''Witchslayer Gretl'' (also known as ''Gretl'' and ''Gretl: Witch Hunter'') is a 2012 American-Canadian

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

written by Brook Durham and Angela Mancuso, and directed by

Mario Philip Azzopardi Mario Philip Azzopardi (born 19 November 1950) is a Canadian-Maltese television director, television and film director and writer. Early life and emigration Azzopardi was born in Siggiewi, Malta, and was educated at St Aloysius' College (Malta), S ...

. Inspired by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

fairy tale

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

, it stars

Paul McGillion Paul McGillion is a Scottish actor, who has worked in television, film and theatre. He is best known for his role on the television series ''Stargate Atlantis'' as Dr. Carson Beckett. Early life McGillion was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Sco ...

as Hansel, a witch hunter who comes into conflict with his witch-possessed sister, Gretl, played

Shannen Doherty Shannen Doherty (, born April 12, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Jenny Wilder in ''Little House on the Prairie'' (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'' (1985); Kris Witherspoon in '' Our Hous ...

. It was one of several similarly-themed Hansel and Gretel films (such as ''

'' and ''Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft'') that were made in an attempt to " cash-in" on the 2013 film '' Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters''.

Plot

While lost in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

, siblings Hansel and Gretl are ambushed by Zhore, a witch who tries to kidnap Gretl and murder Hansel. Zhore's spell bounces off of the magic-resistant Hansel and immolates her, so she switches bodies with Gretl before entombing her and setting out to become the Witch Queen. Zhore has her

warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives ''warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicatio ...

henchman, Abyss, and her gargoyle

familiar In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. According to re ...

abduct young witches, who Zhore magically binds to herself, turning the girls into near-mindless members of Zhore's Coven of the Crescent Moon. One of the witches, Lara, is more willful than the others, breaking the binding spell and escaping Zhore. A powerless and amnesiac Lara is found by Hansel, who had become a witch hunter to avenge Gretl. Lara uses her retained knowledge of the occult to construct powerful anti-witch armaments for Hansel. Hansel and Lara interrogate and kill a witch, learning from her that the Witch Queen's next target is a girl named Ehren. Abyss kills Ehren's father and kidnaps her, but before he can bind her to Zhore, she is rescued by Hansel. Lara convinces Hansel that they can train Ehren to help them fight the Witch Queen. It is revealed that Zhore wants Ehren because the girl's raw magical power makes her a suitable replacement for Gretl, whose body is no longer able to sustain Zhore. Abyss tries to make up for his failure to capture Ehren by bringing Zhore another potential vessel, who an agitated Zhore disintegrates before torturing Abyss. Zhore's gargoyle captures Hansel and brings him to Zhore. Zhore offers Hansel a restored Gretl in exchange for Ehren, and when Hansel rebuffs her, orders that he be burned by Abyss. Fearing for his life and wanting to overthrow Zhore, Abyss instead frees Hansel and tells him where to find Gretl after informing him that destroying Zhore's original body will restore Gretl and kill Zhore. Hansel and Ehren evade the gargoyle and unearth Gretl. Hansel stabs Gretl in an attempt to kill Zhore's body, but all this does is cause another body swap between Gretl and Zhore. Zhore jumps from her original body to Ehren, but before she can take full control of Ehren's body, Ehren is mercy killed by Hansel, who then slays the gargoyle with help from Gretl. Lara rejects Abyss's declaration of love and offer of partnership and kills him, thus disbanding the Coven of the Crescent Moon. Zhore, having become trapped in her mangled original body, is eventually tracked down and strung up by Hansel, Gretl, and Lara. As Lara prepares to kill Zhore, she is stopped by Gretl, who pities Zhore. Zhore breaks free and, mocking Gretl for her mercy, tries to attack her, only to be killed by Hansel.

Cast

Release

The film was set to premiere on

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

in November 2011 under the name ''Gretl'', but was pushed back to February 25, 2012 after being retitled ''Witchslayer Gretl.'' It aired as part of a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

with another Syfy film titled ''Black Forest.'' It was released on DVD in June, 2012 by

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

Reception

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

's Scott Foy condemned ''Witchslayer Gretl'', giving it a score of 1/5 and writing, "Syfy movies, in general, are rarely ever good, but at least some of them manage to be enjoyably schlocky or unintentionally hilarious. And then there are the ones like ''Witchslayer Gretl'' that is the equivalent of cinematic

Ambien Zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien, among others, is a medication primarily used for the short-term treatment of sleeping problems. Guidelines recommend that it be used only after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and behaviora ...

. Even when there was action and magic and monsters on the screen, so little of it held my interest my senses dulled and my thoughts drifted elsewhere. Fairy tales are traditionally read to little kids before bedtime. This fairy tale even made this adult feel ready for night-night." Adrian Halen of Horror News was similarly derisive of the film, writing, "Yet another concept that could have been really, really cool was thrown into the studio executive shredder and said shredder shat out this movie.

ION Channel Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of io ...

movie-of-the-week-style acting over insipid dialogue that alters back and forth between what would actually fit with the times and something from a modern horror flick, ridiculous plot holes big enough to fly the

Millennium Falcon The ''Millennium Falcon'' is a fictional starship in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie ''Star Wars'' (1977), it has subsequently appeared in '' The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), ''The Empire Strikes Back ...

through, and the biggest sin of all to this ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast ...

'' (that’s right, I said ''Charmed'') fan – underutilizing Shannen Doherty." The Movie Scene's Andy Webb awarded the film a score of 2/5, commending its interesting plot while criticizing every other aspect of it, including "the less than effective special effects, in some places the painfully wrong casting, uninteresting dialogue as well as less than exciting action." David Hinckley of the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' had a more middling response to ''Witchslayer Gretl'', writing, "Between the effects and the language, the whole movie has a sort of wooden feel, and there isn't much the actors can do about it. This is more acceptable in a sci-fi flick than in a rom-com, though, and fans may find the story intriguing enough to go along for the ride."

References

External links