The Graveyard: Digging up 1995’s ‘Rumpelstiltskin’
By James Devine
Fairy tales are very sinister in nature, but are even more sinister when they’re turned into low budget horror movies. Join us as we look back on the 90’s Fairy-Horror Tale Rumpelstiltskin as part of our Graveyard series.
Way back in 1995, when VHS was king and you took weekly visits to the video store, there was a little known horror movie released into the wild known as Rumpelstiltskin.
In the same vain of movies starting mythical characters, like the leprechaun, Rumpelstiltskin was the one the grabbed me as a child and turned a fictional fairy tale character into nightmare fuel for a good year or two.
Take a look at the plot summary taken form the IMDB page:
"“In the 1400s, Rumpelstiltskin is imprisoned inside a small jade figurine. In modern-day Los Angeles, the recently widowed wife of a police officer, with baby in tow, finds her way into a witch’s shop and purchases a certain figurine, resulting in the cackling beast being freed and demanding possession of the baby.”"
Trust me, the movie is as bonkers as it sounds.
Credit: Republic Pictures
“Here’s Rumpel!”
Did you know…
Although the movie is normally written off as another entry into the terrible Fairy tale/Horror hybrids of the 90’s, it does have some redeeming factors to it.
Charles Bernstein, the man who composed the music to the Wes Craven classic A Nightmare on Elm Street, also provided the score to this picture and i must admit, it is fairly chilling in places. Another iconic Horror figure involved is Special Effects artist Kevin Yagher, who provided the creepy make-up for the lead antagonist.
One surprising, quirky little fact that you wouldn’t expect is that this film was produced by the original creators of Scooby-Doo, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, with Ruby being credited as co-writer also.
Credit: Republic Pictures
“My kind of world.”
Where can you see it?
The movie is available to stream on UK Netflix, but has been OOP on DVD for years and goes for quite the fee. There is always hope that someone like 88 Films, Scream Factory or Arrow Video may pick it up for Blu-Ray distribution in future. I once suggested it to 88 Films on one of their “What would you like to see us release?” posts and they said the idea was “interesting”, so it’s pretty much 50/50 if they were just being polite or if it is already in the pipeline.
Looking back
Bback in the 90’s and early 00’s, British TV stations, such as Bravo, had late night showings of the more obscure Horror movies. This is how I watched a majority of the B Horror movies I now love and obsess over, like Phantasm, Maniac cop, Frankenhooker and others, along with my much older cousin showing me films like Scream and IT on VHS. My parents resisted at first but eventually gave in and let me stay up to catch the next movie that was going to scare the life out of me.
Through all of these years, those movies have stuck with me from my childhood Bravo viewings and I still watch them from time to time (Phantasm a lot more than the others), so you can imagine why I probably look back on this film with nostalgia-tinted glasses. I would love to hear everyone’s opinion on this movie even if it’s highly negative.
Credit: Republic Pictures
Big screen debut.
In a world where Leprechaun is looked back on fondly by a majority of the horror community, I really don’t get why this movie isn’t held in the same regard. In my opinion, although the story may be weak, the lead antagonist is more sinister in his motives and he certainly creeped me the hell out when I was seven years old. I honestly hope that this film will get some kind of recognition from the Horror community. If it is ever re-released on DVD and blu-ray, I will certainly be picking up a copy.
Next: The Graveyard: Digging up Stephen King’s ‘Kingdom Hospital’