’s version of the tale came out in 1991 and is still protected by copyright, the original tale of Beauty and the Beast as we know it was published in 1740 by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and is free to use as the backdrop for a dark romance.
Aside from the obvious route of making the Beast more scary than sexy, a horror version of the story could lean more into the Stockholm syndrome aspect of Belle’s relationship with the Beast or make her stay with him an unpleasant confinement that she struggles to escape. Beauty and the Beast also very closely resembles the classic French fairytale of Bluebeard, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to give the Beast a more sinister, murderous secret hidden in his castle.
4. Snow White
Yes, we just got a recent remake, but the classic Grimm’s fairy tale is still up for grabs. The 2012 film Snow White and the Huntsman took the story in a darker route but still stayed in the realm of action and adventure, though their interpretation was quite creepy if not somewhat baffling. (Why does it turn into a humanoid shape? At what point is a mirror not a mirror anymore?)
With all the witch’s dark magic and multiple attempts to kill Snow White through murder for hire, strangulation and poisons plus her eventual comeuppance by the dwarfs, there is plenty of room to put Snow White in some scarily dangerous situations.
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Disney’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1931 novel is highly underrated featuring some compelling music, gorgeous artwork and one of the most realistic and purely evil villains in Disney’s wheelhouse. Judge Claude Frollo’s song “Hellfire” always terrified me as a kid, and though I couldn’t fully understand why at the time, I watched it again recently with my girlfriend, and as a lapsed Catholic, both its hooded figures and message of temptation and damnation still give me chills.
Catholic and spiritual horror is some of the most effective and prevalent in the genre, and both the Exorcist and The Omen franchises recently got new entries. Classical and medieval Catholic imagery is often gruesomely creepy even on its best day and coupled with the messages of temptation, eternal torment and demons, you’ve got a recipe for a pretty eerie story. Hugo’s novel, which has much more death and tragedy than the Disney version, was already adapted into a horror film by Universal in 1923, though that version is also already in the public domain, so we’re well past due for a modern update.
6. The Three Little Pigs
The classic fairytale of the three little pigs has often been a staple of children’s cartoons and is often adapted as a silly morality tale about the importance of planning and outsmarting one’s opponents. Similar to the flying monkeys, I remember kids in school saying they were always frightened by the Big Bad Wolf.
With a character as menacing as a forest beast that hunts your siblings down, destroys their homes in a single breath, then eats them alive, there’s plenty of potential to reimagine the story of the three little pigs as a slasher type film with the pigs desperately fighting for survival while the wolf patiently stalks and dispatches his prey.
7. TheWind in the Willows
Another story featuring cute, lovable animals, Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows is the story of Mole, Rat, Mr. Badger and Mr. Toad discovering friendship, going on adventures and eventually defeating villainy as they chase weasels and other vermin out of Mr. Toad’s home.
I loved the book as a kid, and though an obvious route to translating this into a horror film would be to make the weasels and ferrets scarier and more violent, I’ve always been struck by how disturbing the Disney ride “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” is. I mean the ride is all about Toad’s car obsession leading to drunk driving and ends with him going to hell for it. The ride literally ends with you going to hell. As wacky and unhinged as it sounds, a movie about Toad dodging demons in hell while his friends dabble in magic and witchcraft to try to summon him back could make for a surprisingly compelling story.
8. Puss in Boots
Though Dreamworks Animation’s Shrek series is responsible for his current place in pop culture, the original Puss in Boots fairy tale dates back to as early as 1500s Italy. The story is originally about a talking cat owned by a poor peasant that schemes and swindles the nobility until his master is a wealthy man, eventually tricking and killing and ogre (or a magician depending on the version) so that his master can claim his land for himself.
The ogre slaying is really the only detail (aside from the boots, of course) that the Shrek version of the character retains from his fairytale origins, though this could also be the the root of a great horror film. Just picture a suave swashbuckling cat hunting down terrifying creatures from European mythology, though he probably wouldn’t sound like Zorro.
9. Hercules
Greek mythology is full of ghastly creatures, but thankfully there have always been heroes to fend them off and slay them. Disney’s retelling of Hercules plays fast and loose with the mythological source material as it always does, however a true retelling of Hercules’ story and his twelve labors has plenty of monsters and scary situations.
Not only that, but his accidental murder of his own family brought about by an episode of madness induced by Hera and his own death by self-immolation would make for some gut-wrenchingly tragic and horrifying storytelling. Disney already did comedy, so do as the Greeks did and lean into the tragedy.
10. Tarzan
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan character has always been seen as a heroic figure in the numerous novels, comics, radio plays and film adaptations. His story is one of inspiration and survival, the boy who survived among apes in the jungle then learned to adapt to human society as well. But what if he didn’t? So many spooky campfire tales revolve around the crazy old man who lives in the woods, so a movie about the crazy old man who lives in the jungle isn’t too far of a stretch.
Imagine being a European explorer out in the jungle, ready to exploit its resources for your own colonialistic purposes when you and your companions get horribly lost in the jungle. Not only do you have to contend with the perils of nature but now you’ve got to deal with the local wildman who you’ve presumably offended by invading his territory, destroying his home and hunting all of his friends. I doubt any survival guide or field manual would have any tips for not getting murdered by an ape man.
Bonus: Batman and Superman
From Homelander to Omniman to Brightburn, there are plenty of “what if Superman was evil” stories out there right now. But whether you can’t get enough of these stories or are sick of them, we haven’t gotten a true evil Superman story outside of DC’s Injustice games. However if you can wait until 2034, Superman will finally enter the public domain, though only his earliest version will be available and he won’t be nearly the powerhouse he is in modern stories.
Still, it will be interesting to see how filmmakers will play with the Man of Steel in their horror projects when they’re actually able to call him Superman without the fear of DC filing a lawsuit. The same thing goes with Batman, who will enter the public domain in 2035. Even though he won’t have all of the toys and gadgets that we associate with the Caped Crusader today, don’t forget that early Batman used guns.