Most fairy tales contain some element of horror.

But the horror in this Korean revisionist fairy tale is that it takes way too long to get to its point.

Hansel & Gretel revolves around a yuppie, Eun-Soo (Cheon Jeong Myeong), whose car skids off the highway and lands in a forest.

There, he meets three unnervingly perfect kids and their parents in a candy-coloured house.

Their Norman Rockwell-hospitality teeters on overwhelming and soon, Eun-Soo finds the adults dead and there's no way to get out of the enchanted forest.

Director Yim Pil-Sung compensates for not resorting to the usual scare-and-awe trickery by belabouring the atmospheric build-up. We get the idea the kids are sinister, but really, after an hour of it, we're gasping for air and some semblance of plot movement. - TODAY/fa