The Studio and The Pig

The Black Cauldron (1985)

Recently I have been in a huge fantasy zone. I discovered the fantastic ‘Once Upon a VHS’ podcast which deep dives classics of the genre from my formative film watching years. I’ve been listening to the genuinely incredible Lord of the Rings trilogy as read by Andy Serkis. I also watched Excalibur, Deathstalker and Return of the King so I’ve definitely been in the mood.

Combine this with the fact I’m just back from my wedding in Wales, it seems natural that I have to write a piece on one of the most bizarre stories in animation history: the story of The Black Cauldron.

The Black Cauldron is a film, that I would guess, will be 50/50 on whether you’ve heard of it. The studio responsible for it has spent the best part of 41 years now, suppressing every mention of. That’s right, this is one of the few Disney films that there’s no hint of a live action remake of. Neither is there much in the way of cuddly toys, overpriced figurines or children’s clothing. I don’t think we have any Gurgi’s “munchings and crunchings” at any of their theme parks or a dark ride of The Horned Kings castle. During the 2023 celebrations of Disney’s 100th anniversary year whilst briefly showing some of the characters in ‘Once Upon a Studio’, it was completely excluded from the end credits of Wish.

No, this is not a film that seems to be loved by Michael Mouse. This is a film that broke records for Disney in terms of it being the most expensive production assembled within the animation department. It also broke records at the box office becoming a monumental flop and as rumours and legends tell, almost bankrupting the studio.

Disney wanted to tap into the teen market as this was an audience their, at the time, current cop of films weren’t appealing to. They had actually bought the rights to adapt Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain novels back in 1971 so the concept of this film adaptation had been floating for nearly 15 years by the time it hit big screens. The Chronicles are based on Welsh mythology but also seem heavily indebted to JRR Tolkien’s work. Gurgi is Gollum with hair and I won’t hear anymore about it.

There are numerous stories and articles written around the troubled production. Tales of studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenburg taking a pair of scissors to the physical film roll seem to be not without merit, as well as tales of children running, crying from test screenings. Creative differences saw the now legendary Ron Clements and John Musker leave the project, as well as future gothic hero Tim Burton see his unique artwork tossed aside.

The stories are numerous and the above barely scratches the surface but what is the film actually like? A total mess simply put. 12 minutes of redacted/cut footage makes the story feel incomplete and is in keeping with the rushed production end on the film. The edits also make it tonally all over the place too.

However, there’s nothing else like it. In the Disney cannon particularly, but it feels totally different to Bahski’s Lord of the Rings animated film or Wizards. It doesn’t have the wholesomeness of The Secret of NIMH or the epic scale of The Last Unicorn. It does have the most terrifying villain in animated history for my money though. John Hurt’s voice performance as The Horned King coupled with the genuinely traumatising animation is gothic fantasy horror at its finest. Despite poor writing around his motives, every moment he is in the screen, you are gripped and haunted by his presence.

The animation is stunning and is backed by the first uses of CGI within Disney films. Unfortunately, despite all the other characters being beautifully animated, they are very much blank canvases in terms of motives, development or any characterisation. Taran is probably the most forgettable lead in a Disney animation film, Eilonwy is given absolutely nothing to do bar be a princess and Fflewddur Fflam is just there. I’m not going to waste any more words on Gurgi…

I also have to chuck in a few sentences for the cutest and best pig in cinema. Fuck you Babe, it’s all about Hen Wen the oracular pig. The porky plot device, prophesies the events that kickstart the sketchy plot before being captured and rescued from the Horned King. I have never, and will never, have such an attachment to a pig.

I’m very conscious I’m not painting a picture of a film that’s good and I think I know that deep down. However, I’ve always had an obsession with this film. It was forbidden fruit.

12 years after its disastrous release and having nearly bankrupt Disney, they made the decision to release it on VHS home video in 1997. I was 5 years old. I vividly remember seeing the unnerving and ominous trailer for it, attached to childhood VHS favourites. It scared me but I still wanted to seek it out. A big thing around VHS, particularly Disney films as a kid, was that you wouldn’t own them all but going to a cousins or a friends you might get the opportunity to watch a new one.

I watched this for the first time at a sleepover at a primary school friends house and it rocked me to my core. It was a one and done. I was frightened by the Beast from Beauty and the Beast as it was, The Horned King was a whole other level. Throw in the Cauldron Born and that was nightmare fuel for months.

It took a long time for me to watch this again and it was a chance encounter with a DVD copy picked up at a charity shop about 15 years ago. Rewatching it, as above, I knew it wasn’t good but my god, it’s just so different to anything else.

I imagine an alternative universe where the film was a huge hit and we were treated to further more adult themed experiments from Disney. Maybe we wouldn’t be treated to the sight of Dwayne Johnson in a fucking awful wig getting ready to kill “You’re Welcome” for you forever, during the live action Moana film…alas, that’s not the way this panned out and it killed any real form of experimentation from the studio into more adult themes.

Pixar has tried to push that agenda but Disney and the world of big studios in general has fallen into a safety net of not swinging big any more. There was a fantastic quote from Ryan Gosling recently around his new film Hail Mary: “It’s not your job to keep [theaters] open, it’s our job to make things that make it worth you coming out.” Look at the upcoming Disney slate and you can see its sequel after sequel. Other factors absolutely play into this direction but I would be truly amazed if we saw a big swing like this again.

That’s what the Black Cauldron is. It’s an attempt to break new ground that went horribly wrong from a P&L perspective but it has amassed a cult following. How much of that is in debt to the quality of the film vs. the stories that surround its production is completely open to interpretation. If you’ve seen it before, it’s time to rewatch and if you’ve never seen it before, strap in…