Witchslayer Gretl

A grown-up Hansel is hunting witches with his assistant Lara. He rescues Ehren from warlock Abyss but he fears her magic. He would rather kill her but Lara convinces him otherwise. Abyss' queen turns out to be Hansel's long lost sister Gretel (Shannen Doherty) who was taken by a witch and assumed killed.

I only know Paul McGillion as the affable Dr. Carson Beckett from Stargate: Atlantis. This is a completely different role and doesn't fit him. He's not that dark. As with many Syfy shows of that era, this looks cheap and the CGI is cheap. The premise is interesting and there is good potential with these characters. In the end, this is a cheap TV fantasy movie.

Presumably a sequel to the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm about a brother & sister and their run-in with a witch in the forests of medieval Germany, Hansel and Gretl (SIC) are now in their late 30s or so. Hansel (Paul McGillion) desperately searches for his sister who was apprehended by a witch queen when they were kids; he teams-up with a former witch, Lara (Sarain Boylan), and the vengeful daughter of a blacksmith, Ehren (Emilie Ullerup). Shannen Doherty is on hand in a vital role and Jefferson Brown plays a warlock.

"Witchslayer Gretl" (2012) was SyFy's knockoff of the big budget "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" (2013), which debuted eleven months later. There were a couple of other mockbusters: The Asylum's "Hansel & Gretel" (2013) and Lionsgate's "Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft" (2013). Witch-themed films were trendy at the time with "Beautiful Creatures" (2013) and, later, "The Last Witch Hunter" (2015), these two being the only ones I've seen before viewing this one.

McGillion looks miserable here, but this can be defended on the grounds that his character demanded an air of grave determination in a life-or-death situation. Doherty is quite good in a double role. Meanwhile Sarain Boylan is spirited and Emilie Ullerup is fetching. You KNOW at least one of these characters is going to be dead by the end and I was quite surprised with who buys the farm; kudos to the writers for having gonads.

I love the sylvan locations and there's a lot of forest action, along with several sequences at a witch grotto, but the movie struck me as cheesy from the get-go. It's like a second-rate meshing of "Grimm's Snow White" (2012), Robin Hood and "First Knight" (1995). (I realize the first one was an Asylum movie, but it was actually quite effective for its low-budget and lousy CGI; and IMHO better than the film it knocked off, "Snow White and the Huntsman"). On the positive side, the spirited Lara won me over by the end and I enjoyed the heartwarming relationships of the protagonists.

The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes and was might have been shot in Canada since it's a Canadian production (I can't find any info).

GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

The 1800s story of "Hansel and Gretel" (from the Brothers Grimm) receives a confusing sequel with "Witchslayer Gretl". The original ending seems to have been ignored; probably, we are to assume other events occurred in the intervening years. In what appears to be about 30 years after the famous brother and sister cooked the old witch's goose, we find adult Paul McGillion (as Hansel) is a Witchslayer. He kills witches (violently) with help from recovering blonde witch Sarain Boylan (as Lara). They pick up and reform younger blonde witch Emilie Ullerup (as Ehren). Hansel is attempting to discover the fate of his sister Gretel, who is adult Shannen Doherty (spelled Gretl)...

Early on, Ms. Doherty appears only in shadows - probably, this is because we would all say, "A-ha! That's his sister Gretl" - okay, there is no reason for the shadows. There is also no reason to call this TV Movie "Witchslayer Gretl". Doherty's "Gretl" is not the Witchslayer. That title belongs to Hansel. Still, you have to forgive director Mario Azzopardi and folks who named this story, for not knowing the Witchslayer - it is a difficult movie to sit through, even (obviously) for the people who created this poorly titled "Witchslayer Gretl". Also in the cast is warlock Jefferson Brown (as Abyss), who has issues with Ms. Boylan and the Queen Witch. He also has great sideburns.

** Witchslayer Gretl (2/25/12) Mario Azzopardi ~ Paul McGillion, Sarain Boylan, Shannen Doherty, Jefferson Brown

Most people have read the story of Hansel & Gretel during their kindergarten time. It seems that now is the time to make a different version of the fairy-tales. They have done several version of Snowhite, why not Hansel & Gretel now.

The first impression, it is either bad players who don't know how to act properly or a mediocre director who can see that the acting was very bad. This is not something you watch from a movie, but more from a high- school play. The acting was awkward most of the time and on top of that a very low quality costumes and low cost setting.

The story-line takes on the time when Hansel has grown-up and he is back to the place where he lost his sister. A little magic here and there to spice up the performance, but overall a very clumsy warlock in on the scene most of the time and trying to kidnap girls (this is another silly Hollywood recipe...., you have to sacrifice women and not men in order to do something magical....). Of course they have to show that there is magic..., when the witches are killed, their body is instantly disappeared...

My overall rating is 1, that is for making this horrible movie and spending the money to finance it, but don't waste your time to watch it. You will regret it......

It might be possible to make a good updated version of Hansel and Gretel but this trifling Syfy original is decidedly NOT it. Choosing to merely throw the hapless viewer into the 'thick' of things with Hansel now being a master witch slayer doing his thing, which I surmise is shooting arrows while poorly CGI'd fireballs come his way. It doesn't get better from there. Charectization is supremely dull when it's not downright confusing, couple that with characters I don't really give two tosses about and it's a recipe for massive boredom. I only got through it only to review, condemn and steer you clear of watching this mess. Also if you're a fan of Shannon Doherty be prepared to be doubly disappointed as she's woefully underused.

My Grade: D-