Anti-fairy tale

An anti-fairy tale, also called anti-tale, is a fairy tale which, unlike an ordinary one, has a tragic, rather than a happy ending, with the antagonists winning and the protagonists losing at the end of the story.

Such stories incorporate horror, black comedy, mean-spirited practical jokes on innocent characters, sudden and often cruel plot twists, and biting satire.

[1][2] The term (German: Antimärchen) was introduced by André Jolles[1] in his Einfache Formen (1930).

[3] Examples of anti-fairy tales include "The Fisherman and His Wife", and "The Swineherd".

[4] The term is also used to refer to remakes of traditional "happy" fairy tales into "unhappy" ones.