Director of Gretel & Hansel Osgood Perkins says he’s “really happy” about his film’s PG-13 rating…because he actually wants kids younger than 13 to see it. Although most of this year’s films meant for children, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Trolls World Tour, promise to be bright, upbeat films, the trailer for Gretel & Hansel suggests a grim, terrifying story. And that’s just how Perkins says he planned it to be.

Perkins is no stranger to horror. His father was Anthony Perkins, best known for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho. The first acting role for Osgood (sometimes credited as “Oz Perkins”) was the 12-year-old version of Norman Bates in Psycho 2. More recently, though, he has focused on directing, including the 2016 Netflix ghost story I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House. He says his latest horror film, which opens this weekend in the US, is meant for the whole family.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Perkins says a PG-13 rating is an accessible introduction to scary movies. “The power of the PG-13 rating for a picture like this is … kids want to peek behind the curtain. They want to see what’s dark around the corner,” he explains. He Perkins also related that feeling to his own childhood experience, saying:

Perkins also thinks that introducing horror films to kids is essential for development. He explained:

When I was a kid, I had a photograph, I cut out a photograph of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. I had it at the bottom of my toy chest. Nobody knew it was there except for me. Every once in a while, I would pull all the toys out just so I could see it and then put all the toys back.

The tagline for Gretel & Hansel is “A Grim Fairy Tale,” suggesting this film aims to be faithful to the original story from the Brothers Grimm. However, the trailer shows there are already several noticeable changes to the fairy tale. Instead of two children roughly the same age, Gretel is 16 years old while Hansel is around eight. And instead of luring both of the children to her house to eat them, the trailer for Gretel and Hansel suggests the witch is mostly interested in Hansel for lunch. Her goal for Gretel seems to be to convert her to witchcraft. By showing images of the occult and telling Gretel that she has the “power to see what is hidden and take it,” the trailer suggests a more complicated story of self-actualization for Gretel. 

I think that’s a powerful gift to give to a child, the quality of, it’s okay. It’s okay to be really freaked out sometimes, it’s okay. That builds resilience, emotional intelligence, all the good stuff. The PG-13 was always the goal, and I’m really happy that we got there.

Modern audiences may think fairy tales are simple, worry-free stories to tell children, but in actuality, most fairy tales have darker origins. In fact, the folklore collected for Grimms’ Fairy Tales were allegorical stories meant to spook the listener into better behavior. While some historians argue these kinds of fairy tales were never meant for children, using scary stories to introduce ideas about growing up, solving problems, and facing evil could be why fairy tales have endured so long. The chilling tone in Gretel & Hansel may have more to say to its audience than we’re expecting.

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  • Hansel and Gretel Release Date: 2020-01-31