Gilliam’s Grimm Tales

Do you remember those freakily scary tales your kind parents decided to read to you at the exact moment you fell asleep thereby polluting your infantile dreams with terrifying imaginings and, of course, disturbing your psychological make-up for life? Well, as Empire Online's sleepless nights are still riven by such febrile thoughts, we were more than shaken to find out our last haven, the cinema screen, is set to become corrupted by the creepy stories of the Brothers Grimm as adapted by Terry Gilliam. Returning to the fantastical world of Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the eccentric ex-Python has, after much grinding of the rumour mill, finally signed on the dotted line to direct the project called Grimm, which has been in development at MGM for nearly two years. The Grimm brothers' tales – which include such quietly petrifying stories entitled 'The Girl Without Hands,' and the cheery 'The Story Of The Boy Who Went Out To Learn Fear' - depict a capricious and cruel world in which Satan pops up far too many times for our personal comfort. A surprising choice for some safe-playing MGM executive, we hear you ponder. Well, not quite. The characteristic chill of the original stories is going to be warmed up a degree or two by becoming a fictional action-adventure tale about the Grimm Brothers themselves, who will be transformed from the original Germanic Jacob and Wilhelm to the slightly less so Jake and Will. These plucky folklore collectors travel around villages pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures but meet their match in a real sorceress complete with terrifying powers in a mix which has described as Indiana Jones adventure meets Shrek humour. A canny re-imagining, if ever there was one.