The upcoming not-so-cuddly re-imagining of the beloved bear, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, revealed its first poster, and things aren’t looking so good for Christopher Robin.
What on Earth happened to Pooh bear? Well, the original character, who was created by children’s author A. A. Milne in the 1920s, entered the public domain in January 2022. Although Disney has a copyright on their own films' interpretation of the characters, anyone now is free to work with the original source material. Taking advantage of the copyright lapse, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield wrote and shot his horror-inspired interpretation of the story in only a few months.
In the poster for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, released by Dread Central, a close-up view of the adorable bear shows him as a comically large slasher villain, complete with a bloody axe and a plaid shirt. Below, Piglet is seen skulking around a dark and foggy forest, gripping a kitchen knife with his new opposable thumbs, while the tagline reads, “This Ain’t No Bedtime Story.” The film’s plot shows a grown-up Christopher Robin going away to college. After they’re left alone for months without any food, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet “essentially become feral,” according to the director, and go out in search of blood.
Copyright issues prevented Tigger and Eeyore from appearing in the movie, but director Frake-Waterfield says that he likes to imagine Eeyore doesn’t appear in the film because he’s been eaten by Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. As you could maybe guess, the film is a low-budget independent slasher, so don’t expect a Disney-scale production. For fans of slasher movies, however, the movie has become one of the most anticipated of the year.
Although Frake-Waterfield has not yet released any films, he is currently working on a whopping three: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey as writer and director, Dinosaur Prison as writer, director, and producer, and Alien Abduction as editor, composer, and visual effects supervisor. Blood and Honey stars Craig David Dowsett as Pooh Bear, Chris Cordell as Piglet, and Nikolai Leon as Christopher Robin. The film is being produced by Jagged Edge Productions, an independent horror film studio that has worked on many horror retellings of popular tales, including The Curse of Humpty Dumpty, The Legend of Jack and Jill, and Easter Killing.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has finished production and is expected to release some time later this year.
Source: Dread Central