Hansel & Gretel (2007)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Pil-Sung Yim

Writers:

Min-sook Kim (story)
Pil-Sung Yim (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 December 2007 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Don't go, we'll be good

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...

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Fairy Tale | Cut From Glass | Stranded | Mother Figure

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jeong-myeong Cheon	...	Eun-Soo
Sim 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

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG | UK:15 | France:-16 | Argentina:16 | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Busan, South Korea

Company:

Barunson Film Division

Easily Surpasses Both "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Orphanage"

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 lower itself by chucking in shocking imagery. 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 protagonists were as dumb as a bag of bricks because they engage in acts of sheer stupidity. Such acts are no surprise coming from the massively overrated Guillermo Del Toro – director of poorly written movies like "The Devil's Backbone" (2001) and "Cronos" (1993). The lead protagonist in "Hansel and Gretel" is not quite as idiotic 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.

I do have a massive appreciation for South Korean horror (and East Asian horror films in general) and am self-aware of the possible clouding of objectivity this may cause, but 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.

This may be off topic, but French horror has received even more praise because of recent titles like "Inside" (2007), "Them" (2006), and "High Tension" (2003). I love all three of these films, but 3 strong films in 5 years is nothing to gloat about. East Asian horror industries have produced over 50 strong films in the same time period: 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.

"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.