A strangely entertaining horror film that pushes all the right buttons.
by Nav Qateel
It’s time for another release from the masters of low-budget fare, The Asylum, with Hansel Vs. Gretel, and to my surprise, the follow up to the 2013 release Hansel & Gretel turned out have all the right ingredients required to make it an entertaining, gory horror. The 2013 Hansel & Gretel was so forgettable that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring forth a single solitary fragment of memory about it to attempt a comparison. What I do know is that I scored it very low.
A year has past since the imprisoned Hansel and Gretel killed Lilith the witch and escaped to freedom. The siblings have somewhat drifted apart, with Hansel out on a witch hunt, slaughtering all the witches he can lay his hands on, while sister Gretel, aided by their grandmother, runs a very busy, popular pie shop.
- Hansel Vs. Gretel
- Directed by
Ben Demaree - Cast
Brent Lydic, Lili Baross, Aqueela Zoll - Release Date
20 January 2015 - Nav’s Grade: C
*****
While on the trail of a particular witch, a newspaper story catches Hansel’s eye, and this brings brother and sister back together again. Hansel is tracking a witch that he thinks might be responsible for killing Mason, a regular customer at Gretel’s pie shop. Of course, not all is as it appears to be, with lots of misdirection and red herrings being put into the mix. I should point out here that for a film with such a meagre budget and scope, that this was all handled rather effectively, giving the illusion of a film with a far greater budget and time spent thanks to luxuries that films of this size just don’t have.
When four hot witches turn up in the small town, showing an interest in the now dead Lilith, Hansel (Brent Lydic), Gretel (Lili Baross), Willy (Aqueela Zoll) and Mason’s brother Jacob (Riley Murphy), team up to open a can of whoopass on the witches. But these are very old and powerful witches, who aren’t easy to deal with.
In the 2013 version of Hansel & Gretel, the sister was played by Stephanie Greco. Here, in Hansel Vs. Gretel, Gretel is played by the attractive and skilled Lili Baross, in this, her second ever movie role. The actress demonstrates a natural talent and she appears so comfortable in front of the lens. With carefully chosen roles, I’m sure Baross has a bright future.
Hansel was yet again played by Brent Lydic, who is a confident actor and looks to always enjoy what he’s doing. (Spoiler) This comes across well, which is just as well because I think it’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing Lydic and Baross working together in a third incarnation of the Hansel & Gretel franchise.
Hansel Vs. Gretel may not be a brilliant film but it’s certainly an entertaining one. The gore is great and the action is handled well. Interestingly, It was written by Jose Prendes, the same person who penned the enjoyable Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark. Let’s hope if a third movie is put together, they use helmer Ben Demaree and his talented team so they can work their magic again.
Definitely worth seeing.
You can read interviews with Director Ben Demaree here, and Co-Star Lili Baross who played Gretel, here.
