Movie · 2013 · Fantasy, Horror, Action · 1h 28m · R · English
Curator score: 0.6/10 (357.8K ratings)
Revenge is sweeter than candy.
Overview
After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel and Gretel have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches... their past.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.6/10
IMDb: 6.1/10
Letterboxd: 2.60/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 17%
Metacritic: 23
TMDB: 6.1/10
Director
Tommy Wirkola
Production
Paramount Pictures, MTV Films, Gary Sanchez Productions, Studio Babelsberg, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Cast
Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Pihla Viitala, Derek Mears, Robin Atkin Downes, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Joanna Kulig, Thomas Mann, Peter Stormare, Bjørn Sundquist, Rainer Bock, Thomas Scharff, Kathrin Kühnel, Zoë Bell, Monique Ganderton, Christian Rubeck, Cedric Eich, Alea Sophia Boudodimos, Matthias Ziesing
Curator Review
Verdict
A loud, bloody, knowingly silly fairy-tale mashup that works best if you want practical-effects gore, brisk action, and a straight-faced B-movie attitude. The story is thin and the jokes are hit-or-miss, but the movie has enough energy and visual inventiveness to make it an easy guilty-pleasure watch.
Best for
fans of R-rated fantasy action
viewers who like campy monster-hunting adventures
audiences seeking practical gore and creature effects
people in the mood for a fast, unserious popcorn movie
Skip if
you want strong writing or character depth
you dislike self-aware genre mashups
you prefer polished, prestige fantasy
you are turned off by cartoonish violence and gore
Overview
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is exactly the kind of movie that knows its own ridiculous premise and commits to it with a straight face. The result is a messy but often entertaining blend of fairy-tale revisionism, monster-hunting action, and splattery witch carnage that feels more like a midnight movie than a mainstream fantasy blockbuster.
Worth noting
Its biggest asset is attitude: the film keeps moving, the practical effects have a pleasingly tactile grossness, and the action is sturdy enough to carry the thin plot. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton make a convincing duo, even when the script gives them little beyond quips and backstory shorthand.
Bottom line
It is not especially clever, and the tonal balance can be clunky, but that roughness is part of the appeal. If you want a glossy, serious fantasy epic, look elsewhere; if you want a dumb, bloody, occasionally inspired romp, this one earns its cult reputation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
rhesusnegative (3★) · 802 likes
extreme guilty pleasure, i know it's shit but i fucking love it
DirkH (3★) · 447 likes
.....wait a second.......wasn't I supposed to hate this?
I am not a big fan of Hollywood's need to revamp all these classic fairytales. Most of them are excellent and grim stories to begin with, so why change that?
Take the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel for example. It's a story about child abuse, cannibalism and horrific murder. That in itself is more than enough, right? But no, riding on Snow White's coattails we now have the story of Hansel and… more
୨ . ࣪ Jenny ! 🐛 (4.5★) · 422 likes
Gretel pls marry me
dodi (2★) · 312 likes
me, watching gemma arterton showing kindness to a troll: god i wish that were me
Branson Reese · 300 likes
Had a really nice time watching this on the 21st anniversary of 9/11
Fun movie with a ton of practical effects gore that mostly nails the straight faced tone the comedy necessitates. Sort of a next level move to cast Jeremy Renner as Hansel, especially in 2013, years before he released that app and revealed himself as a clown. You need a guy like him to sell moments like Hansel using steampunk needles to inject himself with insulin because he… more