Upcoming Film: Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel and the 420 Witch

Bits and pieces from Indies light up 'The 420 Witch': Duane Journey directing stoney take on Hansel and Gretel tale by Jeff Sneider at Variety:

With Paramount wrapping its Jeremy Renner starrer "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," three indie companies are prepping an alternate take on the Grimm brothers' classic fairy tale titled "Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel and the 420 Witch."

Duane Journey will direct from David Tillman's script, which concerns a witch living in Pasadena who lures teens into her house with a special blend of marijuana so she can eat them in order to maintain her youth.

"Twilight" thesp Michael Welch and "Castle" star Molly Quinn will play the endangered siblings, with Lara Flynn Boyle ("Men in Black II") as the sinister witch.

"'420 Witch' is not your average fairy-tale adaptation. It's a reinvention of the story with a dark edge that I think audiences will love," Hudson said.

Dark edged fairy tale retelling? Yep, that's new and cutting edge. (Snort.) But this one goes into production next month so it's an almost definite coming to you in the future unlike some of the other smaller projects we see. And I admit to liking Molly Quinn on Castle, so that could be interesting, too.

While I admit I wasn't overwhelmed with some of the Lily Collins' Snow White imagery, I think I prefer it to so many of these "How dark can we get?" trends right now. Yes, fairy tales are dark, but they are also usually hopeful. When the emphasis is on the bleak and scary, I wonder if we lose some of the magic, too? That said, Hansel and Gretel is one of the scariest fairy tales of all, so a horror interpretation is not far off the mark.