There’s a scene early on in “Gretel & Hansel” when the two title characters accidentally scarf down psychedelic mushrooms in a forest and it produces one very strong feeling in the audience: jealousy.
Oh, if only we could also be high for the rest of this. If only there was something that could make bearable another hour or so of this art-film horror.
“Gretel & Hansel” is as visually arresting as it is tedious, a 90-minute movie that really should have been a 3-minute music video for Marilyn Manson or Ozzy Osbourne. It’s in the horror genre only loosely. It’s more eerie, if that’s a genre. Actually, it’s like dread for 90 minutes. It’s dreadful.
This image released by Orion Pictures shows Sophia Lillis, left, and Sammy Leakey in a scene from “Gretel & Hansel.” (Patrick Redmond/Orion Pictures via AP)Sophia Lillis, who made her mark in “It,” plays 16-year-old Gretel, while newcomer Sam Leakey stars as her 8-year-old brother. Boosting Gretel’s age puts her on the cusp of womanhood and gives her dominion over her younger brother. She soon realizes that – gasp! – she has powers herself.
“Women often know things they’re not supposed to,” the witch tells her. (If that was true, poor Lillis wouldn’t have wasted her considerable talent in this dreck.)