Gretel & Hansel (2020)

February 1, 2020 6:33 AM

A retelling of the classic fairytale. A sister and brother leave their home in search of food and security and find a great evil lurking in the woods.
posted by codacorolla (3 comments total)

I really liked this, but I will always be excited by whatever Oz Perkins does. It's absolutely a fairy tale and it's not pretending to be anything other than that. I was sold on the mood and aesthetic. I can understand why some people may not love or like this (at my screening, there was about 7 people, including me and 2 people walked out) but it worked for me.

For being PG-13, there was certainly some of the grosser things I've seen on screen. It's not particularly scary (there are a couple of jumps) but I also don't think horror needs to be scary, honestly. (Being horrified and being scared can be related feelings but they are separate ones.)

I wouldn't say it necessarily went places I didn't expect but the tension was such that I was never quite sure where it was going to go. I liked that.

I will likely watch this again once it hits streaming services.
posted by darksong at 5:58 AM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

I also enjoyed it, and would probably watch it again. The atmosphere and visuals were especially well done. The costuming and production almost made it feel post-apocalyptic, which was kind of a cool touch for a fairytale. The way it depicted magic, and the limited visual effects were all very well done and stylish.

I think my only main qualm was the voice over, which felt really tacked on, and I'm suspicious that it might have been added post-production after test screenings went poorly. I sort of wish we'd just seen Gretel do stuff instead of having her explain her thought process behind it.
posted by codacorolla at 1:08 PM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is fucking fantastic.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 PM on October 30, 2020