In 1811 French-occupied Germany, brothers Wilhelm (Will) and Jakob (Jake) Grimm are famed monster-hunters with a strained relationship stemming from Jake’s naive selling of their family’s cow as a child in exchange for “magic beans” rather than selling it for money to pay for medicine for their sick sister (leading to her death). Arriving in Karlstadt, they are hired to rid the town of a witch’s ghost, which they “kill” in an elaborate battle. In actuality, the Grimms are con artists who exploit Jake’s knowledge of local legends; with actors Hidlick and Bunst, they fabricate monsters to defeat for a price.The Brothers Grimm 2005.
Celebrating at an inn, the brothers are captured by Italian torturer Cavaldi and brought to French General Delatombe. In exchange for amnesty for their crimes, Delatombe tasks the brothers to solve the disappearance of several girls in Marbaden, believing charlatans like them are responsible.In Marbaden, a huntress named Angelika whose younger sisters were the first to be taken following the disappearance of their father, leads the brothers, Cavaldi, and his men to a tower in the woods. She recalls her father’s story of the Thuringian Queen: Long ago, the Christian king of the region built a city in the forest, slaughtering the pagan locals; when the bubonic plague came, his vain queen sealed herself in the tower, only to catch the plague and lose her beauty. Jake’s horse is cursed by a mysterious huntsman, and brutally swallows a girl named Elsie whole when they return to town. Pursuing the horse into the forest, they are attacked by a giant wolf which seems to recognize Angelika and by the forest itself; Cavaldi’s men are killed. Cavaldi brings Angelika and the Grimms to Delatombe, who orders their execution. In desperation, the brothers convince Delatombe that the magic in the forest is actually German rebels.