Hansel and Gretel

Review: I heard some good things about this movie, but wasn’t sure what it was going to be about. I was guessing it was going to merge a children’s story with horror, but then as the movie started after the intro, it seemed the main characters were adults.
Well, the movie was about both children and adults. I wasn’t sure how it fit into the “Hansel and Gretel” story, but by the end, the title made perfect sense.

I read a review on Netflix which decided the movie was confused at who it was aimed towards. They thought the storyline was childish, but that children would either be too scared  by it, or bored. I didn’t feel that way at all. It’s definitely not for children. I feel the story line is “childish” because the movie is merging children and horror together. The last bit of the movie turns into a heart-wrenching drama, (which I’ve seen happen many times before in Korean horror movies), and that drama is not really appropriate for children to see in my opinion.

The scenery in this movie was very visually pleasing. The house, where the movie mostly took place, was whimsical, yet somehow creepy with the old-fashioned toys everywhere. It was like it was a magical place, but with something sinister underneath that you just couldn’t put a finger on, it was like a sinister house next to some port moody condos for sale but that nobody decide to buy yet.

Likewise, the characters were all good-looking as well. The children were pretty and adorable. Eun-woo, the main character who was in the car accident, had a pure-hearted sense to him. He was human right from the beginning, when we overhear an argument he was having on the phone with his girlfriend, but he was just perfect in dealing with children and was brave. (That actor is in the kdrama “Cinderella’s Stepsister” which was pretty popular a couple years ago. I think I’m going to have to go watch that now, haha.)

Storywise, I really liked the mystery to it all. You can tell there’s something wrong, but you don’t know why. Mysteries show up one after the other… and luckily it all gets solved by the end so they don’t leave you hanging that way.
It is horror, but there’s not too much gore or anything. There are some disturbing or strange images though. My heart was racing a few times.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t entirely perfect. There was a scene when Eun-woo discovered a big secret and I could tell the director wanted me to feel as shocked as him with the music and reaction, but I had already been suspecting it for quite awhile so the scene didn’t have as much of an impact on me. (For those who have seen the movie, it was the end of the scene where he was reading the books.)

The ending of the movie was satisfying, but I feel it could’ve been better. I had a few questions that were unanswered concerning the aftermath, but I guess we can’t have it all, haha.