Gretel & Hansel

Gretel & Hansel is a dark fantasy horror film set long ago in a countryside of fairy-tale poverty and hunger. Gretel, a teenager, leaves home with her younger brother Hansel to search for food and work. Their wandering leads them into a deep, forbidding forest, where they encounter a hunter who helps them survive its early dangers. An apparently kind old woman takes the siblings in, offering shelter and food, but Gretel grows suspicious of her host, sensing something menacing behind the hospitality. The film draws on the Brothers Grimm tale of Hansel and Gretel while giving Gretel the central perspective as she tries to protect her brother.

Oz Perkins directed from a screenplay he wrote with Rob Hayes. It is his third feature, following I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and The Blackcoat's Daughter, and precedes Longlegs, Keeper, The Monkey and an untitled Longlegs film. Sophia Lillis plays Gretel, with Samuel Leakey as Hansel, Alice Krige as the Witch, Jessica De Gouw as a young witch, Charles Babalola as the hunter and Fiona O'Shaughnessy as the siblings' mother. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger produced.

Made for about 5 million dollars, the film took roughly 22 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.5 out of 10 from around 39,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6 out of 10 from about 1,600 votes. A critics' rating of 6.2 from 115 reviews places it somewhat above its IMDb audience score.