History Film / GretelAndHansel2020

* WickedWitch: Holda, the witch of this "Hansel and Gretel" story. As in the fairytale, she uses her evil powers to lure children into her home and cannibalize them. Her black dress and pointed hat even evoke the classic appearance of a witch. [[spoiler:She wasn't always like this, based on her DarkAndTroubledBackstory]].

* TheLostWoods: It wouldn't be a Hansel and Gretel adaptation without dark and scary woods.

* NiceHat: Most of the characters are seen with headwear at least once, it its most evident with the beautiful child's pink cap. Holda wears a very classic witch's hat in the third act.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original Grimm story was already quite scary, but it was still a fairytale. This film is a dark and moody horror film that lacks the original's lighter elements, like the Witch's gingerbread house. This is also the only version in which [[spoiler:Gretel herself becomes a witch]].

* WickedWitch: Holda, the witch of this "Hansel and Gretel" story. As in the fairytale, she uses her evil powers to lure children into her home and cannibalize them. [[spoiler:She wasn't always like this, based on her DarkAndTroubledBackstory]].

** Gretel is warned by the huntsman to "look out for wolves". He means this figuratively because he says that wolves can be charming and silver-tongued. Holda, a predatory witch, has images of wolves on the walls inside her house, likely alluding to Literature/LittleRedRidingHood another Brothers Grimm story with similar themes of stranger danger.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: PlayedWith. Holda is an old crone like in the original story, [[spoiler:but we learn later on that this is just a façade; her true form is that of a [[HotWitch a young and beautiful woman]]]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original Grimm story was already quite scary, but it was still a fairytale. This film is a dark and moody horror film that lacks the original's lighter elements, like the Witch's gingerbread house. This is also one of the only versions in which [[spoiler:Gretel herself becomes a witch]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: The original Grimm story was already quite scary, but it was still a fairytale. This version is a dark and moody horror film, and the only adaptation in which [[spoiler:Gretel herself becomes a witch]].

%%* ChekhovsGun: Holda’s two-pronged stang.

%%* WickedWitch: Holda. [[spoiler: Though she wasn't always like this, based on her DarkAndTroubledBackstory.]]

* ComingOfAgeStory: This was Oz Perkins' vision for Gretel's story arc.
* CreepyChild: The child in the pink cap.

* DisappearedDad: Gretel and Hansel’s dad took off to find work and they haven’t seem him since.

* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Holda, even after she figures out that Gretel is onto her.]]

* GreenThumb: [[spoiler: Gretel is shown to have this when she’s tapping into her powers as a witch.]]

* GuileHero: Played with. Gretel doesn’t let on that she knows what Holda is up to. [[spoiler: Holda figures it out after Gretel tries to drug her.]]
* HotWitch: [[spoiler: Holda is revealed to be this. Her appearance as a half blind hag was just an illusion to lure in potential victims.]]

* MissingMom: [[spoiler: Hansel returns home without Gretel, but their mother is nowhere to be seen. The axe she originally struck into the table is still there so it’s implied she left not long after Gretel and Hansel did.]]

* NiceHat: Most of the characters are seen with headwear at least once, it its most evident with the beautiful child’s pink cap. Holda wears a very classic witch's hat in the third act.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: Holda’s first victims were her two older children. She gloats she was so eager to embrace her new powers that she "barely even chewed" when she devoured them.]]

** Gretel is warned by the huntsman to “look out for wolves.” He means this figuratively because he says that wolves can be charming and silver tongued. Holda, a predatory witch, has images of wolves on the walls inside her house, likely alluding to Literature/LittleRedRidingHood another Brothers Grimm story with similar themes of stranger danger.
** There’s frequent upwards pointing triangles throughout the movie. They can refer to the witches pyramid, a concept referring to five components of magic. In Wiccan culture, they can also represent fire and energy that destroys.

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: The child in the pink cap made her father eat a red-hot pole.]]

* WickedWitch: Holda. [[spoiler: Though she wasn't always like this, based on her DarkAndTroubledBackstory.]]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Enchantress from prologue. On one hand, she looks very sinister, her powers seem to originate from darkness, and as one who gave the gift of magic to the Beautiful Child, she is indirectly responsible for everything in the movie. On other hand, she is a healer, Child's father agreed to trade so his daughter might live, and she doesn't do anything malicious on screen, in fact she appears in visions to warn Gretel and Hansel about Holda's true nature.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}} The architecture features many ancient- or medieval-looking structures, but also shockingly modern elements. Holda's cabin, especially, has a degree of precision and regular construction that is disturbingly modern. [[spoiler: Her basement, with its modern industrial design and what might be a ''plexiglass'' skylight, even moreso.]]

* BoyishShortHair: Gretel has close-cropped locks.

* ChekhovsGun: Holda’s two-pronged stang.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Hansel, when he asks why Gretel didn’t take the housekeeping job.

* AdultFear: And how! There’s the fear of not being able to provide for your children, children being preyed upon for some reason or another, TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior, the list goes on.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: The Enchantress from prologue. On one hand, she looks very sinister, her powers seem to originate from darkness, and as one who gave gift of magic to the Beautiful Child, she is indirectly responsible for everything in the movie. On other hand, she is a healer, Child's father agreed to trade so his daughter might live, and she doesn't do anything malicious on screen, in fact she appears in visions to warn Gretel and Hansel about Holda's true nature.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: On one hand, Gretel and Hansel defeat Holda unscathed, and the spirits of her previous victims pass on. On the other hand, they go their separate ways with no indication if their paths will ever cross again, and there’s a possibility that Gretel will become a witch as well.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In one of her dreams, Gretel approaches the beautiful child, whose head falls off when Gretel touches her, [[spoiler: an indication that the child isn't the true culprit.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Holda argues that she and Gretel are walking down similar paths.

''Gretel and Hansel: A Grim Fairy Tale'', is a 2020 American supernatural horror {{Grimmification}} adapted from Literature/HanselAndGretel. The film is directed by Oz Perkins (''Film/TheBlackcoatsDaughter'', ''Film/IAmThePrettyThingThatLivesInTheHouse''), produced by Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, and Dan Kagan, and the screenplay is written by Perkins and Rob Hayes. In the film, Gretel leads her younger brother Hansel through the forest in search of work and food after being kicked out of their family home. They stumble upon the home of a witch. Starring Creator/SophiaLillis as Gretel, Sam Leakley as Hansel and Alice Krige as Holda, the Witch.

* BlackVikings: The huntsman and several of Holda's child victims are black. Neither Gretel nor Hansel have any reaction to their skin color. While it's not clear when and where the film takes place, it would be extremely unusual for black people to simply be living on their own in the woods in a European civilization of this technology level. Until the 1700s, black immigration was primarily limited to large cities, and black people were usually employed as servants.