Youd be forgiven for having forgotten all about The Horned King. After all, hes the star - sorry, the villain - of the box office flop that changed Disneys animation division forever in the mid-eighties. For a good fifteen years, Lloyd Alexanders series of novels The Chronicles Of Prydain had been touted in close company circles as the adaptation that would relaunch Disney for the modern day. A whole raft of new animators were recruited on the promise that The Black Cauldron would be their generations Snow White And The Seven Dwarves. It didnt pan out that way but the fascinating story of the films creation, the behind the scenes drama and the ripple effect that its failure had on Disney is a story for another time. The Horned King, though? Hes a horrible piece of work, and in a good way. A befanged skeleton in ragged robes, with glowing red eyes and a voice like an ill wind over a ruined graveyard, this lich with ideas of world domination is, essentially, trapped in his mouldering old castle with only ensorcelled humans and goblins surrounding him. Hes one of the scariest Disney Villains to look at (and definitely to listen to - the legendary John Hurt delivers possibly the single greatest performance behind any animated Disney character here in The Horned Kings cracked, sepulchral hiss)... but, like any agoraphobic headcase stuck indoors in his dressing gown, hes great at shouting at the postman through the letterbox, but not so impressive at going to buy a pint of milk. That, of course, is why he needs the Cauldron, to bring forth an army of the ravening undead and its the Cauldron thats his undoing. The Horned King is a terrifying, damned thing, intimidating and taunting our hapless heroes but hes not actually all that once you stop being freaked out by the Halloween costume.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
