Queen Evilia (Swoosie Kurtz) is the main antagonist of the 1996 straight-to-VHS film Storybook
(alternatively titled The Enchanted Attic). Evilia is depicted as a vain, extravagant tyrant, as seen in her crown, jewelry, & hairstyles.
Summary[]
The protagonist, 8-year old Brandon, finds a magical storybook in his attic that leads to the enchanted kingdom ruled by Evilia. Backstory reveals that the former Queen, Evilia's sister-in-law, fought depression while mourning the loss of her king, Evilia's brother. Evilia, throughout the tumultuous time, was seemingly the perfect support system, providing the queen "tonic" & tending to her nephew, the crown prince Arthur, & his friend Katerina. However, the Queen's suspicions of Evilia's jealousy were realized as she fell into deep illness that would be the cause of her death, w/the main idea being that Evilia's tonic was the cause. It was revealed that throughout the kingdom, there was suspicion of Evilia's involvement in the king & queen's departures; however, there was no investigation or threat of jail time because, to paraphrase, "we never had any bad people before Evilia".
On her death bed, the Queen gave Arthur the magic sword that belonged to his father in order to protect himself & the throne from Evilia. However, due to being a kid at the time of his mother's death, he eventually became his aunt's prisoner. However, Katerina was trusted to hide the sword far away from the new Queen to prevent her from gaining absolute power. As it would come to be, Katerina was Brandon's great-aunt, thus it's believed that he is chosen one to retrieve the sword & return it to the prince to regain his birthright. As news reaches Queen Evilia & her pet cobra/advisor Hiss of the probable arrival of the Chosen One, she ramps up efforts to find the sword & keep Brandon & his friends at bay. She tortures her now-adult nephew on 4 different occasions to give it up, going as far to threaten execution. Meanwhile, she employs failed roadblocks such as rats & piranhas to try & stop Brandon.
When Brandon proves himself to be the Chosen One by pulling the sword from a stone, the Queen devises a plan starting w/the perceived execution of the prince to draw the heroes out. The prince, wearing a hood, retrieves the sword from Brandon when they arrive to stop the beheading. However, the hood is removed to reveal the Queen, sword in hand, & the heroes are immediately imprisoned.
Despite Hiss' advisement that she immediately execute the heroes, Evilia proceeds to dance around her throne room in celebration, doing such acts as using the sword as a mirror & as a stick pointer while scanning the map for the next kingdoms she would take over. All the while, the heroes are making their way through her castle & as she is distracted from prodding her guards to join her in celebration, they burst through her door, knocking her down & the sword across the floor. From there the Queen & prince wrestle to grab the sword but Brandon gets to it first. Despite her begging for it back, Brandon(after hesitation from the last time he tossed the sword) tosses the sword to the prince w/the sword killing Hiss en route. Evilia, out of power & sulking in her throne, believes her nephew is about to take her life as penance for his mother's. However, the prince choose to have her suffer from living out her days in her worst nightmare: deprived of her luxury hair choices, good looks, power, wardrobe, & forced to sit in her throne room w/enough mirrors to ensure that her current state is all she sees.
Trivia[]
- Swoosie Kurtz also appeared in Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes as villainess Binny Redwine.
- Swoosie Kurtz also appeared on American Dad! as villainess Marylin Thacker.
- Swoosie Kurtz also appeared as evil judge Hilda Marsden from Law & Order: SVU.
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