The classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel is getting an updated and seriously scary retelling in Orion Pictures’ upcoming horror film Gretel & Hansel, and by the looks of the new trailer, you’re going to want to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind you before heading to your local cinema… just to be safe.
The film is directed by Osgood Perkins, who previously helmed two of the most stylish horror films of the past few years in I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House and The Blackcoat’s Daughter. It looks like Gretel & Hansel will continue Perkins’ history of visual flair and tension-filled storytelling, while also adding an element of pure, unadulterated horror that was somewhat lacking in his previous efforts. The film, marketed as a “grim” rather than Grimm fairy tale, takes the idea of two lost children ending up at a witch’s hut in the woods and brings it to new terrifying places — not that the original tale wasn’t already creepy to begin with. Here’s the synopsis, via Bloody Disgusting:
A long time ago in a distant fairytale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
The film stars It‘s Sophia Lillis as Gretel, while relative newcomer Samuel Leakey plays her younger brother Hansel. Alice Krige, whom you may recognize as the Borg Queen from Star Trek: First Contact, is the evil witch Holda. You can watch her do her thing in the moody and scary new trailer below.
Gretel & Hansel hits theaters on Jan. 31.
