Amongst a vast sea of worthless horror remakes, many directors decided the best route is to blur the lines of horror. Comedy, drama, and action are being thrown into the fray with the hopes of spicing up the dying horror genre. These films may not be remakes, but they do slowly kill horror by spreading it so thin that the normal viewer can hardly tell what they are watching. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters does just that by making an action/horror film.
Just like any other action or horror film today, it is more about the flash than any sort of plot. The movie begins with two children being abandoned in a forest for unknown reasons. These children then enter the classic tale by the Brothers Grimm that the film is named after. Imagine the Hansel and Gretel story, but with more fighting, blood, and scary make-up.
After Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) grow up, they become witch hunters and travel the globe ridding the world of witches. That is pretty much it. I could go into detail about a couple little plot twists within the movie, but there really isn’t any point. The entire film is transparent ten minutes in and the director, Tommy Wirkola, seemed to only care about creating cool fight scenes.
What really makes this film awful is the writing. I feel horrible for Jeremy Renner because he has the most awful jokes throughout the film. Whenever I begin to feel something for these characters, I am immediately pulled out again by the quips. It is amazing how awful it all is.
Ultimately, this blended horror film is not scary whatsoever. I literally think legit action films are more horrifying than this movie. I am ultimately not a fan of mixed genres, but I can’t resist any film that is scary no matter what category we want to put it in. Unfortunately, this film wasn’t scary and wasn’t emotionally engaging. Were the fight scenes interesting and were the weapons cool? Yes, but If I wanted that I could just watch 300 or Taken. The Brothers Grimm created delightfully dark stories and I hope that one day the horror genre taps into them, but this film is a step backward.
Please avoid this movie.
If you liked Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, you might also like The Blair Witch Project.