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Hansel & Gretel (2007)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
27 December 2007 (South Korea)
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Tagline:
Don't go, we'll be good more
Plot:
When Eun-soo gets lost in a country road, he meets a mysterious girl and is led to her fairytale ike house in the middle of the forest...
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Awards:
2 wins
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2 nominations
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User Comments:
Easily Surpasses Both "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Orphanage"
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Cast
(Credited cast) | Jeong-myeong Cheon | ... | Eun-Soo |
| Shim Eun-kyung | ... | Young Hee |
| Yeong-Nam Jang | ... | Soojeong |
| Ji-hee Jin | ... | Jung Soon |
| Kyeong-ik Kim | ... | Youngsik |
| Hee-soon Park | ... | Deacon - byun |
| Eun Won-jae | ... | Manbok |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
117 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Certification:
South Korea:12 |
Singapore:PG |
UK:15 |
France:-16 |
Argentina:16 |
Canada:14A (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) |
Canada:13+ (Quebec) |
Germany:16
Filming Locations:
Company:
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Review In One Breath: After a car accident, a man finds shelter in the secluded home of three children. The cinematography and set designs are outstanding with seemingly endless parades of eye candy. The season is set in late autumn/early winter (which conveys a chilly mood) and Christmas visuals (lighting, decorations, clothing, etc.) run rampant throughout. This film relies heavily on a single primary conflict/scenario; and it pulls it off nicely with a well-written script, well-developed characters, and a surprisingly touching storyline. Many of the themes here have been seen elsewhere, but the manner in which they are presented feels refreshingly different. This is an excellent fairy tale horror film.
While watching this entertaining movie, I couldn't help but notice that its attempt to establish sympathy for children was very similar to other recent horror titles – most obviously, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) and "The Orphanage" (2007). My impression of the former was that it was a good movie that was outrageously overrated due to its crudeness and overly simplistic and vague psychological elements. The latter was a thoroughly mediocre film with a few good scenes peppered here and there. Neither film is particularly strong nor deserving of the hype or high ratings that it receives.
"Hansel and Gretel" (2007) is most definitely a superior work to the aforementioned films. First of all, the cinematography and visuals blow away anything seen in "Pan's Labyrinth" or "The Orphanage." The exceptional use of color and lighting give this movie an extra dimension that increases its enjoyability above the competition. South Korean horror is known for its remarkable cinematography, but "Hansel and Gretel" is on the upper echelon of an already impressive portfolio.
Secondly, the execution of establishing sympathy is much more effective here. Some critics have complained that the flashbacks during the latter half were ineffective, but I simply cannot see how one could think this way. The children are given a bit of complexity here because they are portrayed as dangerous, intelligent, and kind at the same time. This provides more suspense because the lead protagonist is forced to walk a fine line in an effort to prevent his own demise. None of this would be possible without a successful storytelling structure. "Hansel and Gretel" is successful in that it first establishes a dangerous, mysterious scenario that would dissipate if the filmmakers chose to front-load the flashbacks and background of the children near the beginning, or equally disperse it throughout the running time. The flashbacks simply had to be placed during the final half hour for this film to work properly – and it works very well indeed.
That said, the script and structure of "Hansel and Gretel" are the basis of its successful establishment of sympathy for the children. "Pan's Labyrinth" tried to use excessive, repetitive violence, but it came off as needlessly gratuitous, superfluous, and unintentionally comical. Don't misunderstand me, because I love violence in my horror films. In some cases, however, it's simply unnecessary and actually detracts from the enjoyability of the film. "Hansel and Gretel" doesn't take the crude, juvenile route. On the contrary, it establishes the plight of the children through harrowing, disturbing situations with antagonists that are frightening without stooping to create hyperbolic, annoying bad guys like "Pan's Labyrinth." Despite the fairy tale basis for this film, the background of the children comes off as impressively realistic.
Another aspect of "Pan's Labyrinth" that irritated me was that the protagonist decision-making was dubious and thoughtless. Thankfully, the lead protagonist in "Hansel and Gretel" is not quite as dim-witted because the scriptwriter uses supernatural phenomena to create obstacles that are difficult to overcome. While watching the film the viewer has no choice but to relate to the protagonist's decision-making because they would most likely do the same.
On a general note, the mainstream view that Spanish horror has somehow supplanted East Asian horror is something that I find completely misguided. "REC" (2007) is probably the best Spanish horror film of the 21st Century, but even that movie was plagued with pockets of bad scriptwriting that made the scares feel artificial and contrived. "Noroi: The Curse" (2005) is twice as good as "REC" in terms of creating pure terror. And do you really want to compare the sloppy psychological elements of "Pan's Labyrinth" with a true masterpiece like "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003)? It's not even close.
East Asian horror industries have produced over 50 strong films in the past 5 years alone: Diary (2006), Abnormal Beauty (2004), Noroi: The Curse (2005), Marebito (2004), The Chaser (2008), Strange Circus (2005), Sick Nurses (2007), Alone (2007), Shutter (2004), Spider Forest (2004), Whispering Corridors 4: Voice (2005), Three Extremes (2004), Ten Nights of Dreams (2006), R-Point (2004), 13: Game of Death (2006), Rampo Noir (2005), etcetera ad infinitum. If you want truly impressive Spanish horror, you're best bet is to go back to the 1970s with stuff like "A Bell from Hell" (1973), "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" (1974), and "Tombs of the Blind Dead" (1971).
"Hansel and Gretel" is yet another strong horror film from a country that made more effective horror titles in 2007 than Spain and France have made in the last decade combined. I know it's not "cool" anymore to like Asian horror, but I look forward to when the undeserved hype for Spain and France die out so that the true masters of horror can be properly appreciated.