Eun-soo is driving down this small road, he reaches the end of the road, finds his destination, and nothing bad happens, the end. Oh wait no, he sees a doll in the middle of the road, FREAKS OUT, and flips his car... that sounds more like it. A young girl finds him and guides him to her house where her happy family lives. But, as in all horror movies, something isn't right. Maybe it has something to do with the house being the SCARIEST HOUSE EVER.

Ah, the wave of Korean fairytale horror. For some reason I am drawn to them even though most of them aren't that good. When I saw the title Hansel & Gretel I knew I had to see it. The original fairytale is a pretty dark on it's own. Two kids find a candy house in the woods and proceed to eat it, then get captured by a witch who eats children. They finally escape by shoving her into an oven, burning her alive. Come on, it's family fun time! Hansel & Gretel the movie takes the theme of the story, and kinda reverses it. Though don't expect much of the actual story to be in there, just like you shouldn't expect the movie Red Shoes to have... you know... RED SHOES.

I'm still not sure what to call Hansel & Gretel. Is it a horror movie? A drama? Thriller? Kind of a mix of the three. I like how even though Hansel & Gretel seems like an evil demonic children type movie, it doesn't actually go that way. Are the kids evil? Or are the adults evil? What about the house? I sure as hell know those bunnies are evil, just look at them! The movie keeps you wondering. I was afraid of the children, but at the same time I liked them. And the adults weren't much different. At the beginning I disliked Eun-soo, but he grew on me and became the only likable adult. I will say one thing, the toys and decoration in the house scared the shit out of me. Not the scary most people might think of, but the "It's a Small World" type scary. Yes, I am talking about the nightmare inducing Disney ride. Everything is a little too colorful — Toys, kid decorations and scary rabbit paintings are everywhere. Brrrr! It really adds to the atmosphere of the movie. I was sad that they tried to sprinkle in typical ghost-girl like scares. But don't worry, they dismiss it pretty quick.

Although I never got too bored with Hansel & Gretel, it definitely dragged scenes out at times. The closer you get to the climax, the longer everything seems to take. When Eun-soo tells a story about his life, it's drawn out as this complicated fairytale. I understand he was trying to get the kids' interest, but he could have simplified it a bit better. Later on, when the shit hit the fan, it became so dramatic that it was distracting. The ending was then drawn out way too long. It's like they went out of their way to make sure you felt the way they wanted you to feel. "This is a sad scene. Are you sad, yet? How about now? You should really be feeling sad now... yep... BE SAD!" I get it. The 20 minute close ups of people crying and the sad score means it's sad, can we move on now? But don't get me wrong, I know I've been complaining a lot, but I did enjoy the movie.

Hansel & Gretel has really good atmosphere. I just loved the bright vibrant colors. Everything is so beautiful. Scary, but beautiful. The whole house had a unique feel to it and as much as it scared me, I loved the creepy rabbits and toys. I didn't quite understand why the children had broken naked baby dolls randomly placed throughout the house. I mean I know I had piles of naked headless Barbies in my bedroom when I was a kid... but that's different. I didn't run around with a stroller full of damaged creepy baby doll heads at least. The score was a bit much for my taste. It was pretty, but sometimes too loud. It kinda went with the overdramatizing things. I notice I prefer practically no score than to a dramatic score.

I liked Jeong-myeong Cheon (Eun-soo). He seemed to under act, but he was a good staple sane person amidst the crazies. Eun-kyung Sim (Young-hee) and Ji-hee Jin (Jung-soon) were adorable. I was very impressed by both of them. I'm not so sure how I felt about Eun Won-jae (Manbok). He had a weirdness to him and I couldn't tell if it was on purpose. I don't think he was bad, especially given his age. Hee-soon Park (Deacon) was scary as hell. Man he gave me the creeps. I thought he was great as the evil religious pedophile.

Despite the gripes I did really like Hansel & Gretel. It has been said to be as great as Pan's Labyrinth and A Tale of Two Sisters and I'm glad I didn't know about that when I saw it because I would have been greatly disappointed. Hopefully that didn't just ruin it for you. Hansel & Gretel doesn't compare to either one of those movies, but it's still a good film. Yeah I had my complaints, but it didn't keep me from enjoying it. If you are drawn to the Korean Fairytale horror movies, I definitely recommend Hansel & Gretel.

What I liked: The atmosphere; the scaryass toys and decoration; the awkward family scene at the beginning; the colors.

What I didn't like: Being overly dramatic; THE SCARIEST CARTOON EVER; peeing my pants; sometimes the score was a bit much; the It's a Small World Disney ride; the most complicated childhood story explanation ever; forced sadness; having nightmares about rabbit portraits.

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