Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
Gretel & Hansel is a visually arresting folk horror reimagining of the classic fairy tale, directed by Osgood Perkins with a genuinely striking, geometric visual language and eerie atmosphere — the cinematography is its standout achievement. Alice Krige delivers a memorably unsettling performance as the witch. However, the plot is threadbare and meandering, prioritizing mood over narrative coherence or tension, which leaves the story feeling underdeveloped. The ending is ambiguous in a way that feels more unresolved than meaningfully open. While it has a distinctive aesthetic voice, it doesn't fully transcend its fairy tale source into something wholly singular.