For over 40 years, horror movies have thrilled audiences with tales of scary characters wielding chainsaws, wearing creepy masks, or sporting other frightening looks. Now, there’s a new twist with a horror movie featuring Winnie the Pooh called Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.
This movie turned the lovable bear and his friends into characters in a horror story, which caused quite a stir and got people talking. However, the film, which was made with just $50,000, didn’t really hit the mark in terms of quality. It was shown in many cinemas but only made $1.7 million, falling short of being a big success. The movie was criticized for not being well-made or particularly engaging, lacking in both scares and laughs.
The idea for this dark take on Winnie the Pooh came about when the character entered the public domain, meaning anyone could use Pooh in their creations without needing permission from Disney, who had owned the rights since 1966. The filmmaker, Rhys Frake-Waterfield, took advantage of this to make a horror movie featuring the bear, but it ended up being more of a low-budget, shock-value film than a well-crafted horror story.
‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2’ Review: This One Has a ‘Story,’ but Beneath the Slasher Violence Its Only Horror Is What It Does to IP https://t.co/WXg6bb5LuM pic.twitter.com/nvAdH5RaZn
— Flixmaven (@flixmaven) March 27, 2024
Despite this, there’s talk of a sequel, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, which reportedly has a bigger budget and tries to tell more of a story, including a bizarre plot about animal DNA and kidnapped children. However, it seems the sequel also struggles to deliver a compelling narrative or believable connection to the original Pooh stories.
Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the man behind these films, left his job to produce low-budget horror movies, creating a number of films with titles that sound straight out of a B-movie horror marathon. He’s now planning more films that give a horror twist to classic characters, suggesting a Poohniverse that could include twisted versions of Pinocchio, Bambi, and more.
While these plans might not scare movie-goers, they’re causing a stir among fans of the original, beloved characters. Source
