As someone who lived through his childhood in the 90s, Winnie The Pooh has a special place in me. As someone who cares about memories, I still carry Piglet and Tiger’s toys as memories. And, of course, as someone who has watched everything from the movie to the animation, I was pretty excited when I heard that a horror adaptation was being made. It would be fun to see where something like this could lead, especially as a horror freak. I say, could be, because the movie itself is unfortunately not as attractive as the idea itself. Although I know it is an amateur movie shot in 10 days, these eyes have seen many amateur horror movies in the 80s. Frankly, I would have hoped that amateurism would be a little more professional.
In short, let’s talk about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey… When Christopher Robin leaves Winnie and his friends to focus on his life, our cute animals return to their essence and go berserk. And they feed on flesh, haunting the people walking around. When Christopher Robin returns to see his old friends one day, he encounters their new faces. Meanwhile, 5 girls come to a house for a holiday in the forest where these dangerous animals roam. And, of course, their holidays are ruined.
With the opening animation, the film actually establishes the foundation well, but then it stumbles, and can’t fill in the awaited excitement. We were already expecting to witness the savagery of our cute animals, which have become wild enough to eat their own friends. But director Rhys Frake-Waterfield fails to deliver on that. I have only one expectation from such B-type films that are ridiculous even in terms of their subject matter: Brutality. But I wouldn’t say the movie was able to give it to me. From the beginning to the end, apart from 1 or 2 scenes, the film can neither make you feel the danger nor present ridiculous brutality.
Although I am aware that the movie is an amateur movie, I can say that there are much more impressive death scenes in dozens of amateur movies shot in the 80s. The film’s biggest shortcoming is that the director takes it easy on many issues and turns away the camera from the moment of the event. While there was already a serious audience to go to the movie with the effect of the name, they could have increased the dose of entertainment by presenting impressive, absurd brutality to this audience. I don’t even care about the sound problems of the movie, nor the amateur shooting. I understand the director on this and admire his courage despite all the death threats. My only expectation was to see absurd deaths; unfortunately, the movie fails in this regard.
To sum it up… Although Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey managed to take me to the movies using its name, unfortunately, it did not satisfy me with its content. I expected the director to design creative deaths and scenes based on old B-movies, but the film is far from pushing the boundaries. The only expectation was to see the killing spree that Winnie and Piglet would do. As a matter of fact, I must say that I left the movie unhappy when I couldn’t see those either.
Cast & Crew
director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
writers: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
starring: Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor, Natasha Rose Mills, Amber Doig-Thorne, Danielle Ronald, Natasha Tosini, Paula Coiz, Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell
UK – USA | 2023 | 84 MINUTES |