By MICHAEL GINGOLD
This is the kind of live-action fairy-tale adaptation we can get behind.
Level 33 Entertainment is bringing the horror/fantasy BELLE to select theaters (including Laemmle Glendale in Glendale, CA and Hawkins Theatres Gateway Pavilions 18 in Avondale, AZ, with more to be announced) July 14, with a VOD release to follow August 22. Originally titled FANGA and written and directed by Max Gold, the English-language Icelandic production stars Andrea Snædal, Ingi Hrafn Hilmarsson, Hana Vagnerová, Gudmundur Thorvaldsson, Helga Braga Jónsdóttir and Sigurður Sigurjónsson. The synopsis: “Belle [Snædal] works on the family farm and cares for her father after he falls severely ill. Desperate to save him, she journeys in search of a mythical rose believed to be a cure. She must surrender herself as a prisoner to a vicious beast as payment for the rose. Battling the beast’s spell and the two toxic relationships in her life, Belle’s true journey is only just beginning.”