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Hansel and Gretel, Not the Opera

Janos Gereben on January 15, 2013
Not <em>Hänsel und Gretel</em>
Not Hänsel und Gretel

If Abraham Lincoln can be presented as a vampire hunter in the movies, why not the Brothers Grimm tale going up against witches?

Vying with Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Iceland composer Atli Örvarsson has come up with the music for a new realization of the story about the lost (and found) brother and sister.

Atli (the last name in Icelandic is a patronymic or matronymic, not a family name) wrote the score for Tommy Wirkola's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, coming to theaters on Jan. 25.

The movie's plot is described as "a dark spin on the fairy tale, siblings Hansel and Gretel are a formidable team of bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world." The synopsis: "After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches ... their past."

Lest you start standing in line for the opening, note the disclosure: "Rating R for strong fantasy horror violence and gore, brief sexuality/nudity, and language."