Posted above is the first image from Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a flash forward of the classic fairy tale that finds the siblings hunting down supernatural forces for profit. EW scored the pic and an interview with star Gemma Arterton.

She says:

They resonate with your fears, that’s how these fairy tales worked. They scared you into behaving. This one in particular is about abandonment and being lost and parents leaving you. The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, really. What would Hansel and Gretel be in 15 years time?

We spent a lot of time thinking about that and behaving like brother and sister, making it detailed so it wasn’t just two actors kicking butt, really. That would get boring. In our minds, these are two people who grew up with no parents and they only have each other and the bond they have, and with the complexities of that, some resentment.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters costars Jeremy Renner as Hansel (pictured above) and Famke Janssen (X-Men), Zoe Bell (Death Proof) and Norwegian actress Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Cold Prey) as evil witches.

The film finds its way into theaters on March 2, 2012.

Rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie continues to dust off horror icons for his now-in-production rock-and-roll witchcraft frightener The Lords of Salem. Oft nude scream queen Barbara Crampton, best known for her roles in Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator and From Beyond, is the latest to join Zombie’s eclectic cast.

Says Zombie:

Salem re-animates! Barbara Crampton has joined the cast of THE LORDS OF SALEM as Virginia Cable, a camera operator for a local kid’s show at Salem Public Access TV called LOBSTER JOE’S FISHY FUN SHOW. She should be safe enough working there… or is she?

Joining Crampton in the project are old-schoolers Dee Wallace (The Howling), Meg Foster (They Live), Lisa Marie (Ed Wood), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead, 1978), Richard Lynch (The Sword and the Sorcerer), Billy Drago (Vamp), Bruce Dern (Silent Running), Ernest Thomas (”What’s Happening”) and Maria Conchita Alonso (The Running Man).

The Lords of Salem follows a 300-year-old coven of witches masquerading as a rock outfit to take over a small town. Oren Peli, Jason Blum, and Steven Schneider—the team behind Paranormal Activity and Insidious—will produce through their company Haunted Films.

Crampton, now 52, will also be seen next year in surprise Toronto International Film Festival darling You’re Next, a hardcore home invasion thriller starring Step Up 3’s Sharni Vinson that Lionsgate hopes to launch into a franchise.

Lara Flynn Boyle is set to star in director Duane Journey’s Black Forest: Hansel and Gretel & The 420 Witch, a stoner re-imagining of the classic Grimm brothers fairy tale. The 41-year-old stunner will play an evil witch who, after baiting teens into her house with some wicked pot, eats them to maintain her youthful appearance.

Joining Boyle in the project as siblings Hansel and Gretel are Twilight Saga star Michael Welch and 18-year-old “Castle” cutie Molly Quinn. The film, written by David Tillman (Vampire Survivor), will begin production on Nov. 12 in Los Angeles. Indies Dark Highway Films, KK&P, and Uptik Entertainment are all producing.

Boyle is best known for her roles as Donna Hayward on “Twin Peaks” and Serleena, a sexy shape-shifting alien queen, in Men in Black II. Other notable genre turns include MGM’s Poltergeist 3 (her horror debut at age 18), Tom Holland’s psycho-bitch thriller The Temp, and Lifetime’s small-screen adaptation of author Ann Rivers Siddons’ 1978 mystery novel The House Next Door.

Finally, some exciting news from Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem camp: Sheri Moon Zombie has joined the rock-and-roll witchcraft frightener. OK … so Zombie’s old lady scoring a role in her husband’s flick ain’t much of a surprise—it’s still a far more thrilling bit of casting than say Bruce Dern.

Bloody-Disgusting confirmed the casting this morning, but there’s no word on what role Sheri would be playing (but, the film does revolve around a “blonde rocker chick” who dj’s at a radio station.)

The Lords of Salem follows a 300-year-old coven of witches masquerading as a rock outfit to take over a small town. Oren Peli, Jason Blum, and Steven Schneider—the team behind Paranormal Activity and Insidious—will produce through their company Haunted Films.

Additional costars so far include Torsten Voges (the humorless giant German doc in Judd Apatow’s Funny People), Jeff Daniel Phillips (one half of the caveman pitching team for Geico Insurance), Meg Foster (They Live) and Ernest Thomas (Rog from “What’s Happening”).

The CW has released a handful of promo images and a trailer to get folks pumped for the new Kevin Williamson-produced tween-friendly witch series “The Secret Circle.” The series stars Brittany Robertson (”Life Unexpected”) as a California teen named Cassie who discovers she’s a witch when she moves in with her grandmother.

Peep it:

The show’s synopsis reads:

Cassie Blake was a happy, normal teenage girl – until her mother Amelia dies in what appears to be a tragic accidental fire. Orphaned and deeply saddened, Cassie moves in with her warm and loving grandmother Jane in the beautiful small town of Chance Harbor, Washington – the town her mother left so many years before – where the residents seem to know more about Cassie than she does about herself.

As Cassie gets to know her high school classmates, including sweet-natured Diana and her handsome boyfriend Adam, brooding loner Nick, mean-girl Faye and her sidekick Melissa, strange and frightening things begin to happen.

When her new friends explain that they are all descended from powerful witches, and they’ve been waiting for Cassie to join them and complete a new generation of the Secret Circle, Cassie refuses to believe them – until Adam shows her how to unlock her incredible magical powers. But it’s not until Cassie discovers a message from her mother in an old leather-bound book of spells hidden in her mother’s childhood bedroom, that she understands her true and dangerous destiny.

What Cassie and the others don’t yet know is that darker powers are at play, powers that might be linked to the adults in the town, including Diana’s father and Faye’s mother – and that Cassie’s mother’s death might not have been an accident.

The “Secret Circle” also stars Shelley Hennig as head witch Diana, Thomas Dekker (Nightmare On Elm Street) as Adam the eldest member of the coven, Natasha Henstridge as a former friend of Cassie’s mom, and Jessica Parker Kennedy (Now), Phoebe Tonkin (Bait 3-D), and Louis Hunter as members of the circle.

“The Secret Circle” is an adaptation of author L.J. Smith’s bestselling novel of the same name. Williamson, the creative force behind the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer films and the TV series “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries,” penned the pilot and serves as executive producer.

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Michelle Williams is set to stir things up as Glinda (The Good Witch of the North) in director Sam Raimi’s Wizard of Oz prequel Oz, the Great and Powerful. The 30-year-old stunner joins a cast that includes Mila Kunis as Theodora (Wicked Witch of the West), Rachel Weisz as Evanora (Wicked Witch of the East), and James Franco as the soon-to-be wizard.

Oz, the Great and Powerful tells the tale of how a lost snake oil salesman and illusionist (Franco) defeats evil witches Theodora (Kunis) and Evanora (Weisz) with the help of  their sister Gilda (Williams) to rule the land of Oz. The film goes into production in July and is slated for 2012 fall release.

Williams, who made her genre debut at age 15 as Young Sil in the 1995 sci-fi classic Species, received an Oscar nomination this year for her performance in the relationship drama Blue Valentine. Her horror creds include 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and the slightly better-reviewed 2010 Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island.

Syfy is getting the jump on director Tommy Wirkola’s big screen retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Hansel & Gretel fairy tale with their own upcoming Saturday night original Gretl, starring “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills 90210″ starlet Shannen Doherty in the titular role.

The film’s synopsis reads:

As an adult, a witch hunter returns to the village where he lived as a child to find and kill the witch who killed his sister, Gretl, only to find that Gretl is not dead and danger lurks around every corner.

Gretl is directed by Mario Azzopardi (”The Outer Limits”) and costars Paul McGillion (”Stargate: Atlantis”) as Hansel and genre babes Erica Cox (Repo! The Genetic Opera), Sarain Boylan (Saw IV), Marianthi Evans (Max Payne), and Nahanni Johnstone (Infested). Syfy will air the film in November.

Doherty’s genre creds include Satan’s School for Girls, in which she costarred with “Dexter” babe Julie Benz, the time travel drama Another Day, and the classic dark-comedy Heathers.

Pictured above is British actress Gemma Arterton in Braunschweig, Germany on the set of Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a flash forward of the classic fairy tale that finds the siblings hunting down supernatural forces for profit.

Arterton’s Gretel costume appears to have a hint of Underworld appeal, but I can’t give it the Clatto stamp-of-approval without seeing the backside. That will make or break this movie. I’d also like to see what villains Famke Janssen and Ingrid Bolso Berdal’s outfits look like.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters rolls camera on March 7. It’s expected to be in theaters in June 2012.

Actress Natasha Henstridge has joined writer/producer Kevin Williamson’s small-screen adaptation of author L.J. Smith’s witch-themed book series “Secret Circle.” The 36-year-old Canadian starlet will play Dawn Chamberlain, the vice principal of New Salem High School.

“Secret Circle” stars Brittany Robertson (”Life Unexpected”) as a California teen named Cassie who discovers she’s a witch while living with her mother in New Salem. Henstridge’s character is a former friend of Cassie’s mother and knows all about the 300-year-old coven of witches that rule the town.

Williamson, the creative force behind the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer films and the TV series “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries,” is penning the pilot for The CW and will serve as executive producer.

The show costars Shelley Hennig as head witch Diana, Thomas Dekker (Nightmare On Elm Street) as Adam the eldest member of the coven, and Jessica Parker Kennedy (Now), Phoebe Tonkin (Bait 3-D), and Louis Hunter as members of the circle.

Henstridge is best known for her portrayal of naked, tongue-kissing alien SIL in 1995’s Species. She reprised the role in 1998’s Species II and briefly in 2004’s Species III. Not surprisingly, she’s secured a spot on Clatto’s 11 Sexiest Maneater Babes in Horror and Sci-Fi.

Julianne Moore is tossing her pointy hat into the ring of actors gathering around director Sergei Bodrov’s Seventh Son. The still sexy 50-year-old actress will play Mother Malkin, an evil witch made powerful through her use of blood magic.

The film’s plot crunch reads:

Tom Ward, a young boy training to be an exorcist in the 1700’s, must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches, and bind boggarts. Trouble begins when he’s tricked into releasing the most evil witch in the world.

The Seventh Son is based on young-adult novelist Joseph Delaney’s “The Wardstone Chronicles,” the first volume in his book series “The Last Apprentice.” Moore is the second actor to be cast in the project. She joins Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, who will be playing exorcist Master Gregory (AKA: The Spook).

Horror fans will also get to see Moore in the Weinstein’s upcoming supernatural thriller Shelter and Killer Film’s vampire frightener Innocence. Her previous genre creds include the cougar/cub lesbian thriller Chloe and the dystopian dramas Blindness and Children of Men.