‘Gretel & Hansel’ 4K UHD Blu-Ray Review – Oz Perkins Crafts A Creepy Palette In Fairytale Adaptation

There have been many adaptations of the Hansel & Gretel tale from The Brothers Grimm. Some of these adaptations have been slightly twisted tales targeted towards children, and one even had them grown up and hunting witches. In Gretel & Hansel, director Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter) takes the classic tale and really delves into the darkness to create a pretty effective horror movie. While the movie may bore those who want their horror movies to be unrelenting and gory, those who appreciate the subtle creepiness of a movie like The VVitch should find something to like here.

Gretel & Hansel tips its hand to the structure of the movie with its character flip in the title. In this adaptation, Gretel (Sophia Lillis, It: Chapters 1 & 2) is a teenager who spends much of her life looking after her younger brother, Hansel (Sam Leakey), in their poverty-stricken village. After failing to secure a job with a man who is clearly a sexual predator, Gretel and her brother are banished from their house by their mother who says the house is too small for them. As the siblings journey to find a safe place to stay, the movie makes allusions to other fairytales in a bit of interesting world-building that should have been a bit more fleshed out.

After surviving all manner of terrors in the woods, they come across a strange house emanating alluring food smells in the middle of the woods. This house is inhabited by a creepy older lady named Holda (Alice Krige), a witch who invites them in for food and shelter in exchange for work around the house. As Hansel obliviously falls under the spell of the witch with the never-ending food, Gretel is haunted by the notion that all is not as it appears to be. It is up to Gretel to resist the temptation that she is faced with and protect herself and her brother from the evil forces at work. In an interesting bit of commentary on gender norms, Gretel has to wrestle with the idea that she may not be reaching her full potential due to her responsibilities in the role of stand-in mother. The culmination of these ideas results in a sequence that is visually striking, if not slightly underwhelming narratively.

Gretel & Hansel is a very thin concept that is leisurely paced and slightly overlong even as it falls below a ninety-minute runtime. The movie does an excellent job of maintaining a supremely creepy atmosphere with a fair amount of help from the moody, synth-based score from Robin Coudert and some of the best production design present in a horror movie in quite some time. This coupled with the really striking cinematography elevates this to something truly beautiful to behold. The acting from the siblings tends to be a bit flat, especially the young Hansel, but Alice Krige imbues the witch with a creepiness that is truly the stuff of nightmares. Overall, the movie has a lot of interesting facets going for it, but this is definitely more for an arthouse horror crowd than any mainstream audience.

Video Quality

It feels just like yesterday that Warner Bros. released Gretel & Hansel on Blu-Ray in 2020 and opted not to provide a 4K UHD Blu-Ray option for fans, which was not a huge shock given the state of MGM titles on physical media at the time. Thankfully, Scream Factory has come to the rescue domestically with a 4K UHD Blu-Ray that provides a fresh 4K presentation of the original master in 2160p/Dolby Vision which offers a valuable uptick in quality over the accompanying Blu-Ray derived from the same master. It is certainly not a staggering difference, but this film looks like the best version of itself. 

A large portion of the film takes place in shadows or at night, and on this disc, these scenes are more vivid and finely delineated. Black levels are robust in this presentation, staying deep and inky with great detail. The biggest gains in this presentation come from the contrast and color. The implementation of Dolby Vision really makes itself known as colors are given a bit more prominence even if you are not looking at a traditionally vibrant spectacle. The film presents with golden hues indoors and more of a blue tint when out in nature. There are flashes of color that occur sporadically throughout the film such as the red smoke coming from the house that looks amazing. The increased range of the color spectrum is a welcome sight in the lighting effects, especially. There is a greater sense of accuracy to the palette compared to the Blu-Ray.

This 4K UHD presentation impresses with exceptional gains in clarity throughout the feature. The surprisingly impeccable production design is explored in nice depth along with the makeup effects which are spotlighted in all of their sumptuous glory with this transfer. Every room with atmospheric lighting is handled with the precision of a deftly authored disc. The few instances of compression artifacts and banding present on the Blu-Ray are nonexistent with this 4K UHD disc. The highlights in the film are more controlled with whites more pure and balanced with no instances of blooming that we noticed. The Blu-Ray is solid, but Scream Factory has delivered another tremendous transfer on this latest 4K release. 

Audio Quality

This 4K UHD Blu-Ray release boasts a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that does not get a huge workout but provides a pleasing experience. The film is a mixture of quiet dialogue with long bouts of silence as visuals tell the story. Dialogue is rendered appropriately clear and is never overshadowed by the score. There is some nice activity in the surround speakers when the score drifts around and envelopes the room, along with the creepy whispers that pop up. This is a reserved track by the nature of the movie, but it does everything it needs to do effectively. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided on this disc.

Special Features 

• Audio Commentaries: There are two great commentary tracks provided that explore the film from a personal technical level and a more analytical lens that both provide a rich examination of the feature. 
  • Audio Commentary #1: Director Osgood Perkins
  • Audio Commentary #2: Horror Historian Rebekah McKendry

• The Beautifully Grim Fairy Tale – Production Designer Jeremy Reed on Gretel & Hansel: A new 15-minute interview with the production designer in which he discusses his relationship with Oz Perkins, finding ways to make this material seem fresh, abandoned ideas for the design, finding a geometric motif, his collaboration with other crew members, and more. 
• Storybook: A five-minute illustrated storybook version of the movie is presented here with text on screen and music from the film. The pages mostly keep a good pace to get all of the information, but some turn ridiculously fast so you may have to rewind or pause to get everything.
• Gretel: A minute-long sneak peek at the film focusing on the main character. 

• New Tale: Another minute-long sneak peek at the film focusing on the themes and updates to the story. 

• Witchcraft: One final minute-long sneak peek at the film looking at the magical world. 

• Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided. 

Final Thoughts

Gretel & Hansel is an indie horror movie reaching a mainstream audience, which can often result in a backlash. The movie itself is an interesting little horror film with beautiful visuals and a pace that is a bit too leisurely. Scream Factory has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray featuring an excellent A/V presentation along with some great new and archival special features. It is a film that is definitely worth checking out for the strong directorial choices and creepy atmosphere. Recommended 

Gretel & Hansel is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Scream Factory has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.