Fear Feasts

In this episode of Fear Feasts, Alessandra and Vanessa venture into the dark fairy-tale world of Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth (2006).
Set in Spain in 1944, against the backdrop of Franco's dictatorship, the film follows young Ophelia as she navigates a brutal world of political repression while simultaneously undertaking a series of mysterious supernatural tasks. Together, we explore how food operates throughout the film as a symbol of power, resistance, temptation, care and survival.
From Captain Vidal's lavish banquets to the haunting table of the Pale Man, we examine the film's striking contrasts between abundance and deprivation, privilege and hunger. We discuss the symbolism of forbidden fruit, the unforgettable terror of the Pale Man's feast, Mercedes's acts of culinary resistance, and the ways food becomes entangled with family, memory, and political control.
Along the way, we explore:
• The historical context of post-Civil War Spain and Franco's regime
• Guillermo del Toro's use of fairy tales to confront historical trauma
• The symbolism of grapes, milk, mandrake root, rabbits, bread, and feasting
• Family, motherhood, resistance, and rebellion
• The parallels between Captain Vidal and the Pale Man
• Food as nourishment, temptation, surveillance, and power
• Why the true monsters of Pan's Labyrinth may not be supernatural at all
We also revisit some of the film's most unforgettable scenes, including the Pale Man's banquet, Mercedes's kitchen knife moment, and Ophelia's final act of defiance.
Join us as we explore one of the most layered, unsettling, and beautiful fantasy films ever made, where every meal carries meaning and every feast hides a darker truth.
Warning: This episode contains major spoilers for Pan's Labyrinth.
Fear Feasts is hosted by Dr Alessandra Pino and Vanessa Baca.

What would you do if you fell in love with a prince on a boat who ate oysters and fell overboard? Since you're a mermaid, you'd save him and fall madly in love with him, right? What would you do if you sold your singing voice to the sea witch and her flesh-eating eels to become human? What would you do if your husband kidnapped a mermaid and kept trying to feed her fish and potatoes when all she wanted to eat was human flesh? We explore these fascinating questions as we analyze the connection between food, horror and fairy tales in Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale The Little Mermaid, along with two other modern fish-female films The Lure and She Creature. So please jump on into the water and join us!
References:
Ondine (2009), directed by Neil Jordan.
The Lure (Córki dancingu) (2015), directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
She Creature (2001), directed by Sebastian Gutierrez.
Books
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1972.
Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander (Outlander Book 1). New York: Delacorte Press, 1991.
Jarvie, Gordon (ed.). Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales. London: Penguin Books, 1992.
Mother Earth, Father Sky: Native American Myth. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1991.

What would you do if your horrible mother married a dude with a beautiful daughter and made you and your plain sister feel terrible about yourselves? What would you do if your beautiful stepsister became the house servant and went around in ugly clothes with ashes in her hair and no shoes? What if your mother tried to make you pretty and didn't allow you to eat? What if you found out there was a ball in your village and a handsome prince would be choosing a bride from the local young ladies? You'd probably starve yourself by swallowing a tapeworm and allowing your nose to be broken and reshaped, right? We'll be exploring these ideas and discussing the connection between food, fairy tales and horror in the classic story Cinderella and some more recent iterations, including the highly visceral The Ugly Stepsister film as well as others, so please join us!
Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Cinderella - 1950 film by @Disney
The Ugly Stepsister - 2025 film by Emilie Blichfeldt
Into the Woods - 2014 film by Rob Marshall
Ashputtle by Peter Straub

What would you do if you were a young lady with hair black as ebony, lips red as rubies, and skin white as snow? You'd probably be called Snow White, right? What if your father married a woman who hated you and she tried to have you killed so she could eat your heart and absorb your beauty? What would you do if you were rescued by dwarves and a wicked witch tried to kill you AGAIN by making you eat a poisoned apple? You'd probably be off apples for awhile after that. We explore these fascinating questions as we analyze the connection between food, horror and fairy tales in the classic tale Snow White and some of its modern iterations, so please join us!
Links to references below:
Snow White: A Tale of Terror Dir. Michael Cohn https://share.google/bXj2R16ezdcSzaW1S
The Grimm Reader: The Classic Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Maria Tatar: https://archive.org/details/grimmreaderclass0000unse
The Young Slave by Basile, Giovanni Batiste. Il Pentamerone, or The Tale of Tales. Sir Richard Burton, translator. London: Henry and Company, 1893.
https://surlalunefairytales.com/s-z/sleeping-beauty/stories/youngslave.html

This week, we dive into Tale of Tales (dir. Matteo Garrone, 2015) and explore the rich tapestry of fairy tales by Giambattista Basile on which the film is based. Drawing from Basile’s 17th-century collection Lo cunto de li cunti (also known as The Pentamerone), we look at how the film adapts these dark, fantastical stories for a contemporary audience- examining themes, imagery, and the enduring power of early modern fairy-tale tradition.
At the core of our discussion is the deliciously unsettling intersection of food and horror in both Basile’s tales and Garrone’s film: the heart of a sea monster, a mountain of struffoli, and even a royal feast built around a flea. These bizarre, macabre acts of eating reveal just how deeply food shapes the film’s dark fantasy world… and it gets very weird.

Link to Giambattista Basile's fairy tales Stories from Pentamerone: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2198/2198-h/2198-h.htm