Gretel & Hansel - A dark fairy tale in a new guise

The Grimm brothers' world is Medieval - dark and eerie. The collection of fairytale that Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm collected from folk tales and stories were originally one of the first horror collections in literature. Over time, these horror stories have softened and adapted to children. One of the fairy tales from the German folk tradition is Gretel & Hansel. Her time didn't even soften completely. There is still an evil witch who lures hungry children and fattens them up to eventually eat them.

It was this fairy tale that Oz Perkins take, and more or less successfully conveyed to the movie screen. His fairy tale version, in addition to being pure horror, it is also a phantasmagoric, spot-on horror picture book. The forest and the lonely stylized hut, the night, and the evil old woman. Intoxicating beverages and a claustrophobic atmosphere of hopelessness. It's a world where the three main characters try to evoke a popular fairy tale, trying to build tension. Which is not easy at all. Because we all know the story - how it begins and how it ends.

Children wandering the woods come upon a hut, and a lonely old woman offers them food and shelter.

It is an age of hunger and hopelessness. The poor woman sends her teen daughter to an old lusty noble, to save her from starvation and near-certain destruction. But Gretel - starring Sophia Lilis - instead of an old man, takes her brother and runs away into the woods. She is more willing to risk her life than honor. In the forest, they come across a hunter - starring Charles Babalola. He rescued them from a night demon. He gives them instructions on how to find foresters, who may give them a chance of finding a place to live. The forest is large, and Gretel and Hansel-starring Sam Leakey, wander until they come to a hut. There is an unimaginable amount of food in the hut that hungry children cannot resist. But there's also an old, and strange woman Holda  - starring Alice Krige, who offers them refuge. But at what cost?

The fairy tale is pretty familiar, so in the adaptation of Rob Hayes and Oz Perkins, they had to watch how much they alter the core of the story itself. In the legend of the Witch, they have woven the story of the origin of Holda, and why she ended up in the woods, where she lurks on starving children. Still, the main asset of the film is photography and camera. In order for the visually rich film to be in the right hands, cinematographer - Galo Olivares took care. The man who worked on the movie Roma by Alfonso Cuaron did a great job. The movie is a feast for the eyes. A story focused on only three characters threatens to move into repetition, into stretched long frames. Still, 90 minutes of the film quickly away, thanks to Olivares.

Galo Olivares' brilliant camera raises the film to a phantasmagoric level.

Sophia Liles is great in the role of Gretel, but just as good is Alice Krige in the layered portrayal of Holde. Of course, it would be inappropriate for evil grinning into the camera and cook magical bat wings in the pot. Alice Krige's rather restrained cast is perhaps the only way to keep the character of Holda from caricature. But despite everything, one of the most famous scary fairy tales can hardly carry the whole movie on its back. Still, it's a short story that fits in a few sentences. Stretched the film to 90 minutes, despite a great camera, maybe a difficult task for anyone. So did for Oz Perkins. It is unlikely that this stylized horror will have some good success with the audience, let alone with criticism.

Osgood 'Oz' Perkins first appeared on the film in the role of Norman Bates, a role celebrated by his father Anthony Perkins!

The movie opened in the USA recently - 1/31/2020. In Croatian cinemas on Cinestar's repertoire, the film is dated 2/13/2020. Produced by Orion Pictures, the movie budget is about $ 5 million. The music was written by Frenchman Robin Coudert.  He made a really great and engaging soundtrack. As we have already stated, the film was directed by Osgood 'Oz' Perkins. If your last name is Perkins pulling on Anthony Perkins, so be it. Oz is the son of a popular actor. Anthony Perkins is an actor who built his career in the role of psychopath Norman Bates. His son Oz Perkins' first role was in Psycho II. Where did he play Norman Bates!