This Tim Burton Fairy Tale Was So Weird Disney Channel Only Aired It Once

With the bright, jolly, and child-friendly image that Disney has crafted for itself, it’s easy to think that the network has always been like this. However, there was a time when Disney was experimenting with darker themes and stories. It was a time when the studio released creepy movies like Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Black Cauldron, which subverted expectations most people had with a typical Disney movie. Tim Burton had just begun his collaborations with Disney, and though he was yet to produce any of his original work, his potential was clear to the studio executives. So, in 1984, he finally got a chance to bring his vision to life with two short films — Vincent and Hansel and Gretel. The former received its share of praise and even popped up in various film festivals. Hansel and Gretel, however, was so surreal, creepy, and undeniably Burtonesque that it appeared only once before fading into obscurity.

Hansel and Gretel

This is Tim Burton’s Disney Channel Halloween film short that only aired twice. It combines live action and stop-motion, making for a creepy adventure into the woods.

Release Date

October 31, 1983

Cast

Michael Yama , Andy Lee , Alison Hong , Jim Ishida , David Koenigsberg , Vincent Price , Linda Gary

Runtime

45 Minutes

Main Genre

Fantasy

What Makes Tim Burton’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Different?

For the most part, Hansel and Gretel remains a faithful adaptation to the original Brother Grimm tale except for the parts where Burton decides to weave in his eccentric choices. The aesthetics of the film draws heavily from Japanese culture and even the actors are all Japanese, since, apparently, Burton was obsessed with Japan at the time. In this reiteration of the fairy tale, Hansel (Andy Lee) and Gretel’s (Alison Hong) dad (Jim Ishida) is a toy maker whose toys feel like a prototype for what would appear in Burton’s later work. Sadly, though, the toys aren’t selling very well, which has made the evil step-mother (Michael Yama), played by a cross-dressed man, very cranky.

When Hansel tries to touch one of these toys, his stepmother appears out of nowhere and straight up bites his hands, and yells at him to get back to work. She just wants to get rid of the kids, so one day she leads them deep into the woods and abandons them there. The kids eventually find the iconic Gingerbread house, which looks utterly abominable in this version. Still, the kids commence with eating everything they can and are invited inside by a witch (Michael Yama). The witch’s makeup is genuinely terrifying, and she has a candy cane for a nose, which only adds to the horror.

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Initially, the witch traps them, but the duo manages to slip out for a final showdown with her. But it’s not as straightforward as the fairytale — this witch knows kung-fu. She hurls throwing stars at the kids and whips out her candy cane nunchucks. In the end, though, she unwittingly dropkicks herself into the fire and the kids manage to escape on a toy swan that magically appears out of nowhere. They reunite with their dad, and he tells them that they don’t have to worry about their stepmother anymore, almost implying that their mother was the witch, which, frankly, makes the story a bit confusing. But the movie just leaves that thread untouched and up to the viewer’s imagination. The swan starts vomiting golden coins, and they presumably live happily ever after.

What Made Tim Burton’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Extremely Creepy?

As with most of his works, it’s obvious that Tim Burton wanted to do something different with Hansel and Gretel too. He brings his signature strange and unexpected elements into the film, and though there are times when they don’t work and feel somewhat incoherent, the film itself never gets dull for a moment. For instance, the hallmark of a Hansel and Gretel story in all the adaptations is the delectable gingerbread house that’s edible in its entirety, but in Burton’s version, the house looks like something out of a Cronenberg movie. Instead of chocolate, the house spills out colorful goo of pink and blue and doesn’t look like something you’re supposed to put in your mouth. Even the moments that are obviously meant to be endearing come off as creepy. There’s a scene where Hansel’s and Gretel’s dad tries to cheer the kids up after their stepmother tells them off. And he does this with the help of, arguably, the creepiest puppet ever to have been shown in a kid’s movie. Complete with wacky eyes, messy orange hair, and a creepy face, the puppet is the stuff of nightmares.

In another sequence, after the kids are kidnapped by the witch, Hansel has a really disturbing interaction with Dan Dan Gingerbread Man, who supposedly enjoys being eaten and yells at the little boy to eat him. He even sings Rod Stewart’s version of “Do You Think I’m Sexy,” substituting the lyrics with “if you think I’m tasty…” The scene has disturbing sexual undertones and would have been best left omitted. The witch is played by the same actor who plays the stepmother, and it’s not that strange since most fairy tales have a tradition of turning a childhood antagonist into a fantasy villain, like Miss Gulch turning into the Wicked Witch of the West or Mr. Darling turning into Captain Hook. And Burton follows this tradition by turning the evil stepmother into a wicked witch, but here, it gets a little confusing because after she dies, the stepmother disappears as well, making the audience wonder if they’re missing something.

Why Did Tim Burton’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Disappear For So Long?

The short film was initially released on Halloween night in 1983. The film premiered alongside Burton’s other short film, Vincent. And after airing for one evening, Burton’s Hansel and Gretel disappeared off the face of the earth. One can imagine the shock and self-doubt felt by its original viewers in later years, swearing to their friends and family that such a weird and creepy children’s short film was produced by Disney. The precise reason behind the film’s solitary airing isn’t exactly known, but thankfully, it was taped and rediscovered in 2009 after the New York Museum of Modern Art decided to premiere it. And now, it’s freely available on YouTube. Though the film is a far cry from the brilliance Tim Burton has shone with his subsequent work, the elements that would become associated with the auteur director are easily recognizable. Hansel and Gretel is definitely not Tim Burton’s swansong, but it does serve as a time capsule for his fans to go back, witness Burton’s early work, and marvel at how far he’s come as a creative individual.

Tim Burton’s Hansel and Gretel is available to watch on the Internet Archive.

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