Summary:
A darker retelling of the tale of Hansel and Gretel, focused more on the sister’s perspective.
My Thoughts:
When I first saw the trailer for this film last year I grew rather excited; I am both a horror and a fantasy fan, and this film looked to blend the two genres together quite nicely (artistically even). January releases, however, tend to carry with them somewhat of a bad reputation, and, to make matters worse, the film was rated PG-13 when it looked as if it could’ve benefited from an R rating. My friend then told me that it was Oz Perkins who directed this film, and my expectations rose a bit more: Oz Perkins directed the incredibly underrated film “The Blackcoats Daughter”. That film was moody and dark and atmospheric: all the things I wanted my horror films to be. So, I decided, what the heck, I could give this movie a shot.
“Tell me the fairy tale again…”
After being sent out of their home by their depressed and starving mother, Gretel (Sophia Lillis, “It (2017)”) and Hansel (Samuel Leaky) are forced to wander the woods looking for food and work. They soon come in contact with a woman named Holda (Alice Krige, “Silent Hill”) who offers them food and shelter. Holda takes a particular interest in Gretel, training her in her own strange ways.
There are many scenes in this movie that are very good, there are many images that are very creepy, and the overall story is one that feels somewhat unique even though it’s based on a story that could date back to the 1300s, during the time of the Great Famine in Germany, and has been retold thousands of times, and recently too (remember “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”?). As a whole, I thought this movie was incredibly watchable, but it also had plenty of small flaws throughout.
For one thing, I wasn’t sure for whom this movie was made. It’s rated PG-13 and the way a few of the trailers were edited made this movie look like typical Blumhouse Horror fare (like “Insidious” or “Happy Death Day”), but even from the first shots, I could tell that this film was not at all a jump scare kind of movie. This film is very much a slow-burn artistic horror film along the lines of Perkins’ first film “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” (or a far tamer version of “Midsommar” or “The Witch”); it moves slowly and moodily, working its way under your skin, until you start to squirm from the unsettling atmosphere. I like that kind of horror film, but I can’t imagine kids lining up to see “Happy Death Day 2U” would have the same appreciation as I. So, yeah, the marketing for this flick was kind of weird.
Also, I’m not really sure that this should’ve received a PG-13 rating. Are the only things that guarantee an ‘R’ rating anymore a bit of nudity or the F-word? This movie is pretty bloody at times, and while there isn’t really any onscreen violence, there are a lot of grotesque images (at one point, a bucket of gore is poured out on a table and a pickled baby’s arm is placed on top of it).
To make matters worse, none of our actors are phenomenal. Alice Krige is our most veteran actor, but she’s not even as good as Sophia Lillis, who gives a commendable, but shaky performance. I hate to criticize child actors, but Samuel Leaky was pretty stiff at times, and times when his delivery was relatively awkward. The acting never completely took me out of the film, primarily because of just how good this film actually looks, but it certainly didn’t help to immerse me into the world any more either.
Despite some of my more negative comments about the film, there were some really great moments. As a whole, this movie looks gorgeous- from production design to cinematography, everything is beautiful. It’s shot in a smaller aspect ratio than normal (1.55:1), giving the film a squarer look. The way that Holda’s home is designed, to look incredibly triangular, works amazing when shot in this aspect ratio, because it gives everything a more perfectly aligned look. There are honestly very few shots in this whole film that don’t look gorgeously grim. The way that some of the dream sequences are shot are awesome too, and the hidden chamber behind the wall, where most of those dream sequences take place, is probably the most chilling use of minimalism I’ve seen in a PG-13 mainstream horror flick. It’s there in that room that some of the gorier images arise, and also where a fair amount of the chilling sequences come from.
There were some elements of the script that I really liked; some of the dialogue was interesting, and I liked the way the film used an almost Malick-like monologue use to detail the characters’ inner feelings. I do feel as if Perkins and the screenwriter Rob Hayes were trying to say a bit more with this film about what it means to defend yourself as a woman in a world dominated by men, but the themes were honestly pretty muddled, and our main antagonist was a woman, so I didn’t really think that aspect worked that great. There were some really cool darker fantasy elements that were worked into the script though, and if you know anything about witch lore, some of the scenes take on more meaning (SPOILERS: that could potentially be baby-paste she’s rubbing on the stick to make it fly).
Verdict:
If you like slower, more atmospheric horror films then this movie is a good way to kill an hour-and-twenty-five minutes, but if you’re looking for a fast-paced, jump-scare-filled PG-13 horror flick aimed at teenage couples who want to squeal with delighted terror every time a loud bang is made, then look somewhere else; this movie isn’t that at all.
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