The article deals with the transformation and interpretation of theinitiation process with reference to the Soviet fairy-tale film genre, more preciselywith the trial by fear of young heroes as an important stage of their getting tobe truly Soviet people. The research is based upon the study of the archetype ofan ideal hero in the fairy tale genre which has its roots in the socialist realism ofthe 1930s. In Soviet film tales of the 1960s (like the classic «Kingdom of CrookedMirrors» by A. Rowe and «The Tale of Time Lost» by A. Ptushko) telling aboutthe modern life of pioneers such ideology-driven symbols of the past came to besome kind of human ideal for young heroes in search of role models. Hence thenecessity of initiation and the importance of trial by fear for the preparation ofyoungsters for becoming ideal Soviet people.With the collapse of Soviet mythology the fear in film tales evolved from ametaphysical designation of the process of transition into the anxiety about thecurrent changes in real life which was getting ever less fairy. It became apparentin the transient tales of the post-thaw period like «Adventures of the YellowSuitcase» by I. Frez who still kept on working with contemporary medium. Thestudy of initiation of young fairy-tale heroes by means of trial by fear in terms of itschanging sense brings out that the transformation of the Soviet fairy tale universefollowed the general flow of thought in Soviet cinema at that turn of the decade.