The classic fairy tale Gretel and Hansel gets a dark, mature adaptation with a disturbing atmosphere

Only Osgood Perkins could turn one of the most beautiful fairy tales in existence into a purely terrifying experience.

Horror movie lovers recognize Osgood Perkins as a mastermind of the genre. The filmmaker is distinguished by his stylized and peculiar way of approaching stories. This is the reason that justifies the recognition of Longlegs (2024) as the best Nicolas Cage psychological thriller film and the right to Gretel and Hansel: A Dark Fairy Tale to be called the darkest and most disturbing version of the original tale.

In each scene, the director's ability to create is reflected a completely disturbing atmosphereWhile the Brothers Grimm's plot already has the necessary momentum to produce fear, the idea of ​​two children lost in the woods who arrive at the home of a cannibalistic witch takes on another level of horror when fused with elements of the occult and lots of blood.

What is Gretel & Hansel: A Dark Fairy Tale about?

A classic taken to the extremes of terror

Brothers Hansel and Gretel venture into the forest after being kicked out of their home. due to their parents' poverty. Played by Sophia Lillis and Sam Leakey, the siblings take on the challenge with only a weak survival plan.

Just like in the story, along the way they find the house of the witch Holda, a role played perfectly by Alice Kringe, an older woman who offers them shelter and food on the condition that they help her with the housework.

However, unlike the classical story, Gretel is an inexperienced witchsomething that Holda knows how to take advantage of very well, to the point of putting Hansel's life at risk. In this way, a kind of alliance grows between the two witches. Encouraged by the old woman, the girl begins to practice black magic.

A gem of the genre that went unjustly unnoticed

In Perkins' version, the main character falls on Gretel, something common in the director's productions where female characters predominate, forced to exist in a world where they could perish.

As the eldest sister, Gretel not only has to take on the responsibility of caring for little Hansel, but she has to do it in A world full of threats far worse than a pack of wolves.

In Gretel and Hansel: A Dark Fairy Tale 2020the supernatural risk is intertwined with human dangers, implying that The witch is not the only monsterin fact, the brothers' lives hang in the balance, even before they reach the old lady's house. Thanks to this, we can include it on the list of perfect movies to watch on Halloween.

Osgood Perkins' vision is felt

A classic taken to the extremes of terror

Perkins' ability to camouflage deep and real themes is indisputable. Although the central argument is based on the hostilities of the supernatural, the film makes it clear that Gretel must conform to what is offered to her by an environment where women are repressed, which can be seen as a social critique.

In the original story, the abandonment of the parents is irrelevant, contrary to what happens in the fiction, where the same mother forces them to dig their own graves and hers, before expelling them from the home. In this way, the family history that remained in our minds becomes blurred.

Although Holda shares her appetite for human flesh with the Grimm Brothers' witch, cannibalism is not the most sinister thing. In Perkins' world, men are powerful and corrupt, and Witchcraft represents women's power and control over their livesbut this has a price, Gretel must accept her weakness and consume it, the problem is that her weak point is her brother.

Although she does not want to become a child-eating witch, for Gretel the temptation is real, it involves having a ruthless weapon of defense and the direct path to complete freedom. The question is, is she willing to assume such a sinister cost?