_"a nexus of terrifying evil"_ is a bit of a reach. This is more of a dramatized suspenseful children's story. It's a decent film with some pretty nice cinematography but far from being _"a nexus of terrifying evil"_ (as the synopsis reads). I found it to be a cool twist on the classic children's tale, _Hansel & Gretel_ but it was exceedingly tame and uneventful overall. Probably a great introduction to scary movies for juveniles (I wouldn't advise allowing adolescents to watch it as the overall atmosphere could be enough to trigger nightmares) because you have the dark, ominous feeling without a ton of blood and/or violence (or language). Alice Krige was excellent, as always, and truly brought her character to life. And for his brief role, I have to give a tip of the hat to Donncha Crowley as "Master Stripp"; in just a very brief minute or two, he exuded the "creepy old lecher" that his part was meant to portray. Overall, the acting was good; it was hard to gauge it accurately as the story just didn't give that big a call for a lot of emotion or feeling. Much of it was, in fact, quite emotionless, almost robotic (as if to convey that weird _"Am I dreaming or is this really happening?"_ sensation). Definitely a good watch, especially if you're in the mood for something completely different. That is definitely one thing this film had going for it: It's different…and that can be refreshing at times.