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Too much of everything

Good movie but grossly overrated

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

WITCHSLAYER GRETL is another junky SyFy Channel TV movie filmed in the Canadian woods, this time with a fantasy setting. The story posits itself as a kind of sequel to the classic Hansel & Gretel fairytale, set 20 years after the events of that story. Hansel is now a full-time witch hunter while Gretel, after becoming estranged from her brother, is now a witch herself.The film itself is clearly copied from HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, which was itself only middling, but this is much worse. There's a lot of larking around in the woods and a lot of bad CGI used to depict magical attacks and various familiars belonging to the witches. The acting is very wooden, especially from the main actor, and the only one who seems to be trying is Shannen Doherty who got the job on the back of her role in the popular TV show CHARMED. It's still embarrassingly poor.

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

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-

This is a real shame, because Witchslayer Gretl(or Gretl: Witch Hunter) alongside Black Forest(similar genre, and while flawed was a better movie) had one of the better ideas in a long time from SyFy. It was a very interesting idea and could have been tolerable at least with the right execution. However, the execution didn't work for me and overall I did find it dull. For one thing, I didn't think much effort went into the set design and stuff. I didn't see much life or anything at the couple of shacks there were or the cave covered in moss. And the costumes didn't feel authentic, as far as I know these actors could've come fresh from a fancy dress party or something. The effects are cheap, even for SyFy, and I have seen some schlock in my lifetime in that aspect, and the editing has a haphazard look to it. Even worse was the story, yet another movie that had a good, no great, concept, that fell so hard on terrible execution, the action was generic(crossbows fired, witches stabbed) and didn't maintain my interest much, and the story was predictable and so sluggish that I almost drifted off once or twice. The script is anachronistic and stilted, the characters are just as lifeless as the pace and the acting is incredibly stiff, even from Shannon Doherty. Speaking of Doherty I was surprised that for a lead role how little she was in Witchslayer: Gretl until the final third of the film, where it sort of picks up but it was too late to care. The only person to inject life into her part was Sarain Boylan. Overall, rather dull and pointless at the end of the day. Loved the concept, but the execution was the complete opposite. 2/10 Bethany Cox