Why Gretel & Hansel is the scary movie kids will love – Looper

Of course, anyone who's read the original Brothers Grimm stories knows that many classic fairy tales are actually pretty gruesome on their own. In that sense, Gretel & Hansel stays true to its source material. Dark experiences are important to kids, Perkins says.

For one example, just look at Disneyland. "People think that Disneyland is supposed to be fun," Perkins says, recalling a talk he attended by one of Disney's original Imagineers. "And [the Imagineer] was like, 'Sure, of course it's supposed to be fun, but fun is not what we are trying to design. We're trying to design reassurance.'"

Perkins invokes another classic fairy tale (or at least the Disneyland version of it), Snow White, as an example. "Anybody who's been on Snow White as a kid knows how just like impossibly pitch dark it is in there. Sounds in the woods and the witch with the apple and all that stuff. You put a kid into that ride and it's horrible for them, and then they don't think they're going to make it," Perkins explains. But then, they do: "They come out into the Anaheim sun again, and their folks are with them, and everything's fine."

Gretel & Hansel works the same way. Fairy tales are inherently instructive, Perkins says, and offer scares and reassurance in equal measure. "Don't do this. Try not to do this. Don't stray off the path, don't talk to wolves. Look twice at this, don't trust people who build their houses out of candy, etc. And then ultimately, even if things are hard, you come out the other side and you're still okay." It's a good lesson for kids, and it's one of Gretel & Hansel's biggest themes.

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Why Gretel & Hansel is the scary movie kids will love - Looper