In October 2018, the Hollywood Reporter reported that Orion Pictures had started developing a film adaptation of the German folklore tale, with a script penned by Hayes, Perkins as director and Sophia Lillis to star. By early November, Lillis, Charles Babalola, Alice Krige, Jessica De Gouw, and Sam Leakey, in his debut role, were cast. At the same time, with a budget of $5 million, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in December. Filming took place in Dublin, Ireland. In January 2019, dditional filming and reshoots started in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
The film stars Lillis, Leakey, Babalola, Krige, and De Gouw. The cast are all uniformly excellent, but they're stuck in a film that doesn't seem to know what to do with them. If a filmmaker tries to cast doubt over every character and every action, it can be hard to work up suspense, because it's unclear who is in danger. This is the case with this film. But beyond its compositional breadth, what Perkins conveys in the film lends itself a more feminine persuasion, one that addresses a set of impossible social responsibilities exclusive to women.
This methodical possession riff further establishes Perkins as one of the few horror filmmakers whose every work will have my attention, as the film is a beautiful way to get the jitters. Deserves to be studied in terms of its visuals and learned from by those who write and want to learn how to tell a story with minimal, haunting dialogue. A cold descent into madness in then hands of a director that manages to capture the very essence of evil in uncommon places. It is a haunting tale that breaths new life into the idea of possession and the loss of innocence. By the time the credits rolled I felt stunned and awestruck. It takes its time slowly setting its pieces into place, and some expecting a more full-throttled horror experience might get a little restless waiting for the jolts to come. The film layers on the dread until it's almost physically challenging to keep watching as shadows grow ever more oppressive and the school ever less welcoming. Something wicked this way comes, indeed. There are creepy moments throughout the film that stick with you, truly adding to the stylistic, haunted-house atmosphere of this whole narrative. While the film is intriguing and seductive at the start, in the end it doesn't quite live up to the insinuations it made in the beginning.
This methodical possession riff further establishes Perkins as one of the few horror filmmakers whose every work will have my attention, as the film is a beautiful way to get the jitters. Deserves to be studied in terms of its visuals and learned from by those who write and want to learn how to tell a story with minimal, haunting dialogue. A cold descent into madness in then hands of a director that manages to capture the very essence of evil in uncommon places. It is a haunting tale that breaths new life into the idea of possession and the loss of innocence. By the time the credits rolled I felt stunned and awestruck. It takes its time slowly setting its pieces into place, and some expecting a more full-throttled horror experience might get a little restless waiting for the jolts to come. The film layers on the dread until it's almost physically challenging to keep watching as shadows grow ever more oppressive and the school ever less welcoming. Something wicked this way comes, indeed. There are creepy moments throughout the film that stick with you, truly adding to the stylistic, haunted-house atmosphere of this whole narrative. While the film is intriguing and seductive at the start, in the end it doesn't quite live up to the insinuations it made in the beginning.
Simon says Gretel & Hansel receives:
Also, see my review for I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
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