'Gretel & Hansel' Trailer: The Classic Folktale Gets a Creepy New Adaptation

The classic folktale from The Brothers Grimm gets a horrific update with Gretel and Hansel. Oz Perkins, director of The Blackcoat’s Daughter, helms this creepy take on the tale, which features It star Sophia Lillis as one-half of the young duo that finds themselves the target of a very hungry witch. Watch the latest Gretel and Hansel trailer below.

Gretel and Hansel Trailer

Everyone knows the story of Hansel and Gretel, but Oz Perkins has given the tale a twist with Gretel and Hansel. Based on this trailer, Perkins has kept the basic gist of the story – two youngsters run afoul of a witch – and crafted something very different. The result looks creepy and stylish, and I’m completely sold on it. January isn’t exactly the most exciting month for new horror. More often than not, it can be a dumping ground. But this looks promising, so I’m remaining optimistic.

The film is “set a long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside and focuses on a young girl (Sophia Lillis) who leads her little brother (Sam Leakey) into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.”

“We tried to find a way to make it more of a coming of age story,” Perkins told EW. “I wanted Gretel to be somewhat older than Hansel, so it didn’t feel like two twelve-year-olds — rather a sixteen-year-old and an eight-year-old. There was more of a feeling like Gretel having to take Hansel around everywhere she goes, and how that can impede one’s own evolution, how our attachments and the things that we love can sometimes get in the way of our growth. Sophia Lillis is really fantastic. She has one of those faces that the camera immediately understands, which is something that rarely happens. For my style and for my taste, which tends to be minimalist and a little bit more mannered, she’s really a dream.”

Gretel and Hansel opens on January 31.

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