Gretel and Hansel Review

                                                                      January 2020 saw the release of Osgood Perkins’ third feature length film “Gretel and Hansel,” a grim reinterpretation to the age-old tale of two orphans. Released among some of the worst offering of the genre “Gretel and Hansel's” January release came and went, this month is notorious for harboring some of the worst movies released every year, but the film’s style and solid performances are what many horror fans look for in the genre. Unfortunately, the film went ignored even though, in theory, it is a solid hidden gem most horror fans have been asking for. The film was written by Rob Hayes, an interesting fact due to Perkins’ usual proclivity to write and direct most of his films; examples big “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” and “I am the Pretty Thing that lives in the House.” “Gretel and Hansel” is a beautifully shot 4.3 masterpiece of low budget horror, but sadly its lack of narrative potency may turn off the average movie viewer expecting a more mainstream approach to this timeless tale. 

The film begins with a flashback setting up the witch’s backstory, a sequence of shots that bleed aesthetically pleasing shot composition for those that appreciate that in their horror, one notable example being the enchantress’s, the entity that creates the witch, introduction. Gretel’s first scene in the film is her preparing to be interviewed for a job as a house servant, she uses berries as lipstick to appeal to the lord of the house showing reluctant maturity in order to help her mother. The film’s story revolves more around Gretel as it is framed as a coming of age story for her, she must undergo the harshness of reality and become a woman prematurely to provide a future for her much younger brother after their catatonic mother kicks them out of her home. This is an interesting angle due to Perkins’ history of making horror films that center around main female characters undergoing similar transformations, showing that he has an understanding of horror’s relationship with women. 

Gretel is apprehensive during the interview because she is independent thinking, a dangerous thing in this time, the lord of the house challenges her way of thinking by telling her to mind how she speaks. The interview sours as the lord crosses the line by questioning her “intactness” when referring to her “maidenhood,” one of many reality checks that she experiences throughout the film. She returns home and tells her mother that the lord of the house was not looking for a maid but rather a concubine to conquer, her mother dismisses this accusation and berates Gretel for her free thinking, saying that she needs to be quiet about things she has no understanding of. The writing here is not so subtle but necessary in putting the film’s message in the forefront. Her younger brother Hansel is ignorant to the ways of the world, a pure soul not yet corrupted with knowledge, as he is oblivious to the fact that if his sister had stayed with the lord of the house, she would have ultimately been taken advantage of physically. 

The children leave their home and venture to join a convent at the behest of their mother, Gretel is conflicted by this due to her high level of independence and fears they would not accept Hansel due to hyper activity personality. The two continue their journey into the forest and find a nearly abandoned settlement that they use to get some rest, only for their sense of solace to be disturbed by a ghoulish creature that was hidden in the darkness. A Huntsman saves the two and provides them with food, sagely advice, and refuge for the night but cannot sustain them longer than that, the Huntsman and Gretel have a conversation that is very exposition heavy but he also picks up on the fact that if she and Hansel were found by others she would have been taken advantage of physically. There is an alarming amount of allusions to rape in this film.

One mushroom eating freak-out later the two are once again lost in the forest when Gretel feels a presence following them, this is where the film finds its strengths, beautiful exterior shots baked in ominous fog while ambient 80s styled synth compliment these scenes. The film falls back in line of the original book’s structure and has the children encounter a house in the middle of nowhere, the children peak inside and witnesses a bountiful slew of food within. Fueled by hunger and desperate for lodging the two devise a plan to get inside. Hansel being the smallest of the two crawls through a small hole and begins to stuff his pockets full of mini cakes and pies, when Gretel sees a shadowy figure approach Hansel, she begins to panic and tries to find a way to open the door. She finally decides to start a fire, hoping to burn the house down to get her brother, when a Holda, a strange woman hiding a dark secret, opens the door to invite Gretel in to eat. Repeating the age-old story but with a great new twist.   In an age where films like “The VVitch” and “Hereditary” have revitalized the interest for more “arthouse” horror films, among an endless sea of big studio horror films of questionable quality, “Gretel and Hansel” feels like a film that is stuck in the shadows of, slightly, better horror films. I believe that if this film was produced by A24 and had the studio’s logo plastered all over the film it would have fared better with critics and audiences alike. Ultimately the film’s $5 million dollar budget proved enough for the film as it went on to make six times that amount, making it a box office success that went, slightly, unnoticed. Years and years of “Hansel and Gretel” reimaginings try their hardest to set themselves apart from the source material it’s based on, it's hard to reinvent, but the team of Hayes and Perkins tried their hardest to bring something new.