After some very positive buzz stemming from test screenings just months ago, the first trailer for Hansel & Gretel: Vampire Hunters certainly had a lukewarm response with the January deathslot not exactly increasing confidence from more seasoned viewers. But with eyes having seen the rough final product still insisting the stateside debut of director Tommy Wirkola is worth seeing, perhaps it was just the debut trailer’s tone that felt off more than anything. Now, things get much more bloody and we actually get to see some grin-worthy wit as the red band trailer for the film starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton just hit.

The plot of the film deals with Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) 15 years after the traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house. Since then, the siblings have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches. Over the years, the siblings became expert hunters, famous for their proficiency at tracking and taking down their prey. Although still recovering from their ordeal, their work is relatively easy as for an unknown reason harmful spells and curses do not work well against them.

The Mayor of Augsburg recruits them to rid the town and nearby forests of an evil sorceress who is planning to sacrifice many local children at the witches’ gathering during the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ night in two days time. To make things worse, the duo also has to deal with the brutal Sheriff Berringer who has taken power in Augsburg and conducts a very indiscriminate witch-hunt of his own.

Co-starring Famke Janssen, Thomas Mann and more, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is set to hit theaters on January 11th, 2013.