Horror Movie Review: Ever After (2026)

Written and directed by Laszlo Illes, Ever After puts a violent and bloody spin on fairytales. Taking beloved characters like The Three Little Pigs, Prince Charming and Little Red Riding Hood, and transforming them into murderous monsters.

It’s a cool idea, one born from the modern trend of twisting children’s characters into wicked things, but one that feels a little more evolved. Although not at first.

A group of girlfriends have travelled to a remote forest lodge for a bachelorette weekend. Once there, they start drinking and partying, inviting the owner over, even though he is a little ‘odd’. One of the women takes a shine to him but quickly finds out that he’s not quite the ‘Prince Charming’ she thought he was. It’s this that properly kickstarts the film. Night falls, and the woods around the house come to life, revealing that they’re surrounded by violent and vicious killers who have taken on the roles of classic fairy tale characters.

The party is over, now it’s all about survival.

It’s a slow start, but once Ever After gets going, it’s far more enjoyable. Especially as there is plenty of violence and tons of gore. If there’s one thing that Ever After can’t be criticised over, it’s the effects. This is a visceral film and that impact is enhanced by how the villains look and behave. Although when you’ve got a cast that includes the likes of Mark Sheppard, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder, Malcolm McDowell, and Bonnie Aarons, that’s not too much of a surprise.

Unfortunately, impressive baddies, violence, and gore is not enough to make a two-hour horror film memorable. A good story and characters that you want to root for are needed, and this is where Ever After struggles. The story isn’t that interesting, and once the slashing starts, it becomes even less important.

Likewise, the protagonists are given very little to work with, meaning once the slashing starts, we know very little about them. Oddly, it’s as they attempt to survive in the woods against the fairytale killers that we start to get to know them better. Which goes some way as to explain the film’s two-hour runtime.

I don’t mean to be too critical though as I do think Ever After is a decent film with plenty of things for horror fans to enjoy. It is, at its core, a slasher horror film, and on that front, it delivers. Blood, guts, and weird looking fairytale monsters, what more could anyone want? It’s certainly one of the more creative examples we’ve had from this type of horror in a while.