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"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" sorely wants a spot in the "so naughty it's good" category, by showing you what it would look like if Winnie-the-Pooh became a sadistic killer alongside his face-devouring friend, Piglet. This English production, making its way to 1,500 theaters in America this week, aims to take the piss out of one's childhood nostalgia, which is mirrored here by what happens to poor Christopher Robin ( Nikolai Leon )—he returns home from college to find out that his boyhood pals have become human-hating murderers. Before some flashy, forensic opening credits straight out of 2000s horror, they make their first kill. But for how shocking this may sound in getting one over on anyone offended by its concept, it's not the perverting of A.A. Milne's work that's any part of the problem. As a horror and a comedy, "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" has no rhythm with either, and it's too dim to be worthy of a curious look. Writer/director/editor Rhys Frake-Waterfield wants you to "turn your brain off," as the moviegoing adage goes, but that's hard to do when its poorly lit sequences constantly force you to squint to decipher its nighttime terror in 100 Acre Wood.  

The best joke is that you see Pooh's round ears and button-nose in ominous shots where Leatherface or Michael Myers are supposed to be, with red overalls and a rubbery mask that's frozen to a type of honey-suckling grin. Judging from the mildly amused reactions of other people in the theater, those reveals are the film's most consistent chuckles, and I agree. You never get tired of seeing Frake-Waterfield's version of Pooh and Piglet (portrayed by Craig David Dowsett and Chris Cordell , respectively) pitched as towering psychopaths, but the movie also makes you wish it tried harder.  

"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" struggles to be notable outside of its irreverent IP comic relief, despite simplifying itself. Take away the Pooh and Piglet stuff, and you have a ho-hum stalker thriller that treats its one-dimensional characters as punchlines for gory scenes its budget can't fully deliver on. In this case, five women ( Maria Taylor , Natasha Tosini , Natasha Rose Mills , Amber Doig-Thorne , and Danielle Ronald ) have gathered at a remote cabin near Pooh and Piglet's kingdom of sadism. Frake-Waterfield doesn't even humor us with much development or care for these women; we know that one of them, Maria Taylor's Maria, is traumatized by a man who stalks her back in the city, and this is her getaway. "Blood and Honey" then lumps her in with other easy targets for easier shocks: the women are as gullible as anyone deeply offended by this movie, and we're meant to laugh at each poor choice these characters make. 

A sentence I never thought I'd write: Pooh and Piglet proceed to terrorize these women, with a few other victims thrown in, sometimes in a way akin to ritual sacrifice. It only becomes uneasy when it becomes so obvious. It's a lot of women—many with black hair, curiously—experiencing head trauma. Oh, bother.  

Whether one finds this movie's promise giddy or gross, the terror scenes are much too drawn out, stuffed with extraneous beats that create dead air. There are many improvised-looking of scenes of stalking or screaming for help, in which everyone is stuck waiting for a greater storytelling vision to round out the joke. One scene that lacks self-awareness has Piglet walking in a shallow indoor pool, wielding a sledgehammer at his prey. A funny set-up, but the scene itself can barely move. The whole project has that baffling defect—how do you cut a premise like this down to the bone, with Pooh and Piglet more or less rampaging for 85 minutes, and make the movie so boring?  

By being finished and distributed, "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" will already be a win for some (and a sequel has been announced). Some will want to see what a blood-splattering Winnie-the-Pooh movie looks like, serviceable filmmaking be damned, and I get it. (We find Super Bowl commercials enticing in the same way, but maybe not at feature length.) But if witnessed at all, Frake-Waterfield's film is the kind of dismal curiosity best experienced with a friend, to be briefly amused, or to commiserate with. Preferably if they're paying for it.  

Now playing in theaters. 

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

Nikolai Leon as Christopher Robin

Craig David Dowsett as Pooh Bear

Chris Cordell as Piglet

Amber Doig-Thorne as Alice

Natasha Tosini as Lara

Maria Taylor as Maria

May Kelly as Tina

• Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Writer (characters from the book by)

Cinematographer.

• Vince Knight
• Andrew Scott Bell

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 Review

It’s better than the first, but that’s not saying much..

Pooh and the gang take another crack at the horror genre in Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, a slasher sequel to last year’s critically panned yet surprisingly lucrative public domain slasher . The monster makeup has improved, and the production values have been upped – both likely results of an increased budget – but the film can’t shake problems that bleed over from its inferior predecessor. The digital effects still lack polish, and it takes itself way too seriously for a B-movie about the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood going on a killing spree. Then there’s the biggest bother of them all: For all of its amusing ambitions and plans for a full cinematic universe of ruined, copyright-free childhood memories , Blood and Honey 2 is still a clunky execution of a provocative premise.

Blood and Honey 2 heightens the stakes by introducing a feathery ringleader in Owl (Marcus Massey) and the razor-clawed berzerker known as Tigger (Lewis Santer). More of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard’s legacy characters join in on the slaughtering, and they’re better outfitted compared to the janky rubber masks their pals wore last time. The villains now look more like human-animal hybrids: Winnie-the-Pooh (Ryan Oliva) resembles a yellow-skinned, pot-bellied Slenderman, while plump little Piglet (Eddy MacKenzie) could be a match for John Leguizamo in the Spawn movie . The costume fittings and makeup applications are nowhere near as atrocious this time around, with Owl looking like a distant cousin to Power Rangers adversary Ivan Ooze. And I say that with love.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2

Keying into the sadness that might come from being shunned for telling wild stories about rampaging, honey-loving beasts, Scott Chambers delivers one of the better performances in Blood and Honey 2. Replacing original Christopher Robin actor Nikolai Leon, Chambers embodies Christopher’s boyish nature and brings a sensitive stability to a character who can’t escape the judging eyes of his skeptical neighbors. Without Pooh or Piglet in custody, the people of Ashdown have no reason to believe his seemingly far-fetched account of what went down in those woods. Screenwriter Matt Leslie could have Christopher claim “I told ya so” when Pooh and company resurface, but he goes in the opposite direction, which serves Chambers’ soft and sorrowful portrayal of a protective big brother and son.

The sequel's slasher hilarity is cranked a couple notches higher, reportedly inspired by the reigning king of 2020s splatter, Terrifier 2 . That means the body count easily doubles, if not triples, thanks in no small part to a salacious, neon-bathed warehouse rave that’s violently interrupted by Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. Credited gore designer Shaune Harrison displays a thousand ways to die as scantily clad partiers meet supremely messy fates that include decapitation, dismemberment, oven-roasting, and eyeball consumption. There’s a disturbingly playful anticipation when it comes to Blood and Honey 2’s death scenes, which keep pushing to be anything but generic slasher kills. Winnie-the-Pooh wields an electric drill and a flaming chainsaw while Tigger sashimis flesh with his claws – and let’s not forget Owl’s acidic upchuck attack.

That said, Terrifier 2 need not worry about losing its crown of entrails. Blood and Honey 2 leans too frequently on unfortunate digital touch-ups when more blood splatter is needed – or, in one egregious instance, hands reaching out of a tunnel entrance. The expert craftsmanship on display is squandered whenever animation creeps into the shot: SFX supervisor Paula Anne Booker manages some spectacular slasher effects but also delivers unforgivable digital flames and pixelated red mists that would feel more at home in Half-Life 2 . It doesn’t help that Vince Knight’s cinematography regresses to the previous film’s dependence on shaky-cam. The picture quality here is undoubtedly crisper (and a powerful indication of the increased budget) when steady, but Knight can’t stop himself from jostling the frame at the worst times, which takes the luster out of certain effects.

Leslie’s scattershot screenplay is littered with breadcrumbs for crossovers to come, but that information feels too cumbersome for a sequel so desperate to inflate Pooh’s kill statistics. It veers oddly close to Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy's adaptation: Christopher’s hypnotherapy-aided search for his brother’s kidnapper; some silly, exhaustingly predictable background on the Hundred Acre Wood and its inhabitants. (It’s like a second, retconned origin story.) The events of Blood and Honey are even made into an in-universe movie as a metatextual joke (think Scream 3 or New Nightmare ), but there’s just not enough room to follow through on that tantalizing tease – or, for that matter, any of Blood and Honey 2’s other lofty aspirations.

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The B-movie absurdity of Pooh’s slayings never tonally matches the movie’s stuffy emotional subplots. Tallulah Evans’ compassionate Lexy can read as forgettably ancillary despite her closeness to Christopher – and she doesn’t really get a chance to reverse this because Blood and Honey 2 knows you’re here for the gruesome kills, and that’s where the priorities of Leslie’s plot lie. The body count overrides precise storytelling details, which spoils any character development not involving Pooh’s animalistic reapers or Christopher.

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Frake-Waterfield desperately wants his Bloody and Honey sequel to be received with the same enthusiasm as Terrifier 2. I’ve seen Terrifier 2. I reviewed Terrifier 2 . Terrifier 2 slathered me in some of the most creative and psychotic horror-movie brutalities of the 21st century. Blood and Honey 2, you’re no Terrifier 2. Christopher Robin is no stand-in for Lauren LaVera’s instantly adored final girl Sienna Shaw, and Ryan Oliva’s presence under Pooh’s getup doesn’t equal David Howard Thornton’s gobsmacking charisma as Art the Clown. The now-vocal Owl, Piglet, and Tigger should’ve followed the example of Terrifier’s mute mutilator: There’s a limited range of morbid creativity in Tigger calling his targets “bitch” over and over. For every exciting blast of minty freshness like Winnie-the-Pooh’s bearish surge forward on all fours, there’s a weaker counterbalance to follow. The sequel reigns supreme, but let’s remember: Anything’s an upgrade compared to the first Blood and Honey.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 doubles down on a smorgasbord of satisfying slasher kills, employing some gumption and gnarliness in pursuit of a sick, twisted, and self-aware horror curveball. Rhys Frake-Waterfield's sequel looks infinitely better – and with ten times the budget, it ought to – but that doesn’t excuse the many flaws it inherited from the first Hundred Acre horror flick. Blood and Honey 2 is a story that craves substance beyond Winnie-the-Pooh decapitating ravers. It boasts a nastier midnight-movie appeal, radical practical effects, and a brisk 90-minute runtime. It’s a shaky first step for Frake-Waterfield’s proposed “Poohniverse” concept – but it’s a step in the right direction.

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey gets three things right past its clickbait premise

It’s mostly a viral provocation with no substance, but it sure brings the blood and honey

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Make no mistake, the virally infamous provocation Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is a dreary, dispiriting movie. It’s meant as a sort of cheeky, transgressively gruesome sequel to A.A. Milne’s classic 1920s children’s books Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner — stories inspired by Milne’s own young son, Christopher Robin Milne, and his beloved stuffed animals. Since the 1960s, those stories have been kept in the public eye by Walt Disney Animation’s animated adaptations and extensions, which mine gentle adventures out of the interactions between a chubby, hapless teddy bear and his friends.

Blood and Honey was made possible in 2022, when Milne’s copyright on Pooh expired, and writer-director Rhys Frake-Waterfield saw an opportunity for a clickbait-worthy horror twist on the character. (Disney’s copyright over its own version of Milne’s characters remains in effect.) In the horror-movie version, Pooh and his timid friend Piglet are all grown up and have become serial killers. That’s pretty much the entire movie right there: a couple of goons in grotesque Pooh and Piglet masks, silently hacking their way through a bunch of all-but-anonymous victims. There’s barely any framing or narrative; it’s just a series of repetitive murders, mostly spaced out with scenes of Pooh lurking in the woods or stalking victims.

Blood and Honey does have a few things going for it, for viewers in love with practical-effects gore and classic exploitation cinema. It isn’t an innovative movie or a particularly surprising one, but it does a few things well:

• Screaming. For people who are into horror less for storytelling tension or a sense of real threat, and more because they really enjoy watching gnarly levels of human suffering, Blood and Honey has plenty of that. The acting is often stiff and the script is repetitive, but the cast uniformly pulls off screams of agony and terror convincingly as Pooh and Piglet are menacing, torturing, or killing them. There is a lot of screaming, wailing, pleading, and begging in this movie.
• Gore. Given the movie’s micro budget, it’s no surprise that it leans on practical effects for its head-smashing, throat-slitting, face-rending violence. There’s nothing here horror mavens have never seen before, but there are sure enough close-ups of splitting skulls and dripping brains to give exploitation fans a thrill.
• Grotesquerie. Frake-Waterfield leans hard into the “honey” part of Blood and Honey , with Pooh repeatedly taking breaks from the slaughter to cover his inexpressive face in dripping, sticky slime, which he sometimes drizzles over his victims as well. The whole film has a distinctively raw “ Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974” vibe, from Pooh’s woodsy cabin filled with antlers and bones to his Leatherface-style silent, bulky menace to the focus on the grotesque. There’s plenty of stomach-churning extreme imagery designed to repulse and shock the audience, and it is effectively unsettling.

But all of that is still pretty thin grist for a movie that never gives its killers any reason to exist, or its audience any reason to root for the victims. Early in the movie, a now-grown Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) and his wife, Mary (Paula Coiz), head to the Hundred Acre Wood to reunite with the childhood pals he abandoned, and find only horror. From there on, the movie supplies Pooh and Piglet with fresh, shrieking meat at mechanical intervals.

The pacing is leaden, the visuals are murky, and there’s pretty much no reason to care about anyone on the screen, except to idly wonder how they’re going to die, and what their innards will look like when they do. The only real tension in the movie comes from a flashback, as lead victim Maria (Maria Taylor) describes a series of escalating encounters with a stalker, and for once, the audience doesn’t know exactly what’s about to happen.

But as an exploitation film built around turning beloved childhood figures into terrifying monsters, Blood and Honey is missing a lot of the core elements it needed most:

• Recognition. There’s no sense that the filmmakers behind Blood and Honey have ever read a Winnie-the-Pooh story, or have any idea what goes into one. There’s no sense of nostalgia, parody, satire, or even basic recognition humor here. Apart from Pooh and Piglet, all the other Hundred Acre Wood residents are missing in action. (A background memorial — seemingly scrawled in blood on a slat of plywood — reads “Eeyore RIP.”) Pooh and Piglet are generic baddies instead of specific ones, apart from Pooh making it clear that he resents Christopher Robin abandoning his old playmates after childhood. There’s virtually nothing meaningful to tie these characters to their past — or to the audience memories this film is supposed to be skewering.
• Dialogue. Frake-Waterfield may be avoiding having his characters talk because the voices of Disney’s Pooh characters are so iconic and memorable, and he can’t use them. Or maybe he thinks muteness just makes them more opaque and alien. But it leaves them without any sense of personality or specificity. They could literally be Leatherface fans in weird masks. Apart from brief Christopher Robin flashbacks, there’s nothing in this movie to distinguish the villains from any backwoods horror-movie psychopaths carving up intruders.
• Humor. C’mon, the idea of figures as cuddly and bumbling as Pooh and Piglet turning into slaughter-monsters is inherently a bit hilarious. And even the most po-faced horror movies usually use at least a little humor to reset the tension between dramatic sequences. But Blood and Honey is so straight-faced and unrelievedly grim that the audience is inevitably being set up to laugh at it instead of with it. Particularly during clunky moments like the one where a group of women find the words “GET OUT” scrawled in blood on the windows of their rental cabin. When one of them squeals in fear that there’s a lurking figure outside, another responds, “Whoever it is probably wrote that!”
• Any sense of purpose. The idea that innocent childhood daydreams inevitably become darker over time is a pretty poignant one. So is the idea that kids’ fantasies have weight and meaning that outlasts childhood. (Look at how much emotional mileage Pixar’s Inside Out gets with its imaginary friend Bing-Bong.) Even the vague resonance between Maria’s stalker and Christopher Robin’s murder-happy friends hints at a bigger story about the distressing feeling of other people feeling entitled to more out of you than you’re willing to or capable of giving them.

There’s no theme to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , no bigger idea at work, and barely even a story. There’s nothing in it you can’t get from a trailer or the poster, except the screaming and the blood — and for ’70s exploitation fans, a sequence where a woman improbably gets her shirt ripped off in a fight, so she goes to her bloody death topless.

Blood and Honey ends with another old-school touch: A title card reading WINNIE THE POOH WILL RETURN. Before that, though, Frake-Waterfield is focused on creating a whole “childhood-horror universe” focused on other public-domain classics that got Disney adaptations. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare and Bambi: The Reckoning are already in the planning stages. That prospect is scarier than anything that actually happens in this movie.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey runs in theaters as a limited special event from Feb. 15-21, with a streaming release to follow.

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 Review | It's Actually Good

• Embracing meta direction and clever twists keeps this sequel fresh and surprisingly enjoyable.
• Well-done prosthetics, pacing, and gore make for a satisfying horror experience.
• Despite being a bit mean and sacrilegious to Milne's memory, and having some weak internal logic, the film offers a raw love letter to over-the-top horror fans.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was trendy but abysmal. Yet somehow, writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield managed to garner the cash with their Jagged Edge Productions for a sequel. The filmmaker reportedly listened to the niche audience who balked at the low-budget horror film that pooed upon A.A. Milne’s classic IP. His “Come to Jesus” moment lured in co-screenwriter Matt Leslie ( Summer of ’ 84 ) and the duo pretty much reinvented everything for Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 . The story is plausible if not better, and the horror and gore recall the gritty, one-note, blood-soaked horror escapades from the 1970s and ’80s, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and Theater of Blood .

The film adds a few villains into the mix. Owl, Piglet, and Tigger join Pooh in his rampage to strike back at the town of Ashdown, particularly its teenagers and, of course, Christopher Robin, who is now played by producer Scott Chambers. The kill count is high — more than 50. We lost track. Decapitations are a big thing here, too, thanks to a large bear trap. Severed limbs ripped right off the body? Well, of course. Bloody, grisly, and sometimes look-the-other-way disgusting, the film is a love letter to horror fans who like their horror raw, rowdy, and ridiculously over-the-top. That the new concepts employed here are often effective may be the most frightening thing about Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2.

This Teddy Bear is Ticked

Winnie the pooh: blood and honey 2.

Release Date March 26, 2024

Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Cast Eddy MacKenzie, Ryan Oliva, Tallulah Evans, Scott Chambers, Simon Callow

Rating Not Rated

Runtime 100 Minutes

Genres Thriller, Horror

Writers Matt Leslie, Rhys Frake-Waterfield, A.A. Milne

Studio(s) Jagged Edge Productions

Distributor(s) ITN Distribution

• Going in a meta direction is surprising and clever.
• The prosthetics are well done and the gore and kills are good and well-paced.
• It still feels cheap and a little mean and disrespectful.

Why is it frightening? Because there’s more to come. And that raises questions. Like A.I. and horny Tribbles before them, Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Chambers are overpopulating. The duo is expanding their Poohniverse. Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble , part of the filmmakers' Twisted Childhood Universe, is already on the table. Bambi: The Reckoning will eventually leap into theaters, as will Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare. Get this: Tinkerbell’s pixie dust in heroin. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 is confirmed. Who’s next? Cinderella? Yes. Cinderella’s Revenge is due out April 26 , with another filmmaker attached.

Related: Goriest Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked

True, the new films in the Poohniverse may wind up being enjoyable. But if films are intended to entertain and provoke thought and discussion, we would be remiss not to point out, or at least explore, the deeper meaning behind the recent uptick of taking classic IP, particularly beloved children’s stories, and twisting a knife in them until all the blood spills out. A psychologist would have a field day dissecting these creative inclinations. Come to think of it: Sydney Sweeney would be great for that role in that kind of movie. (You read it here first.)

Don't worry, there’s a film review in here somewhere. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 tracks Christopher Robin (Chambers) one year after the events of the original film. The big twist? That film was actually a movie within this story. Good move. It gives this film a fresh start, which explains all the monster makeovers employed in this sequel. Sure, Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger all still look like humans wearing animal suits, but it all makes sense now, and to share more about that would reveal a major spoiler, and it’s best for audiences to experience that on their own.

The filmmakers have effectively presented a more plausible tale and, to their credit, manage to make good use of their new narrative by bookending most of the gross horror on either side of a mid-section that, surprisingly, makes sense. At least in this horror universe.

Pacing Out the Thrills

The town of Ashdown is featured more in this sequel, as is the 100 Acre Wood, which gives the story a better sense of time and place. Grisly events happened a year ago and with the “movie” revealing such horrific events in the woods, Christopher Robin has become an outcast. There is a central mystery related to Christopher’s past in Blood and Honey 2, which he attempts to unearth in therapy. Girlfriend Lexy (Tallulah Evans) is supportive, as is Christopher’s family, although younger sister Bunny (Thea Evans) has taken to creating a bear voodoo doll. Ouch. And… Bunny ? Does this mean she may become “Rabbit” in the Poohniverse? Stay tuned.

Exclusive: Blood and Honey 2 Actor Lewis Santer Says 'People Are Dying Left, Right, and Center' in Sequel

Onto the gore. Pooh and Owl have at it early on — dismembering, beheading, and all that. Horror fans will delight in it all. Other scenes, particularly the festive rave in a warehouse, gives Pooh and Tigger a great way to feed off the town’s teenagers. We’re never really all that sure why Pooh wants to get rid of these young people, and a gaggle of others. If the Terrifying Teddy’s main angst revolves around Christopher, then why not just go after him and his loved ones?

Best not to think about that. However, Pooh does, in fact, eventually go after Lexy — while she’s babysitting, no less. (Would we have it any other way?) And his family. By this point, the film has entered its third act and Christopher Robin has uncovered a sobering truth, one that sends him spinning to a final confrontation with Pooh.

And All That Gore

Frake-Waterfield does an apt job with the gore, overall. Bodies are dissembled and killed with such, ahem, panache. The new monster prosthetics are more believable. The film mostly takes place at night over several days, which must have trimmed the modest budget. There are moments of suspense, but the film loves setting up bloodbaths to splash around in.

Frake-Waterfield also lifts from classic horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th — the kid Lexy is babysitting, in fact, is wearing a Jason mask and toting around a fake machete. Overall, there’s a quasi-in-your-face/finger flip-off to the filmmakers’ critics, too. Perhaps he’s saying: “I’m going all out, and I’ll huff, and pluck, and f*** with this genre anyway I want.” (Oh my — The Wolf in The Three Little Pigs. Yet another idea.)

One final note: Fellas, it’s one thing to take a beloved children’s classic, one which inspired generations of kids, and play around with the IP. But when, during one character’s “Google” search, you change the search engine to read Milne, well, that’s a stab in the heart. Milne would, pardon the phrase, pooh-pooh this Poohniverse. That said, this film still works, and it's a sickly-sweet homage to horror fans near and far. But be forewarned: stick your hands in this honey pot, and you’re bound to want more.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 is playing in select theaters ( you can find screenings here ) and will be available to stream in the coming months. Watch this space for updates. Dive into the trailer below:

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‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ Review: Willy-Nilly Killy Old Bear

A childhood favorite gets a threadbare horror treatment.

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By Kyle Turner

He’s ruthless and occasionally machete-wielding like Jason Voorhees. He’s seen surrounded by bees like Candyman. And he’s got an appetite for, as the subtitle suggests, blood and honey. This isn’t your grandparents’ Winnie the Pooh. In 2022, the A.A. Milne-created character rumbled and tumbled into the public domain . Now, with this horror take on the beloved bear, the British filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield has taken it upon himself to see how much mileage he can get out of a gimmick. As it turns out, it’s not much.

Pooh Bear and his pals in the Hundred Acre Wood have been mutated from the cuddly animals of childhood imagination into grotesque and cannibalistic monsters. When Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) abandons the creatures to go to college, their resentment toward him curdles into bloodlust, and Pooh and Piglet decide to terrorize a group of five nearly identical-looking and underwritten young women (led by Maria Taylor) vacationing in a rental home nearby. From there, the film limps from one slasher cliché to the next, with little gusto.

It’s rather disappointing that Frake-Waterfield’s movie is so threadbare. Though it is intermittently handsomely assembled, displaying the director’s eye for composition, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” barely exploits its premise. It’s not funny enough to have anything clever to say about its gag, and it’s not exciting enough to be a competent horror movie. It hardly leans on the easiest component that should make the film: that the misdeeds of our youth can just as easily come back to haunt us.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. In theaters.

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Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey 2 review: the bear necessities for a good time

The dis-ploitation slasher series returns with a good gimmick, a twisted sense of humor, and a healthy dose of irreverence.

If the original Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey , as the exact same movie, had been made in Italy during the ‘70s, it’s just the sort of film Quentin Tarantino would be hailing as a lost masterpiece today. Frankly, it’s been hilarious watching fellow Gen-X critics, who grew up in the heyday of slasher sequels on VHS, rushing to turn their noses down at this ultra-low-budget gorefest with a gimmick. With time, all horror becomes respectable and Scream Factory deluxe blu-ray worthy, and we’re not talking about Dracula , Frankenstein , or The Exorcist , based on popular novels and acclaimed right out the gate.

Let’s instead talk Saw , initially derided by self-appointed intellectual betters as torture porn for psychopaths, and only 20 years later scoring its first Rotten Tomatoes “fresh” rating for its 10th installment. Look at Eli Roth, condemned as a misanthrope for the Hostel movies and now making family films like The House With A Clock In Its Walls . Troma films, once considered the bottom of the barrel by critical consensus, gave us James Gunn. The Friday The 13 th flicks were always exploitative schlock, but because Jason Voorhees has an iconic look we forgive them now. How, exactly, do you shock outside the bounds of acceptability with parents who grew up on all that?

The answer, clearly, is that you punch hard in the childhood. Even the most belligerent cynic who grew up on Winnie the Pooh has a soft spot for him; director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s goal is to find that spot and kick it with a steel-toed boot. Slasher movies were never meant to be safe for parents, but cheap thrills to entertain adolescents who love seeing things they think they aren’t supposed to. Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey 2 is all that, and everything the grindhouse cult classics that horror fans now revere used to be. As the T-shirt used to say, if it’s too loud, you’re too old. This is cinema at its most punk rock—a raucous, unpolished, cheap, sacred-cow shredding middle finger to the mainstream with just enough raw talent inside to keep it from being dismissable.

It’s true that some punk rock has more to say than just shock, and this isn’t necessarily that brand, but let’s not pretend the movie represents some failure of the system. Slasher exploitation with a good gimmick has always worked, and always will, as long as we keep producing more teens, and some adults who never grow up. (Point your accusatory finger this way, if you wish.)

The original Blood And Honey posited that the familiar childhood friends of Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon, now recast with Scott Chambers in the role) were actually demonic human-animal monstrosities, now fully grown since being abandoned by their childhood friend, and on a murder spree to lure him back. In part two he has escaped the creatures’ clutches, but half the town believes he actually committed their murders, while the other half still searches the woods to see if there be monsters. Meanwhile, hypno-therapy may reveal what Christopher’s subconscious is covering up about his supposedly happy childhood, and the creatures—Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Owl—who looks more like a vulture, but never mind—are getting hungrier.

All a movie like this really needs to do is deliver gory kills. It helps if there’s a twisted sense of humor involved (lumberjack bear-man with a flaming chainsaw—check!), and an insane backstory never hurts. Add to this a little creativity in terms of lighting and staging, plus actors who don’t suck—the gifted yet indiscriminate Simon Callow, costar of Amadeus and Street Fighter , is aboard as a narrator and a key character—and you have a slasher that’s exactly the junk-food high it’s supposed to be. Sure, some of the kills are obscured by darkness and quick cuts, as Frake-Waterfield implies even more deaths than he has the money to show. (Judicious use of animation fills in some other evident budget holes.) Enough of the gross-outs are clear, however, for the makeup and gushing squibs (and Master Of The Flying Guillotine references) to satisfy a reasonable viewer’s blood-thirst.

Frake-Waterfield has a gimmick here he’s obviously content to ride while it lasts, teasing horror versions of Pinocchio, Bambi, and Peter Pan in a shared universe over the end credits, and it’s easy to see how that could become tiresome eventually. However, his use of color and shadow, along with his ability to draw natural performances from a mostly unknown cast (and a spot-on Scottish accent from Callow) suggests he could do more given the chance. If he does get that next-level offer, one hopes both that he runs with it and that some next-generation scrapper will call him a sellout and devise something equally assaultive in response. Every generation needs its disreputable schlocketeers, and if they rise to bigger opportunities, we all win. Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey 2 should relish the boos, and eschew positive notices, as all punk ought. It gets a qualified thumbs up here, anyway.

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey

2023, Horror, 1h 40m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Oh, bother. Read critic reviews

Audience Says

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has its moments, but they aren't enough to make up for the weak plot, uneven acting, and general lack of real horror or humor. Read audience reviews

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The days of adventures and merriment have come to an end, as Christopher Robin, now a young man, has left Winnie-The-Pooh and Piglet to fend for themselves. As time passes, feeling angry and abandoned, the two become feral. After getting a taste for blood, Winnie-The-Pooh and Piglet set off to find a new source of food. It's not long before their bloody rampage begins.

Genre: Horror

Original Language: English

Director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Producer: Rhys Frake-Waterfield , Scott Jeffrey

Writer: Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Release Date (Theaters): Feb 15, 2023  limited

Box Office (Gross USA): $1.6M

Runtime: 1h 40m

Distributor: Fathom Events

Production Co: Jagged Edge Productions

Cast & Crew

Craig David Dowsett

Chris Cordell

Amber Doig-Thorne

Natasha Tosini

Richard D Myers

Simon Ellis

Maria Taylor

Nikolai Leon

Christopher Robin

Natasha Rose Mills

Rhys Frake-Waterfield

Screenwriter

Scott Jeffrey

Stuart Alson

Executive Producer

Nicole Holland

Vince Knight

Cinematographer

Andrew Scott Bell

Original Music

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REVIEW: Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 Delivers the Gore, but Can’t Nail Its Landing

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 is an ambitious and bloody horror flick, but its overstuffed narrative hinders the movie's overall enjoyability.

This decade, the face of horror started to slowly change when several classic children’s properties, including Winnie-the-Pooh, entered the public domain. In 2023, indie filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield released Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , a mindless slasher that won the Razzie Award for Worst Picture. Now, Frake-Waterfield is back with a sequel that's been paraded around as the first movie's “good” version, even if it tries way too hard.

For what it's worth, the sequel is an addmitted improvement over the first, no thanks in part to its significantly higher budget. However, while it was extremely schlocky, the first film was so silly that it was weirdly endearing. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, on the other hand, doesn't lean into its inherent camp as much as it should, resulting in an awkward and humorless romp where the bloodshed occurs so often it becomes redundant.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 Had a Promising Start

Winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey 2 used up all of its best ideas for the first act, review: ghostbusters: frozen empire's pacing and writing hinder its potential.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 exists in a world where the first film is a movie that was based on true events. An animated prologue explains how Christopher Robin (Scott Chambers) was involved in a series of murders that he blamed on Pooh (Ryan Oliva), but many did not believe him. In the present, Christopher is a doctor who has overcome his childhood trauma and enjoys his life with his close-knit family and his girlfriend Lexy (Tallulah Evans). However, Christopher was indeed correct about the murderous animal-human hybrids in the Hundred Acre Wood, and they are nowon the hunt for the citizens of Ashdown.

The sequel's first 25 minutes are chock-full of potential. The opening features a gruesome trio of grisly murders, teasing that it will deliver a gleefully fun foray into brutality. There is also potential for interesting metaphors and themes about gentrification. Case in point, the sequel opens with three hunters searching for the murderous Woodland Creatures. The movie missed an opportunity to explore an all-out war between the townspeople and the mutant animals, which would have further evolved the potential for conflict within the planned multiverse of films.

The plot initially appears to be about the humans who live around the Hundred Acre Wood wanting to wipe out the Woodland Creatures, making their murderous rampage an act of self-defense. However, this engaging plot point is abandoned early on, and is exchanged for a confusing storyline about genetic engineering involving the blending of human and animal DNA. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2's actual story is too convoluted and predictable to ever feel effective.

Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 Took Itself Too Seriously

Winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey 2 didn't focus on its strengths, why horror movies should embrace crossovers.

The reason to watch the Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey movies, which are now part of a cinematic universe dubbed the TCU (Twisted Childhood Universe), is to enjoy ridiculous and campy horror. One thing the sequel occasionally gets right is the gore. A particular kill that stood out came towards the end, where Winnie slowly decapitated a victim trying to flee with a bear trap on a chain. But while the sequel is gory, its deaths, which are fairly effective at first, become repetitive.

Most of the violence lost its shock after a while. Winnie-the-Pooh physically ripped off so many women's heads throughout that it became routine. Some deaths are memorable, like one where the victim was beaten with their own severed arm, but the rest were too mean-spirited to enjoy. Many female characters are introduced briefly just to get violently and cruelly killed. Since these characters never got any development, it's difficult to care when one of them was picked off. It felt as if Frake-Waterfield's goal was to have Winnie-the-Pooh and friends murder as many women on screen as possible.

There is one scene featuring a man being killed after a shower, which feels like a modern update to a tired trope involving women in horror , but the ratio of male-to-female deaths is uneven. A massacre at a rave near the end gives room for several female characters to shine, but instead, they serve no purpose other than to increase the body count. If the characters meeting a grisly demise were written to be unlikable, it would be easier to enjoy the carnage. However, anyone who wasn't Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2's leads was obviously unsafe, which made the sequel a predictable bloodbath. And on top of that, the aforementioned rave was too short and not nearly as gruesome as it could have been.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2's middle act also sacrificed the strange uncanny vibe created in the movie's beginning for tons of wordy exposition. Early on, there is a scene depicting Pooh, Owl, and Piglet having a meeting of sorts, with Pooh sitting on a throne like the leader of a gang. If the movie further developed these monsters, this scene would have been more gratifying.

Instead, Frake-Waterfield focused on overstuffing the film with as many ideas as possible instead of developing a select few that moments like these just fell flat. It was as though he was intent on showing that he can write a competent storyline following the first film's savage criticisms. Rather than proving his critics wrong, Frake-Waterfield instead showed that he also lacked talent from another perspective. The nonsensical lunacy of the first film is missed here.

Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 Made Good Use of Its Budget

Winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey 2's production design was a step up from the first movie, 'really strange': winnie the pooh: blood and honey director addresses low rotten tomatoes score.

While the sequel's budget was raised, there are still some obvious limits and restraints. Halfway through, several police officers are murdered offscreen, but it later seems as though they came back to be murdered again. It's obvious that the filmmakers used the same actors for different characters. This wasn't a sign of ineptitude or laziness, but it's a glaring oversight that's impossible to not notice.

Winnie-the-Pooh's look is also a surprising step-down from the original. The first movie gave Winnie a kitschy look that hearkened to his classic designs. Now, he just looks like an uninspired rip-off of A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger in a bear costume. The fact that he never spoke in the first film was also more effective, since it gave him an air of mystery and terror. But in the sequel, he utters a few lines in a grumbly voice that feels contradictory to what the first movie established, and just makes him more confusing. It's unclear if Winnie-the-Pooh was meant to be a mindless beast, or a snarky and uncanny one.

Winnie is also such a layered character in his source material, and so much of his depth from the original children's books could have been included in this film. The sequel, unfortunately and predictably, only splatters some blood on his iconic look and refuses to dig deeper into what could make him truly scary. As he stands, Winnie-the-Pooh is a boring slasher villain who fails to distinguish himself from the rest.

Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 Debuts With Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

The same went for the rest of Hundred Acre Wood's killers. Owl (Marcus Massey) is probably given the most to do, but he is a bit he was too reminiscent of The Creeper from Jeepers Creepers . Piglet (Eddy MacKenzie) is barely in the sequel due to a particular creative choice that works, but this twist felt like it was included for the sake of a cheap shock than anything more interesting. Tigger (Lewis Santer) shows up to usher in some brutality at the end, and his random presence feels unearned. His design is also much too similar to Winnie's to be effective.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2's cinematography is, at the very least, appealing. It's equipped with a great color scheme and some surprisingly complex shots. The acting is also unexpectedly well done, but none of that matters when the story is all over the place. If viewers turned their brain off for the film's one hour and 40-minute runtime, they may be able to have fun with this bloody spectacle of a film, but the long dialogue scenes can kill the mood.

Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 Is Too Ambitious for Its Own Good

Winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey 2 fell short of being a fun and schlocky ride, winnie the pooh: blood and honey 3 confirmed by producers.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2's mood is all over the place. After all the bloodshed, the climax includes a pop song that does not fit the atmosphere whatsoever. This killed any kind of consistency the sequel still had up until that point. The sequel's third-act twist is cheeky, but not as clever as the filmmakers thought it was. Its attempts at creating enough lore for a multiverse are overambitious and clunky. While the notion that two Winnie-the-Pooh horror films exist is quirky and a bit hilarious, the future of this franchise isn't an exciting thought.

The original Blood and Honey is so bad it's good, while this sequel is just an overambitious mess that is horrific enough to satisfy some horror buffs.

If 20 minutes were trimmed off and more focus was given to its campier aspects, Winnie-thePooh: Blood and Honey 2 could have been a worthwhile slasher. Its slasher elements do work, even if some of the kills are repetitive and there are too many offscreen deaths that ruin the fun. That said, the film committed to its hardcore butchery when it wanted, and this alone could prove to be enough of a selling point for gore hounds. Conversely, others will be frustrated by the rest of the sequel's weaker sequences, since they're undercooked when contrasted to what were clearly the filmmakers' favorite ideas.

Winnie-thePooh: Blood and Honey 2's biggest issue was that it wasn't having fun, and neither was the audience. The movie was clearly influenced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it prioritized its obligation to set up a multiverse of interconnected public domain monsters instead of being its own schlocky ride. Unfortunately, its attempt to turn a silly one-off concept into a sprawling epic was just dull.

But for horror fans, there are some elements (particularly some gnarly kills) that may make the sequel worth at least one watch on a rainy night. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 attempts to be an improvement over the first film in terms of quality and scope, but aside from some well-done gore, it comes across as a convoluted mess.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2

Not wanting to live in the shadows any longer, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Tigger take their fight to the town of Ashdown, leaving a bloody trail of death and mayhem in their wake.

• Plenty of gore
• Well done cinematography
• Decent acting
• Takes itself too seriously
• Convoluted story
• Unexciting villains

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey

After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food. After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food. After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food.

• Rhys Frake-Waterfield
• Nikolai Leon
• Maria Taylor
• Natasha Rose Mills
• 427 User reviews
• 174 Critic reviews
• 16 Metascore

• Christopher Robin

• Winnie-the-Pooh

• (as Richard D Myers)

• Young Christopher Robin
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Production of the film became possible in 2022 after A.A. Milne 's novel "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926) entered the public domain in the U.S., which marked the first appearances of Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Christopher Robin, thus lapsing the characters into the public domain. The film's characters could not, however, resemble the Disney versions, who debuted in 1966 and are protected by copyright.
• Goofs At 48:40, when Piglet is swinging the heavy chain into the pool, the chain floats as the character pulls it back. Chains do not float on water unassisted.

Pooh Bear : [Breaks vow not to talk] You left.

• Crazy credits After the credits finish, there is text seen reading "WINNIE-THE-POOH WILL RETURN.", hinting at a sequel.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Silly Old Deadly Bear (2022)

User reviews 427

• ttkorkala-61-773805
• Apr 16, 2023
• How long is Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey? Powered by Alexa
• If the film was made in Britain, why did they need to wait for the copyright on Winnie the Pooh to expire in the USA?
• March 17, 2023 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• ITN Studios
• Winnie the Pooh: Miel y sangre
• Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, England, UK
• ITN Distribution
• Jagged Edge Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000 (estimated)
• Feb 19, 2023

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 24 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

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‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3’ Confirmed (EXCLUSIVE)

By Alex Ritman

Alex Ritman

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In news likely to simultaneously delight and appall across the cinema world, a third instalment of IP-bludgeoning slasher ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey’ has been confirmed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield and Scott Chambers of prolific horror banner Jagged Edge Productions.

According to the producers, ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3’ will have a bigger budget than the previous films and will introduce new characters from the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories, including Rabbit, the heffalumps and the woozles. All will no doubt be given sadistic, murderous twists.

Despite poor reviews, the original ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey’ became an unexpected box office smash and cultural talking point in early 2023 for a premise that saw A. A. Milne’s beloved bear turned into a feral, sledgehammer-wielding serial killer. Made for under $50,000, it earned an incredible $5.2 million globally, one of the best budget-to-box office ratios in cinema history.

While box office figures are yet to be released for ‘Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2,’ the film, with a budget believed to be around 10 times that of the first, has been far better received in the genre world, with many declaring it to be a dramatic step-up from its predecessor. That said, Variety ‘s Owen Gleiberman in his review wrote that it was “mostly a shambles,” although he did acknowledge that the sequel had a “a lot more going on,” including “more dismemberings and decapitations and face gougings,” and featured a redesigned Pooh who now “resembles a homicidal version of Jim Carrey’s Grinch.”

“Poohniverse” is due for release in 2025. Whether it goes into production before “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3” isn’t yet known.

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First 'Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey' Reactions Call It "Stifled," "So Bad It's Good," and the Worst Movie Ever

Will Rhys Frake-Waterfield's horror take on 'Winnie the Pooh' become a cult classic or is it just bad?

Winne-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , the new horror movie that turns the friendly and lovable bear and friends into slasher villains had its global release on February 15, and the first reactions for the low-budget feature are slowly making their way in across social media. If these reviews are anything to go by, the film might find itself in a spot of bother as it is being called one of the worst horror movies ever, though some predicted that, from its low quality, the film could garner a cult following similar to Tommy Wiseau 's disasterpiece, The Room .

The story of Winne-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey takes the familiar faces of the lovable bear Winnie-the-Pooh and his friend Piglet and twists them into a dark version that hungers for blood instead of honey. After Christopher Robin ( Nikolai Leon ) leaves for college, Pooh and his friends grew to hate humans after being forced to return to their animalistic instincts to survive without Christopher there to care for them. Years later, Christopher returns and, along with a group of friends visiting the Hundred Acre Wood, becomes the target of the animals' latest killing spree.

Not So Sweet

The creation of Winne-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey came about when the Winnie-the-Pooh book entered the public domain back on January 1, 2022, meaning that anyone could use aspects of anything that made an appearance in the original book for their own projects. So, of course, that means the first thing to do is turn them it blood-hungry killers! Despite the reactions from many critics, the film already has a sequel in development . What was originally meant to be a smaller release, the film ended up expanding to an extra 1,500 locations in the US following a strong box office opening in Mexico .

RELATED: Where to Watch 'Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey': Showtimes and Streaming Status

Collider's own Ross Bonaime gave the film an absolutely scathing review , also bringing up Wiseau comparisons but not in a humorous or endearing way but rather as a way to demonstrate how "atrocious" the film is. The review derides everything including its writing, directing, and acting, saying that "the whole film isn’t even fun on a cheesy level. It’s just bad and abysmally handled every step of the way." Bonaime went on to say "It’s actually almost incredible just how incompetent Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is on every level. What could've been a halfway decent dumb idea becomes a full-on nightmare of bad choices and terrible filmmaking." He gave the film an F.

Bonaime wasn't the only one that had a strong negative response to the film, as one Twitter user @LilithTwo called it the "worst movie [they've] ever seen."

Mary Beth McAndrews , editor-in-chief of Dread Central, gave a mild recommendation for the film, calling it "campy... uneven and stifled" but said to go "have fun and enjoy the ride."

Since the announcement of Winne-the-Pooh: Blood back in May 2022, the film's writer-director Rhys Frake-Waterfield has been vocal about making more cuddly characters turned killer film with the announcement of a horror film based on Peter Pan called Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare and Bambi: The Reckoning , a horror project starring the titular deer. He aims to create an interconnected universe of childhood killers . One positive review for the film from Twitter user @genallyx was fully on board for this cinematic universe of childhood character serial killers, demanding that it come out as soon as possible.

While you would expect some positive reviews and some negative reviews, the biggest opinion of the film is that it lands in that spot as sweet as honey: the entertaining and terrible spot. Twitter users @kenbruno and @joe_fayant ended up praising the film, but in the "so bad it's good" lens of a good review. Calling the film dumb and entertaining at the same time, it is here that we see the possibility of a The Room -esque groundswell of support could be in the film's future.

Winne-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is now available in select theaters. You can watch the trailer down below.

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Winnie-the-pooh: blood and honey, common sense media reviewers.

Oh, bother: Low-budget gorefest is bloody, poorly made.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

No messages here, except maybe "listen to the news

Characters aren't very smart, and survival isn't t

Aside from Christopher Robin, women are central ch

Extreme blood and gore. Extreme violence against w

A woman's top comes off while she's being attacked

Sporadic use of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "ass," "fr

Pooh and Piglet are known characters who are tradi

Character has glass of white wine while in hot tub

Parents need to know that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is an extremely gory, low-budget horror movie that takes advantage of the fact that A.A. Milne's original 1926 children's book is now in the public domain (meaning the characters are no longer protected by copyright). After the novelty of the concept…

Positive Messages

No messages here, except maybe "listen to the news, and stay away from scary woods where people are regularly killed."

Positive Role Models

Characters aren't very smart, and survival isn't their strength. Turns beloved children's book characters into bloodthirsty murderers.

Diverse Representations

Aside from Christopher Robin, women are central characters and are shown to be supportive friends. But, unfortunately, they're quickly hacked to bits, apparently lacking even the most basic common sense. Two of the women friends are a lesbian couple. No notable characters of color.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Extreme blood and gore. Extreme violence against women. Dead bodies. Bloody wounds. Woman strangled with chain. Woman's head bashed, body fed into wood chipper. Woman's head run over by car: Eyeball pops out, smashed head shown. Sledgehammer to woman's head, huge spray of blood. Blade shoved through woman's mouth and back of head, pinned to wall. Severed head. Woman's neck sliced. Woman stabbed in skull. Entrails. Shower of blood. Spitting blood. Character whipped with rope. Woman repeatedly slapped. Woman tied up. Woman chained up with bloody face and swollen eye. Gun and one gunshot. Face-ripping. Arm-snapping, with blood sprays. More head-smashing. Piglet hit with sledgehammer. Pooh's face covered in blood. Exploding vehicles. Bloody meat hooks. A stalker terrorizes a woman in flashback. Woman knocked out with chloroform. Narrator explains that Pooh and his friends killed and ate Eeyore to survive. A woman has been traumatized by a stalker.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A woman's top comes off while she's being attacked; her breasts are visible for several seconds. Woman dances while wearing underwear. Woman wearing bikini takes sexy selfies. Women in revealing clothing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sporadic use of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "ass," "freak."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Pooh and Piglet are known characters who are traditionally associated with kid-friendly merchandise and media.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Character has glass of white wine while in hot tub. A character is seen carrying a wine bottle but not drinking. Dialogue: "Are you girls on drugs?"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is an extremely gory, low-budget horror movie that takes advantage of the fact that A.A. Milne 's original 1926 children's book is now in the public domain (meaning the characters are no longer protected by copyright). After the novelty of the concept quickly wears off, it reveals itself as just another poorly made slasher movie. It's absolutely not for kids: Violence and gore are graphic and constant, with women and other characters being killed in horrible ways, smashed with sledgehammers, run over by cars, run through with blades, decapitated, strangled with chains, fed into wood chippers, and more. There's also stabbing, face-ripping, neck-slicing, arm-snapping, whipping, eyeballs popping out, and much, much more. A woman's breasts are visible after her top comes off while she's being attacked. Another woman wears revealing clothing, dances, and takes sexy selfies in a bikini. Language includes sporadic uses of "f--k" and "s--t." A character drinks wine while relaxing in the hot tub. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (9)
• Kids say (15)

Based on 9 parent reviews

TRAUMATIZING

Adults only , what's the story.

In WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY, young Christopher Robin grows up playing with his friends Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, and Eeyore in the Hundred Acre Wood. But one day he must leave for college. After that, the animals begin to starve, and decide to kill and eat Eeyore. And then they become twisted versions of their former selves, sworn to kill and eat humans -- especially Christopher Robin. Five years later, Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) returns home, only to discover that his former friends are now monsters. Meanwhile, Marie (Maria Taylor), who's been traumatized by a stalker, is advised to take a vacation, so she gathers up her friends and heads to a remote cabin not far from the Hundred Acre Wood...

Is It Any Good?

After the subversive idea of turning beloved children's book characters into brutal killers wears off, all that's left in this low-budget horror movie are boring clichés and frustrating characters. The grungy-looking Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey begins with a crudely animated prologue that explains how the characters turned into hybrid creatures, and most of the fun ends there. (Not to mention that, after the prologue, we never see Rabbit or Owl again.) There are a couple of giggles early on thanks to visuals like a swarm of bees following Pooh around, or Pooh drooling disgustingly at the thought of a snack. But it's not long before the movie becomes a showcase for hacking up young women. Perhaps the worst idea is introducing Marie as a traumatized survivor of a sexual predator who then must face yet more horror. It feels cruel. By the time it reaches its "what?" ending, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has turned from a bizarre, controversial internet meme into a totally forgettable slasher movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 's violence . How did it make you feel? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

How do you feel seeing Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet reimagined as brutal killers? Should beloved characters be untouchable? What can be gained from this kind of revisionist approach?

When the women arrive at their cabin, they reluctantly agree to put their phones away so they can spend some real time with each other. How does this turn out? When do you choose to put your phone away ?

One of the women is obsessed with posting photos of herself online, and other women wear revealing clothing. Do they represent a realistic view of body image ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 15, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : April 11, 2023
• Cast : Maria Taylor , Nikolai Leon , Amber Doig-Thorne
• Director : Rhys Frake-Waterfield
• Studio : Fathom Events
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 84 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : November 14, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Oh, bother: the Winnie the Pooh slasher movie is a bloody mess

With rights now in the public domain, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey turns beloved children’s characters into killers

In the new film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, AA Milne’s beloved storybook bear embarks upon a murderous rampage, driven to homicidal madness by Christopher Robin’s abandonment for adulthood.

As explained by a prologue in crude stick-figure animation, a cold winter in the Hundred Acre Wood left Pooh and the rest of the gang with no choice but to cannibalize melancholic donkey Eeyore for survival, which marked a nightmarish surrender of all civility for a return to their basest beastly natures. A warped Pooh and Piglet, the latter wielding the savage force of 30 to 50 feral hogs, loose their unslakable hunger for carnage on a cadre of young hotties unaware that their weekend getaway to the woods is about to uphold horror-movie tradition in grisly fashion. As a buxom influencer snaps a series of bikini selfies in the cabin’s hot tub, Piglet creeps up behind her with a chloroform rag, then Pooh drives a car directly over the incapacitated woman’s skull until the pressure makes her eyeball pop out. Oh, bother!

If you assumed that it would be a blustery day in hell before Disney allowed this to happen to one of their IP superstars, you’d be right. On 1 January 2022, the content of Milne’s first story about the menagerie of philosophically inclined imaginary friends entered the public domain and legally threw open the reinterpretive floodgates. Artists far and wide could suddenly do whatever they pleased with or to Pooh, and director Rhys Frake-Waterfield wasted no time in lunging for the lowest-hanging fruit. He aims to scandalize with his intentional desecration of a kiddie icon, his stated goal nothing less than to “ruin everyone’s childhood”. But his feature debut, seemingly produced for $38 and improbably breaking into multiplexes with an assist from Fathom Events, illustrates the pitfalls and limitations along with the irreverent potential of the free-use-sploitation cinema sure to proliferate as more brand-name characters are freed from their contractual shackles.

Pooh belongs to the people now, though Blood and Honey can’t help raising the ontological question of how much alteration his image can sustain before he’s stripped of his essential Pooh-ness. While the 1926 short story collection Winnie the Pooh may be up for grabs, Disney’s representation of him will remain under copyrighted lock and key for nearly 40 more years, which mandated Frake-Waterfield distinguish his work from the genuine article clearly enough that no one could confuse them.

That means no catchphrases, no red-shirt-sans-pants ensemble, no head stuck in the pot labeled HUNNY while his legs wiggle helplessly behind him. Pooh has been made over by way of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, now a hulking, silent humanoid in a dirty pair of overalls and lumberjack flannel. If not for the constant mentions by name, the film would be a bog-standard chop-’em-up cheapie in which the killer happens to be wearing a Pooh mask from under which his human mouth and eyes are both visible.

It’s a ramshackle, dashed-off operation with little to recommend it as cinema, but judging by the shrieks of delight and robust round of applause at the opening night screening in New York’s Regal Union Square theater, there’s a market for that. And the makers of Blood and Honey apparently know it too, the brazen anti-resolution of the non-ending – never a good sign when someone in the back yells “THAT WAS IT?!” – cuing up a title card that teases a sequel in the works. This green light is a declaration of hubris, and yet it’s already been vindicated by a nearly million-dollar take on opening night , schlock enthusiasts having smelled blood in the water and turned out in droves for a feeding frenzy.

As the public domain window advances to cover more and more of the 20th century, viewers can expect a cottage industry to spring up around intellectual properties with opened access, one step up from the no-budget knockoffs of The Asylum. While the titles to come won’t enjoy the novelty factor of Pooh’s rushed-to-release slaughter spree (confirmed films include R-rated takes on Bambi and Peter Pan ), they will have an advantage in not needing to tiptoe around the most well-known version of the concept. Specific trademarks could still complicate matters, however; Mickey Mouse, for example, enters the public domain at the beginning of next year. But any enterprising deviant seeking to depict the fan-favorite rodent in flagrante delicto with Dracula cannot include any elements of appearance introduced after 1928’s short Steamboat Willie.

All of this is to say that even when purloining someone else’s idea to make a quick-and-dirty buck, expertise and effort make a difference. (Any trash connoisseur will tell you that it’s a fine line between so-bad-it’s-good and just bad.) It’s a primal human impulse to corrupt our totems of juvenile innocence, a natural part of shedding the naiveté of youth for the obscenity of the grown-up world. But from Tijuana bibles getting pin-up girl Betty Boop fully nude to the stage play Dog Sees God, in which Charlie Brown and his pals have aged into broken, dysfunctional teens, the most successful perversions have drawn on the unique qualities that made their fictitious stars popular in the first place.

If a person is going to do a murderous Pooh movie, the least they owe to their audience is a passable simulacrum of Pooh, imbued with an identifiably Pooh-like essence. Creative license lies at the heart of the argument in favor of public domain, the notion that concepts shouldn’t be off-limits to artists looking to engage with them. Anything short of that is just slapping a proper noun on generic chaff as a shortcut to distinction, an act of lazy greed that would deserve any litigation coming to it. And in the end, isn’t making ordinary citizens side with Disney’s legal department far more offensive than foisting unforgivable atrocities on literature’s cuddliest bear?

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is now out in US cinemas and will be released in the UK in April

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‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ Review: Nothing Sweet or Interesting in Genre Mash-Up

The film is so slapdash and incredibly cheap that it’s almost punk rock

It’s been over 60 years since Disney purchased the rights to A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s story “Winnie the Pooh” and transformed it into a multimedia cash cow and, frankly it’s never entirely sat right. Some of Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” adaptations were lovely, but Milne’s tale about magical creatures in the 100 Acre Wood was ultimately a fable about letting go of childhood, not perpetually reliving it. If Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, and all their friends still exist then nobody learns anything.

It took long enough, but the first “Winnie the Pooh” book finally lapsed into the public domain. That they have run directly into the arms of an entirely different kind of exploitation — an R-rated, ultra-violent slasher movie — may seem ironic, but was probably inevitable. You can’t pull a pendulum in one direction for 60 years without expecting it to swing the other way, and hard.

Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is a cheap, crass, and largely incompetent horror movie about Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon, “The Killing Tree”) returning to the forest of his childhood, only to discover that in his absence, his beloved anthropomorphic bear and anthropomorphic pig have gone murderously mad as a direct result of his absence. They aren’t figures out of his childhood imagination after all. They are real creatures who depended on Christopher Robin for love and basic sustenance, so his abandonment wasn’t poetic and sad, it was abusive neglect.

After a prologue where Christopher Robin and his wife are quickly dispatched, the movie shifts gears to tell the story of Maria (Maria Taylor, “Mega Lightning”), who decides to get a cabin in the woods to get over her PTSD after a creepy stalker broke into her house — a subplot that turns out to have nothing to do with anything.

Maria brings along a group of friends with only one characteristic a piece: Instagram Enthusiast, Wearer of Glasses, Girlfriend Who Wants to Rekindle the Romance, and Girlfriend Who Just Isn’t Ready Yet For Completely Unspecified Reasons. They’re not so much human beings as they are Instant Corpses™. Just add Pooh!

The plot from that point on consists of Pooh Bear (Craig David Dowsett, “The Area 51 Incident”) and Piglet (Chris Cordell, “Werewolf Cabal”) realizing, oh bother, that humans are on their land, and attacking and/or kidnapping those humans with sledge hammers, machetes, and at one point a car’s front tire, which begs the question of when the heck Winnie the Pooh learned how to drive. Then again, if that was the only problem this movie had it would be a timeless classic.

It sounds like a vicious premise but, to be fair, it’s fundamentally the same idea Disney had with their last live-action Milne movie, “Christopher Robin,” which also posited that Pooh, Piglet and all their buddies were 100% real all along and that Christopher Robin’s abandonment left them in a multi-decade depressive fugue state. The only difference is that in Disney’s version they didn’t go mad from hunger, eat Eeyore, and swear violent revenge on all of humanity. But it would have made just as much sense if they did.

The premise is the only thing that makes sense in “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.” The film feels half-written, and the half we got wasn’t the good half. Characters and storylines pop up out of nowhere, disappear into the ether, and almost all of them turn out to be pointless. Rules are established and broken. Up is down, cats are dogs, and a straight-to-VHS quality horror movie is somehow in theaters.

Setting aside the half-baked characters and a plot so raw it’s probably got salmonella, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is staggeringly inept in surprisingly obvious ways. There’s a moment in the prologue where the Robin family find a piece of paper and are horrified by what they see on it, wondering aloud why anyone would write or draw it. We never see an insert shot of that paper nor is it ever mentioned again. There’s no reason whatsoever why that moment is in the movie.

The biggest laugh comes halfway through, after the first corpse has been found and Maria and her friends start to panic. They run into the foyer and discover the words “GET OUT” have been written on the windows in blood. It’s at this point one of them realizes, and announces to the rest of the class, that whoever killed their friend “probably wrote that, too.” Which the rest of us probably took for granted, but who knows? Maybe it really was just a wacky coincidence?

“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is so slapdash and incredibly cheap that it’s almost, but not entirely, punk rock. The embarrassing monster masks never make Pooh and Piglet look like they’re monsters. They just look like dudes in bootleg Winnie the Pooh masks. It comes across like a dime store, childish plea for attention. If they whipped out guitars and screeched out some Black Flag or Minor Threat covers you wouldn’t bat an eye, although you also wouldn’t make eye contact or buy their CD at the door. (Okay, maybe their t-shirts.)

Then again, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” isn’t trying to tell a great story, or even an interesting one. It exists entirely to exist, because until about a year ago its existence would have been impossible. While that novelty wears off, and wears off quickly, at least audiences will be able to say they were there the day Winnie the Pooh broke out of his corporate cage and started murdering everybody. Yes, it was real; yes, it was in theaters, and yes, it was a little bit better — or at least a little more honest — than “Christopher Robin.”

How Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey Became an Instant Cult Classic Despite Terrible Reviews

Here's how Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey gained cult classic status despite poor reviews from critics.

• Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey subverts a classic Disney character, turning the beloved bear into a malevolent slasher killer, which creates an irresistible draw.
• The movie's high camp and kitsch factor, including amateurish acting and ridiculous costumes, adds to its appeal among horror fans despite negative reviews.
• The film's so-bad-it's-good appeal, coupled with clever marketing that promised one type of film but delivered something different, contributed to its cult classic status and financial success.

Directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was released in early 2023 and instantly earned terrible reviews. The low-budget slasher film follows iconic children's Disney characters Pooh and Piglet on a violent killing spree after they're left behind by Christopher Robin when he heads to college. Despite currently boasting an abysmal 2.9 IMDb rating, 16 Metascore, and 3% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the film has become an instant cult classic among causal and hardcore horror fans for a variety of reasons.

While the film has been skewered by critics for being cheaply made, boasting an absurdly ridiculous premise, and failing to strike a compelling balance between horror and humor, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is the type of so-bad-its-good abomination that will continue to live in infamy as the years go on. While many ingredients go into a bona fide cult classic, here's why Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has been embraced by audiences despite the scathing reviews.

5 Subversion of a Childhood Classic

Winnie the pooh: blood and honey.

The first thing to point to regarding the appeal of the movie relates to the subversion of a classic Disney character. Indeed, almost everyone is aware of Winnie the Pooh and his pal Piglet, two iconic and lovable figures who have remained in the collective conscience of society across the spectrum of pop culture. Pooh is the kind, cuddly, lovable bear that has provided children with warm, welcoming entertainment for decades. Therefore, subverting Pooh's benevolent characteristics into a malevolent slasher killer makes for an instantly irresistible draw.

As such, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey functions as a kind of absurd must-see crossover on par with horror mashups like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter , Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters , Snow White and the Huntsman , and other mega-popular if poorly reviewed franchise movie mashups and crossovers . The movie boasts such a silly yet intriguing premise that bad reviews have little bearing on the mass appeal of witnessing such a ludicrous affair. The movie aims to mock the childhood nostalgia of a classic Disney character and the results more or less succeed.

4 The Camp & Kitsch Factor

Another reason why Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey became an instant cult classic despite the bad reviews relates to the high camp and kitsch factor . First off, the acting in the movie has been skewered across the board as amateur at best and woeful at worst. The campy performances by Nikolai Leon as Christopher Robin, Chris Cordell as Piglet, and Craig David Dowsett have been dismissed as being ridiculously over-the-top and so completely unbelievable that one can only laugh at, not with, the overall results. RELATED: The 15 Best Cult Classic Horror Movies of All Time

The tasteless nature of turning the beloved Winnie the Pooh and Piglet into face-eating murderers resonates most through the kitschy costumes and character designs. The mere image of Pooh sporting a maniacal grin under a rubbery mask, a la Leatherface or Michael Meyers, is so offensive and untoward that one can only sit back and smile at how campy the movie becomes by the final act. What many critics note as a clear detractor becomes a strength for horror fans, with the unconvincing artificiality and unrealistic violence adding to the entertainment value.

3 A So-Bad-It's-Good Curio

Between the subversion of a classic animated Disney character and the resulting camp and kitsch quotient, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey ultimately became a So-Bad-It's-Good curiosity that made viewers flock to the film in droves. Most cult classics are terrible or financially unsuccessful by definition, gaining a small yet steady subset of fans who enjoy the film precisely for its amusing inferiority. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey fits that description perfectly.

In the lowly 1.5-star review of the film for RogerEbert.com , film critic Nick Allen opens his assessment with, " Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey sorely wants a spot on the 'So naughty it's good' list," reinforcing the sentimental appeal of the poorly made slasher. On par with such critic-proof cult curios as Troll 2, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Mac and Me, Battlefield Earth , and others, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is akin to the car crash on the side of the road that onlookers cannot avoid staring at. The movie has become a cult classic because, despite the critical misgivings, the so-bad-it's-good appeal was too attractive to ignore.

2 Grindhouse Style of Marketing

During the 1970s era of Grindhouse filmmaking, the marketing of a movie promised one thing but often delivered something else entirely. When Quentin Tarantino attempted to recreate the era with Death Proof , the trailers and promotional material indicated a relentless action spectacle. When fans saw the films in theaters and mainly witnessed characters sitting around and talking to each other, critics felt tricked by the marketing. The same logic can be applied to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey . The movie promised one type of picture, only to brazenly fail to deliver on that promise and give viewers something different.

RELATED: 10 Lesser-Known Horror Movies with a Cult Following

To wit, in their review for IndieWire , Christian Zilko noted this mismarketing phenomenon as it relates to the movie's reception. According to Zilko:

"Blood and Honey” feels like a throwback to a simpler era of filmmaking...a time when a film could be produced, marketed, and turn a profit just by promising audiences an image they hadn’t seen before."

Regardless of the movie's qualitative merits, the movie gained viewership and notoriety thanks to its brilliant false sense of advertising. A bad movie with terrible reviews can only attain cult status through word-of-mouth and the promotional promise of delivering a specific type of film. Despite critics being duped, the result doesn't make much of a difference relative to how the public has received the movie as a throwback Grindhouse B-movie.

1 Poor Production Values & Box Office Performance

Part of the so-bad-it's-good appeal of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey derives from its glaring lack of resources and cheap production values. The movie cost a paltry $100,000 to make, and the chintzy special FX, uninspired set pieces, and rote death scenes induce more unintentional laughter than legitimate terror. The result of the poorly funded independent movie feels more like a SyFy parody on par with the Sharknado movie franchise than a bona fide studio horror release. Although critics were repelled, the movie exceeded box office expectations.

According to Box Office Mojo , Winnie the Pooh grossed $4.9 million against a $100,000 budget, indicating clear financial success despite the widespread negative reviews from critics. For such a low-budget movie boasting an absurd premise, the movie played in a staggering 1,652 theaters during the height of its exhibition. While cult classics usually do not receive that type of wide theatrical exposure, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey capitalized on its attractive premise, cashed in on its mismarketing, and overcame the scathing criticism by delivering an atrocious movie full of terrible acting and poor FX. All in all, Winnie-the-Pooh fomented a perfect storm of Blood and Honey to reach instant cult-classic status.

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Screen Rant

Every upcoming movie in the winnie-the-pooh horror crossover universe.

The Winnie-The-Pooh Horror Universe is set to bring new terrifying twists on classic tales; here's every confirmed movie in the franchise so far.

• Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 marks a significant improvement with new characters and a higher budget.
• The Twisted Childhood Universe expands to include horror remakes of Bambi , Peter Pan , and Pinocchio .
• Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble crossover film will unite villains for more death and destruction in 2025.

In the run-up to the anticipated release of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 , plans have been announced by Jagged Edge Productions for a new horror crossover universe. After the financial success of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey , director Rhys Frake-Waterfield announced his intentions to expand on his horror franchise, creating movies based on other childhood classics . It has been confirmed that Bambi , Peter Pan , and Pinocchio are among the stories that will receive a horror remake.

After Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain in 2022, the first horror movie remake was released in 2023 ; this movie saw Pooh and Piglet as bloodthirsty killers, seeking revenge on Christopher Robin, who abandoned them after he left for college. While it received a negative response from critics, a rise in public interest in the movie sparked a sequel and, eventually, a horror universe that Frake-Waterfield has entitled the Twisted Childhood Universe. This movie universe will see more horror remakes in the following years , with all the main characters ultimately uniting in a crossover movie set for release in 2025.

Where To Watch Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood & Honey 2 - Showtimes & Streaming Status

Bambi: the reckoning.

Similar to Blood and Honey , Bambi: The Reckoning was created after the copyright for the original novel expired.

One of the horror remakes confirmed to be part of the TCU is Bambi: The Reckoning , a horror retelling of the 1923 novel, Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten. The movie is set to follow a young woman named Xana and her son Benji, who are stranded in the woods after they are involved in a car wreck. In their search for help, they come across a monstrous, feral deer named Bambi; hungry for human flesh, the deer goes on a murderous rampage, and Xana and Benji must find a way to escape the woods with their lives.

Similar to Blood and Honey , Bambi: The Reckoning was created after the copyright for the original novel expired. Bambi: The Reckoning has cast Roxanne McKee in the role of Xana, with Tom Mulheron cast as Benji and Nicola Wright in an undetermined role; in contrast to his previous movies, Rhys Frake-Waterfield will only serve as the producer for this movie, with Dan Allen serving as the director. The release date for Bambi: The Reckoning is yet to be confirmed, but the movie is in post-production with filming having completed on January 23rd, 2024 (via Bloody Disgusting ).

Dark Disney Theory Reveals A Classic Animated Villain Killed Bambi's Mother

Peter pan's neverland nightmare, peter pan's neverland nightmare.

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare follows a darker and more twisted version of the boy who refuses to grow up and sees Wendy Darling on a mission to rescue her brother Michael, whom Peter Pan has kidnapped.

Shortly after the release of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey , it was announced that Jagged Productions would greenlight another horror movie, this time based on the story of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare follows a darker and more twisted version of the boy who refuses to grow up ; the story sees Wendy Darling on a mission to rescue her brother Michael, who has been kidnapped by Peter Pan and taken to a more horrifying version of Neverland. Peter's fairy mascot, Tinkerbell, is also set to make an appearance, which the writers describe as an "obese drug addict"; a stark contrast to the bright and sparkling fairy that audiences are used to seeing (via Collider ).

The story of Peter Pan has received several remakes in film and literature across the years; this is the first horror remake of the popular story. It is currently known that Philip Philmar has been cast as Peter, with Kit Green to portray Tinkerbell; Megan Placito and James DeSouza-Feighoney have also been cast as Wendy and Michael Darling respectively. Filming for Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare is expected to begin in May 2024, for a potential Halloween release ; early images released for the movie have guaranteed a new horrifying tale for audiences to watch.

Dark Disney Theory Paints Peter Pan As A Murderous Villain

Pinocchio unstrung, pinocchio: unstrung.

In January 2024, Jagged Edge Productions announced a horror movie based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The movie entitled Pinocchio: Unstrung will offer viewers a more grotesque and frightening version of the famous puppet and will expand Frake-Waterfield's horror universe . The original story of Pinocchio is already quite a horrifying tale on its own, as seen by its depictions of the monstrous whale and the terrible curse of Pleasure Island where naughty boys are turned into donkeys ; however, the early images released of the grotesque puppet certainly guarantee that something new and unexpected will happen (via Bloody Disgusting ).

The main synopsis, director, and cast list for Pinocchio: Unstrung has yet to be announced. However, the first sketches of the movie were released during the end credits of Blood and Honey 2 ; these images all but guarantee that this new Pinocchio is not the same happy, curious puppet that viewers know him as . Production of the movie is set to begin in the summer of 2024 and is scheduled to be potentially released in theaters by November 2024.

Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble

Poohniverse: monsters assemble (2025).

Production dates for Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble have not yet been announced, but it is known that the movie is scheduled to be released in 2025.

In March 2024, Jagged Edge Productions announced their plans to create their first crossover film in the Twisted Childhood Universe. The movie, titled Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, is set to bring Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, and others together, as they unite to cause even more death and destruction around them. Jagged Edge Productions also announced the inclusion of Sleeping Beauty, The Mad Hatter, and The Talking Cricket , all of whom are also receiving a horror makeover. The first movie poster released for the film shows all the famous characters, terrorized, and all set to cause havoc and seek revenge on those who escaped their wrath before.

Actor Scott Chambers, who plays Christopher Robin in Blood and Honey 2 , has called this crossover movie the opportunity to recreate an Avengers movie, this time, made up of villains. He has also stated that while Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will see the villains join forces, there will be conflict taking place within the group as they seek out their victims . It has been confirmed that Chambers will reprise his role of Christopher Robin in this crossover, alongside Roxanne McKee, Meghan Plactio, and Lewis Santer (via Variety ). Production for Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble has not begun yet, but it is known that the movie is scheduled to be released in 2025.

Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey 3

Jagged Edge Productions has confirmed that a horror version of Rabbit will be appearing in the third Winnie-the-Pooh movie, along with the heffalumps and woozles made famous in A.A. Milne's stories.

Just two days after the theatrical release of Blood and Honey 2, it was announced that Jagged Edge Productions would be filming a third Winnie-the-Pooh horror movie. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 has been confirmed and is set to continue the bear's killing spree. The ending of Blood and Honey 2 brought shocking revelations about the feral bear's past with his former best friend, Christopher Robin, and a third movie could potentially offer new twists to their shocking story.

It has been confirmed that Blood and Honey 3 will be granted an even higher budget than the previous two films and will introduce more characters to the story. Jagged Edge Productions has confirmed that a horror version of Rabbit will be appearing in the third Winnie-the-Pooh movie , along with the heffalumps and woozles made famous in A.A. Milne's stories (via Variety ). Production dates for Blood and Honey 3 have yet to be announced, and it hasn't yet been determined if audiences will receive this movie before or after the release of Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble in 2025.

Every Winnie-the-Pooh Horror Movie Already Released

Early reviews of Blood and Honey 2 called the movie a significant improvement over its predecessor, thanks to its increased budget and the addition of new cast and crew members.

The original Winnie-the-Pooh character, created by A.A. Milne, entered the U.S. public domain in 2022, allowing creators and directors to take advantage and put a twist on the celebrated children's stories; when Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was initially announced, many were shocked at the idea of a popular children's character being turned into a cruel and heartless killer . Blood and Honey was released to negative reviews, receiving criticism for its production and screenplay; it was listed on Rotten Tomatoes' 100 Worst Films of All Time and won 5 Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. However, its online popularity resulted in the movie being a box-office success and a sequel, Blood and Honey 2 , being created.

Blood and Honey 2 expanded on the original story, including new characters such as Owl and Tigger , who entered the public domain in 2024. It follows Pooh and his gang leaving the 100 Acre Wood behind and wreaking murderous havoc in Ashdown in their quest for revenge. Christopher Robin, who is still recovering from his last ordeal with his former friends, must find a way to stop them. Early reviews of Blood and Honey 2 called the movie a significant improvement over its predecessor, thanks to its increased budget and the addition of new cast and crew members. These early results of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 , mark a new turn in Rhys Frake-Waterfield's horror universe and serve as a hopeful sign for the release of his future films.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is available to stream on Peacock.

Sources: Bloody Disgusting , Collider , Variety

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

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Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2

Winnie The Pooh Horror Movie Director Blames Marvel For Bad Reviews - Here's Why

"Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" director Rhys Frake-Waterfield said the reason movie critics lambasted his micro-budgeted horror film stemmed from their need to compare it to the blockbuster-budgeted films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

When "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" hit theaters in February 2023, it was smacked with a dismal 3% critic rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  Among the most perplexing criticisms, Frake-Waterfield recalled for  SFX , was how his $100,000 film that was shot over 10 days was being mentioned in the same breath as the MCU.

"When your film is out there like that, it literally gets directly compared to Marvel films, even though you're on 0.01% of their budget. We probably didn't have their catering budget!" the director explained. "They're substantially different. But because of the scale Winnie went to, a lot of the critics did almost like-for-like comparisons."

The negative reviews didn't appear to detract moviegoers from seeing "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey," as it earned $5.2 million at the worldwide box office. The numbers, naturally, justified Frake-Waterfield making the upcoming sequel, "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2."

Frake-Waterfield isn't done with Winnie the Pooh horror movies

While Rhys Frake-Waterfield thought some reviewers' comparisons of "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" to Marvel films were unfair, he said he has learned how to deal with criticism of his work. "To be honest, you've got to have a really, really thick skin to be a filmmaker because you get heavily, heavily criticized regardless of the means and the resources you have," he said.

Where the twisted adventures go after "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2" is anybody's guess. One idea Frake-Waterfield toyed with during his interview would be to combine the worlds of Winnie the Pooh and another famed book-turned-Disney-animated-classic — this time about an orphaned deer – that entered the public domain in 2022. "We need to see what the appetite is, but we could do some absolutely crazy stuff, like a crossover between Bambi and Winnie the Pooh," the director told the publication. "That could go incredibly mad. I need to sit down and think how mad we want to go with it! We could have Winnie riding Bambi!"

Frake-Waterfield could also conceivably do a horror film based on Steamboat Willie, who entered the public domain on January 1, 2024. However, it seems Steven LaMorte beat Frake-Waterfield to the punch, as he is slated to direct the darker take on Mickey Mouse's animated debut.