Latest news with #HanselAndGretel
Free Malaysia Today
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
‘Weapons' turns missing-children trope into a genre-bending nightmare
'Weapons' shows what horror films can be, other than the usual tropes. (Warner Bros. pic) You've heard stories about children gone missing at the edge of the forest, cautionary tales about witches, stranger danger, and the blackness of the night. The Brothers Grimm's 'Hansel and Gretel' is one classic that comes to mind. Zach Cregger's 'Weapons' takes this premise and gives it his own wicked spin, conjuring a story that will quite instantly engulf audiences with an unnerving sense of dread, painfully (and intentionally) drawn out tension, and a cautionary tale unlike any other. But what might divide cinemagoers is Cregger's injection of dark comedy that brings something fresh and unexpected to a horror film, but at the same time, might annoy horror movie buffs. After all, Cregger's 2022 horror outing 'Barbarian', starring Bill Skarsgård, Georgina Campbell, and Justin Long, was considered a masterpiece. 'Barbarian' brilliantly drew audiences into a false premise before subverting it into a nightmarish episode. So, if you're expecting something similar … get ready. Cregger delivers but not in the way you would expect. In 'Weapons', 17 children go mysteriously missing, each running in a weird manner into the darkness. (Warner Bros. pic) 'Weapons', which runs for 128 minutes, stars Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Cary Christopher, and Amy Madigan. Instead of tracking a particular character from start to end, Cregger offers multiple storylines and points of view, before turning it on its head and taking audiences on a wild and darkly comic ride. In the small town of Maybrook, a community is shattered when 17 children from the same elementary school class vanish into the night. The disappearances are captured on home security cameras, showing the children running with their arms outstretched. Only one child (Christopher) is left behind. The film's narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives, including that of the children's teacher, Justine Gandy (Garner), and a grieving father, Archer Graff (Brolin). As the town succumbs to paranoia and suspicion, they must confront a horrifying and inexplicable mystery that lies at the heart of their seemingly quiet suburb. Both Julia Garner and Josh Brolin give standout performances as a flawed teacher and a grieving father in 'Weapons'. (Warner Bros. pic) The premise of 'Weapons' is simple enough: what happened to the children and why did they disappear? But to get to the answer, Cregger purposefully draws out the narrative that can get frustrating, and when you least expect it, introduces the heart of the horror, and from there, it is a heart-thumping, anxiety-inducing, skin-crawling affair. Cregger skilfully uses quick camera pans, slow zoom ins, and claustrophobic shots to trap both the characters and the audience in a nerve-wracking situation. 'Weapons' also relies on dissonance, abrupt shifts, and unsettling silences to keep viewers on edge. It uses high-pitched violins, pulsing bass, and escalating tempo to evoke a fight-or-flight response. Nine-year-old Cary Christopher, who plays Alex Lilly – the only child not to go missing – delivers a standout performance. In a film led by adults, he becomes its emotional core, bringing a quiet sadness and raw restraint that grounds the movie's intensity. Cary Christopher brings heart and warmth to a very dark tale. (Warner Bros. pic) Garner and Brolin also shine, anchoring the film's unsettling tone. Garner captures her character's vulnerability and unravelling paranoia with nuance. Brolin, on the other hand, brings simmering rage and quiet despair, adding weight and tension to every scene he's in. As for the dark comedy treatment in the film's third act, well, it is definitely genre-bending. And it is not done tactlessly. It creates a different kind of horror in those moments that can be both unsettling and cathartic. It may not sit well with some but it is nothing but inspired. Ultimately, 'Weapons' is a horror film that avoids clichés and cheap scares, delivering real danger and a fresh perspective. It shifts the terror of the forest into the heart of the city – leaving you rethinking what horror can be. As of press time, 'Weapons' is screening in cinemas nationwide.
CTV News
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘A beautiful Winnipeg charm': A journey inside the enchanted history of the Witch's Hut
Nestled beneath century-old Elm trees in Winnipeg's Kildonan Park sits a cottage that looks plucked from the pages of a fairy tale – 'Hansel and Gretel,' to be exact. Any seasoned Winnipegger worth their salmon 1999 Pan-Am Games jacket knows exactly the place I describe. A cherished local attraction, the Witch's Hut has enchanted visitors of all ages for over 50 years. A volunteer named Jim Zacharkiw opens its doors each May. 'It's fun to watch the kids come in. Some are okay and brave. The younger ones can get very scared,' he said. And for good reason. The Witch's Hut The open, red door to the Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park invites visitors inside on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) 'Next to a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and two children' The story comes to life inside the conical roofed, fieldstone-walled cottage adorned with faux gingerbread cookies. Visitors big and small step inside to find terra cotta panels lining the walls, illustrating the classic Brothers Grimm folk tale of starvation, survival, and sugar. The Witch's Hut Terra cotta panels in the Witch's Hut are pictured on July 30, 2025. They were created by sculptor Elfriede Leopoldine Geier Berger and depict the story of 'Hansel and Gretel.' (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) From there, they pass a barred cell beneath a log staircase, where a little Hansel mannequin is trapped inside. They climb the stairs to find the evil mannequin Witch herself, perennially tending to a magical brew on her faux wood stove, as mannequin Gretel sweeps the floor, plotting her escape. 'I used to take my daughter here when she was a kid. It looks exactly the same,' said a man named Bobby who visited the hut on a hot July day. 'This has become a little tradition,' he said, gesturing to the little girl and boy clinging to him – his grandkids. Fittingly, the Witch's Hut was built with just this tradition in mind. The Witch's Hut The menacing Witch mannequin tends to a pot over her stove as Gretel sweeps the floor inside the Witch's Hut on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) 'Then all together they set forth into the woods' The Witch's Hut first opened its wooden doors in 1970. Built by the German-Manitoban community, the hut was a gift to the children of Winnipeg to celebrate the city's centennial. 'It was also a way to advise people that some of these Disney World fairy tales that they show are all based on the stories that came from Germany,' explained Carola Lange, a past president of the German-Canadian Congress. 'Some of the fairy tales are a little bit scary from way back when, when they were first written.' The Witch's Hut Hansel is trapped in a barred cell in the Witch's Hut at Kildonan Park on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) 'Who is nibbling at my house?' That's because folk tales like 'Hansel and Gretel' were not exclusively written with children in mind, explained Pauline Greenhill, a professor in the University of Winnipeg's women's and gender studies department and an expert in folklore, folk tales and fairy tale depictions in media. It's believed the German-born Brothers Grimm first popularized 'Hansel and Gretel' in an 1812 book of collected folk tales, though the story can be traced back even further to many countries all around the world. The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm in 1847. (daguerreotype) Unlike some of the other Grimm tales, like 'Snow White' and 'Cinderella,' 'Hansel and Gretel' never got the full Disney treatment, Greenhill notes. 'Disney is not going to make a movie about a mother who sends her children out to starve in the woods,' she said. 'The traditional tale is not nice and sweet.' Still, the story of babes lost in the woods has held a certain cultural fascination, Greenhill said, even without the almighty House of Mouse engine powering it. 'People have definitely focused on the whole idea of it being a story about hunger and starvation historically. More recently, there have been quite a few horror films that are based on 'Hansel and Gretel.' Hansel and Gretel Illustration of Hansel and Gretel, a well-known German folktale from the Brothers Grimm, by Arthur Rackham, 1909. 'She grabbed Hansel with her withered hand and carried him to a little stall' Grim as the source material may be, the hut was designed by German-Manitoban architect Hans Peter Langes, who immigrated from Datteln to Winnipeg in 1951, encountering plenty of post-Second World War vitriol as he opened his own architecture firm. 'In business, sure, it was difficult for him, and there were times where contractors would not want to do business with him because he was from Germany,' his daughter Jane Langes said. Hans Peter Langes Hans Peter Langes is pictured in Winnipeg in 1951. (Jane Langes) Still, he did not hesitate when asked to design the hut as a nod to his German heritage, she recalled. He remained equally steadfast when he presented his design for the earth-toned, rounded structure to the hut's planning committee, one that expected a more rainbow, candy-coated cottage. More Hans Christian Andersen and less Grimm. Still, his vision won out and construction began in 1967. The $18,000 price tag was mainly bankrolled by donations, city records say. The Witch's Hut Hans Peter Langes' original design for the Witch's Hut is shown in a 1967 rendering. (Jane Lange) Jane, then five years old, shared the committee's initial displeasure when her father took her and her siblings to see the finished cottage in 1970. 'I was furious. I looked at it, and I said, 'why is it round?' Because in my mind, I was wanting to see what I saw in storybooks, right? Kind of that swooped roof with the icing icicles hanging off,' she recalled. 'I was a critic.' The Witch's Hut The Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park is pictured on a summer day circa 1970. (City of Winnipeg Archives, Witch's Hut at Kildonan Park in summer, Item i04582) 'Hansel, stick out your finger, so I can feel if you are fat yet' The structure has had some improvements in the decades since. The cedar shake roof was replaced by the city in 2014. Archival photos show a particularly menacing former version of the witch – a wart-nosed sorceress atop a broomstick, suspended from the ceiling with a cat on her back. The Witch's Hut The Witch flies on her broomstick inside Kildonan Park's the Witch's Hut on Oct. 25, 1970. It was then called the Fairy Tale Cottage. (City of Winnipeg Archives) Zacharkiw tells me the original faux gingerbread cookies, which were a grayish brown to match the roof, were traded in for more colourful, more durable ones that could stand up to Winnipeg's notoriously wicked winters. 'They take quite the beating from the hale,' he said. The Witch's Hut The gingerbread embellished roof of the Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park on July 30 , 2025. (Katherine Dow) 'Gretel gave her a shove, causing her to fall in the oven' Meanwhile, there has been one constant at the hut over the last 19 years in its ever-devoted volunteer. After growing up blocks away from Kildonan Park, Zacharkiw went to work for the city in its arenas. The kids he saw every day, either inching shakily across the ice like Bambis on skates or zipping around with a hockey stick in hand, became the highlight. He then moved on to work at the very park where he spent his childhood, tending to the machinery and working as a foreman. He fell in love with the place, especially the Witch's Hut. 'I'm not a man of the world where I've seen lots of different things. From the building itself to the inside to the displays, - I like it all,' he said. The Witch's Hut The roof of the Witch's Hut peeks out above the shrubbery at Kildonan Park in Winnipeg, Man. on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) When it came time to retire, he worried there wouldn't be anyone around to care for the hut, so he volunteered to run it. Every May for the past 19 years, he has opened its doors. He's there seven days a week, unless it's raining, as he worries kids would slip on the split-log staircase. He closes up for the season in September. A caretaker through and through, Zacharkiw has painted the fading coloured glass windows on the roof, created new gingerbread ornaments to hang inside, and greeted the many families who come to visit. 'I'm a big kid fan,' he said. 'It's fun to watch them come in and see the Witch. I just enjoy the reaction and the interaction with the kids.' A bench outside bears his name – the city's recognition for his volunteer hours and dedication to the Witch's Hut. The Witch's Hut A bench dedicated to longtime volunteer Jim Zacharkiw sits outside the Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) 'Hansel we are saved' Over the years, the hut has played host to countless storybook hours, the Fairy Tales Festival, and plenty of photo shoots, as a favourite backdrop for shutterbugs, professional and aspiring. A 2015 estimate had over 1,000 people visiting the hut weekly during the summer months, the city report said. 'I used to bring Tal (Bachman) here when he was about two years of age. Every day we rode here on our bikes,' Randy Bachman said in a 2021 Instagram video taken inside the Witch's Hut. Standing next to him, son Tal takes the camera on a tour of the cottage, most of the figures covered by garbage bags as the facility was shut down at the time. 'I haven't been back since I was two or three years old. I still remember this place vividly,' Bachman said. 'Now all their cares were at an end, and they lived happily together' Back on that hot July day, Bobby and his grandkids make their way back down the staircase. Having had their fill of the spooky Witch, they set off to feed the ducks that swim in the stream outside. Zacharkiw waves goodbye to them, as more kids make their way inside, slightly hesitant to step into the story unfolding in front of them. 'It's been a bit smoky, so less busy, but they're starting to come now, which is good,' he said. 'It was built for kids but everyone loves coming.' The Witch's Hut The winding, split-wood staircase leading to the second floor of the Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park in Winnipeg, Man. on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) It's a sentiment echoed by scholar Donald Haase, Professor Greenhill tells me. 'Fairy tales are for everyone,' she said, paraphrasing him. 'We all make our own versions of fairy tales, sometimes from our recollections of fairy tales, and that is perfectly legitimate.' The Witch's Hut A terra cotta panel made by sculptor Elfriede Leopoldine Geier Berger shows the Witch visits a caged Hansel. The piece is on display at the Witch's Hut in Winnipeg's Kildonan Park on July 30, 2025. (Katherine Dow/CTV News Winnipeg) Despite her harsh initial criticism, Jane came to love her father's version of the Witch's Hut and the legacy it left behind. He passed away in 2008 of cancer. In his final days, he told Jane he would love her to recreate the design on a beach somewhere – her own summer abode. The Witch's Hut Jane Langes (centre) poses with friends at the Witch's Hut in Kildonan Park on Aug. 1, 2025. (Jane Langes) 'There are these edifices of my dad sort of sprinkled throughout the province that are still there, but the claim to fame is really the Witch's Hut,' she said. 'It's such a beautiful Winnipeg charm, and I think it brings a lot of happiness to a lot of people.' - With files from CTV's Kayla Rosen
Washington Post
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Stephen King to narrate 'Hansel and Gretel' audiobook with Maurice Sendak's illustrations
NEW YORK — The audio edition of an upcoming re-telling of the Grimm fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel,' which combines the renowned sensibilities of Stephen King 's words and the late Maurice Sendak 's illustrations, will be narrated by an author who knows the material well. Stephen King.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Stephen King to narrate 'Hansel and Gretel' audiobook with Maurice Sendak's illustrations
The audio edition of an upcoming re-telling of the Grimm fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel,' which combines the renowned sensibilities of Stephen King 's words and the late Maurice Sendak 's illustrations, will be narrated by an author who knows the material well. Stephen King. 'Stephen King's reading of 'Hansel and Gretel' is captivating and thrilling, bringing new depth to this classic tale,' Lynn Caponera, executive director of The Maurice Sendak Foundation, said in a statement Thursday. 'Everyone at HarperCollins and The Maurice Sendak Foundation shared the same dream and vision to have Stephen King narrate the audiobook," Nancy Inteli, vice president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, said in a statement. "Who wouldn't want Stephen King reading them a fairy tale?!' The audiobook comes out Sept. 2, the same day as the picture story. The new 'Hansel and Gretel' is based on Sendak's sketches for the 1997 Humperdinck opera about two children lost in a forest.
Associated Press
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Stephen King to narrate 'Hansel and Gretel' audiobook with Maurice Sendak's illustrations
NEW YORK (AP) — The audio edition of an upcoming re-telling of the Grimm fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel,' which combines the renowned sensibilities of Stephen King 's words and the late Maurice Sendak 's illustrations, will be narrated by an author who knows the material well. Stephen King. 'Stephen King's reading of 'Hansel and Gretel' is captivating and thrilling, bringing new depth to this classic tale,' Lynn Caponera, executive director of The Maurice Sendak Foundation, said in a statement Thursday. 'Everyone at HarperCollins and The Maurice Sendak Foundation shared the same dream and vision to have Stephen King narrate the audiobook,' Nancy Inteli, vice president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, said in a statement. 'Who wouldn't want Stephen King reading them a fairy tale?!' The audiobook comes out Sept. 2, the same day as the picture story. The new 'Hansel and Gretel' is based on Sendak's sketches for the 1997 Humperdinck opera about two children lost in a forest.
