Witchslayer Gretl

{{Short description|2012 American-Canadian dark fantasy television film}}

{{Infobox television

| italic_title =

| image = WitchslayerGretl.png

| caption = DVD released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

| alt_name = Gretl
Gretl: Witch Hunter

| genre = Dark fantasy

| inspired_by = {{Based on|Hansel and Gretel|Brothers Grimm}}

| screenplay = Brook Durham

| story = Angela Mancuso

| director = Mario Philip Azzopardi

| starring = Paul McGillion
Shannen Doherty

| composer = Stacey Hersh

| country = Canada
United States

| language = English

| executive_producer = Angela Mancuso
Lewis Chesler
David Perlmutter

| producer = Robert Vaughn

| cinematography = Russ Goozee

| editor = Marvin Lawrence

| runtime = 87 minutes

| company = Chesler/Perlmutter Productions
Shaw Media
Sony Pictures Television
Syfy
Vesuvius Productions

| network = Syfy

| released = {{Start date|2012|02|25}}

}}

Witchslayer Gretl (also known as Gretl{{cite web|url = https://bloody-disgusting.com/news/28382/tv-another-revisionist-take-on-hansel-gretel-witchslayer-gretl-gets-a-teaser/|title = TV: Another Revisionist Take On Hansel & Gretel, Witchslayer Gretl, Gets A Teaser|last = Dickson|first = Evan|publisher = Bloody Disgusting|date = 14 February 2012|website = bloody-disgusting.com|accessdate = 1 November 2020}} and Gretl: Witch Hunter{{cite web|url = https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/30923/a-teaser-for-syfy-s-gretl-witch-hunter/|title = A Teaser for Syfy's Gretl: Witch Hunter|last = Barton|first = Steve|publisher = Dread Central|website = dreadcentral.com|date = 14 February 2012|accessdate = 1 November 2020}}) is a 2012 American-Canadian{{cite book|author = Cristina Bacchilega|title = Fairy Tales Transformed?: Twenty-First-Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder|url = https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/fairy-tales-transformed|accessdate = 5 November 2020|year = 2013|publisher = Wayne State University Press|isbn = 9780814334874|page = 273}} dark fantasy television film written by Brook Durham and Angela Mancuso, and directed by Mario Philip Azzopardi. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, it stars Paul McGillion as Hansel, a witch hunter who comes into conflict with his witch-possessed sister, Gretl, played Shannen Doherty. It was one of several similarly-themed Hansel and Gretel films (such as Hansel and Gretel and Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft) that were made in an attempt to "cash-in" on the 2013 film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.{{cite book|author = Jack Zipes|title = Grimm Legacies: The Magic Spell of the Grimms' Folk and Fairy Tales|url = https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691160580/grimm-legacies|accessdate = 5 November 2020|year = 2016|publisher = Princeton University Press|isbn = 9780691173672|page = 74}}

Plot

While lost in the Black Forest, 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 henchman, Abyss, and her gargoyle familiar 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

{{Cast listing|

Paul McGillion as Hansel
Emilie Ullerup as Ehren
Shannen Doherty as Gretl
Sarain Boylan as Lara
Jefferson Brown as Abyss
Nahanni Johnstone as Thorne
Frank J. Zupancic as Ehren's Father
Daniela Lazzaro as Newborn Witch
Maxwell Uretsky as Young Hansel
Sophia Ewaniuk as Young Gretl
Anne Shepherd as Zhore
Erica Cox as Lead Witch
Clara Pasieka as Young Maiden #2
Marianthi Evans as Woman
John Boylan as Lara's Father
Elizabeth Harpur as Lara's Mother
Gene Arsenault as Newborn Witch's Brother
Remy Busetto as Newborn Witch's Father

}}

Release

The film was set to premiere on Syfy 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 with another Syfy film titled Black Forest.{{cite web|url = https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/30207/syfy-s-swamp-volcano-erupts-this-weekend-haunted-forest-double-feature-slated-for-february/|title = Syfy's Swamp Volcano Erupts This Weekend; Haunted Forest Double Feature Slated for February|last = Barton|first = Steve|publisher = Dread Central|website = dreadcentral.com|date = 26 January 2012|accessdate = 1 November 2020}} It was released on DVD in June, 2012 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.{{cite web|url = https://bloody-disgusting.com/indie/3149038/horror-in-your-house-june-19th-2012/|title = Horror In Your House: June 19th, 2012|publisher = Bloody Disgusting|date = 19 June 2012|website = bloody-disgusting.com|accessdate = 1 November 2020}}

Reception

Dread Central'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. 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."{{cite web|url = https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/31362/witchslayer-gretl-2012/|title = Witchslayer Gretl (2012)|last = Foy|first = Scott|publisher = Dread Central|website = dreadcentral.com|date = 29 February 2012|accessdate = 1 November 2020}} 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 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 through, and the biggest sin of all to this Charmed (that’s right, I said Charmed) fan – underutilizing Shannen Doherty."{{cite web|url = https://horrornews.net/48790/film-review-witchslayer-gretl-2012/|title = Film Review: Witchslayer Gretl (2012)|last = Halen|first = Adrian|publisher = Horror News|date = 29 February 2012|website = horrornews.net|accessdate = 1 November 2020}} 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."{{cite web|url = https://www.themoviescene.co.uk/reviews/witchslayer-gretl-2012/witchslayer-gretl-2012.html|title = Witchslayer Gretl (2012)|last = Webb|first = Andy|publisher = The Movie Scene|website = themoviescene.co.uk|accessdate = 5 November 2020}} David Hinckley of the New York Daily News 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."{{cite web|url = https://www.nydailynews.com/2012/02/25/syfy-dusts-off-hansel-and-gretl-for-new-look-at-what-really-might-have-gone-down-in-that-forest/|title = Syfy dusts off Hansel and Gretl for new look at what really might have gone down in that forest|last = Hinckley|first = David|publisher = New York Daily News|date = 25 February 2012|website = nydailynews.com|accessdate = 5 November 2020}}