(Hansel and Gretel Movie)

We saw Gretel & Hansel in theaters and I was pleasantly surprised with something that might not be the most groundbreaking film we’ve ever watched, but it succeeds admirably at breathing new life into this classic Grimm fairy tale.

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Gretel & Hansel Trailer

https://youtu.be/QZblQLhKcZQ

Gretel & Hansel Synopsis

Gretel & Hansel is a reimagining and retelling of; you guessed it, Hansel and Gretel - the classic tale that warns kids not to take candy from strangers. Well, the kids are back and they have a sweet tooth.

Gretel & Hansel is the third film from director Oz Perkins, who also did a cult favorite, The Blackcoat's Daughter.

This story retains all the crucial elements of the story. There are two kids (Sophia Lillis from IT as Gretel and Samuel Leakey as Hansel) who are unceremoniously kicked out of their house in the times of yore by their mother who can’t afford to feed them. 

Watch Gretel & HanselOn AmazonClick here to Watch

They kick

around the woods for a while, starving and scared, jostled by a world that is

cruel and spooky before stumbling upon a house out in the woods. 

This house

is owned by Barbara Crampton’s final form, Holda the witch (Alice Krige). The witch lures the kids in with delectable food, but she seems,

kind of evil.

Well, she

is evil.

Gretel & Hansel Review

To me, it is surprising that Gretel and Hansel got as wide a release as it did because it has “current indy horror movie” written all over it. Also January, February, and March of 2020 is about as chalk full of horror as any year that I can recall.

Gretel and Hansel takes a slightly different approach to the classic and makes it a coming of age story for our female protagonist.

This movie drips with aesthetic and I swear to God the witches’ house is made by the same architect as the house from Ex Machina. Very sparse, norse sensibilities are present in the scenes, which, if you are a fan of our show, you know we love the Scandinavians and their sensibilities. 

The

brooding, doom-laden feel of this movie is a great way to take something as

classic as Hansel and Gretel and make me care. Every corner of this film is

foreboding and off-feeling. 

The lighting is so dark that it reminded me of the Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln flick from 2012. Lots of candles used for lighting made me feel like I was right there with the kids in this strange and terrifying house.

I love the acting and the style that Gretel & Hansel goes with and the atmosphere is dead-on.

My only

problem with this movie is that it droops throughout. As far as slow-burns go,

this is as slow as they come, and while it works to an extent, I wish they

would have stopped chewing the fat and cut some of the more indulgent walks in

the woods and dream sequences in favor of keeping my attention. 

At 87 minutes, it’s a pretty short movie, but I feel it could have easily been 70 minutes, and it would have felt very appropriate.

Score

7/10

Spoilers

Click to Expand Spoilers

Backstory on the witch

The movie starts

describing the origin of the witch. There is a gifted child, and an illness

befalls her. The father of the child is told to be brave against the darkness

and takes the girl to be healed. The child is gifted with something called

“second sight”. She is healed, but the gift of healing comes with an unseen

curse. 

This little girl, the

witch, is evil. She kills her dad and others in the village before she is taken

out into the woods and banished.

Here we are given the

tagline of the movie, “Beware gifts because those that offer them might mess

you up hardcore.”

The World is a Cruel,

Scary Place

The kid’s mom is not a

nice lady. Actually, she is legit nuts. She aggressively pushes her kids out of

the house and into a world that wants nothing more than to gobble t...