Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 – REVIEW

There is something quite toxic about the premise of this low budget horror movie. The decision to macabrely tarnish the pure image of lovable characters from the classic story of Winnie-the-Pooh authored by A.A Milne and Illustrated by E.H Shepard is simply abhorrent.

Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Owl in a bygone innocent era were iconic characters in a wholesome bedtime story which parents would read to their young children before going to sleep.

Once the 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh book entered the public domain after the copyright lapsed in the United States in 2022, it was just a matter of time before unscrupulous and money hungry filmmakers would fracture the fond childhood memories of these characters in slasher horror-based flicks.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 is a sequel to the highly profitable yet equally despicable original, which unfortunately opened Pandora’s box with the announcement that there will be more children’s stories mutilated in the Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU).

The premise of this film is witless and repugnant. The township of Ashdown is being rampaged by murderous villains Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Owl after Christopher Robin revealed their existence in the original movie. The group will mercilessly slay anybody who gets in their way as they attempt to have their revenge on Christopher Robin. It’s all blood and no honey.

This horror flick is absolutely awful. What predicably transpires in the opening sequence in which three young women are fooling around with a ouija board, is horrific yet hysterical, owing to the amateurish performances of these wannabe actresses – and the sub-average performances continue to saturate the movie throughout.

The torture methods implemented by these once lovable and innocent characters just seems to escalate as the movie progresses, the purpose of this blood fest is unashamedly to shock moviegoers with inventive, never before seen scenes of extreme gore.

Memorable for all the wrong reasons, each performance is cringeworthy, and the deplorable script should never have been green -lit into production. It’s difficult to stay focused and so easy to tune out. It’s vulgar, obnoxious, and hideous, best categorized as celluloid fodder.

The justifiable recipient of five Razzie Awards (the extreme opposite of the Oscars i.e. awards presented for the worst movies) is truly an underwhelming embarrassment. The biggest shock in the movie is in the final moments – it appears a second sequel is on its way!

Unfortunately, future projects in this newly created Twisted Childhood Universe include Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Pinocchio: Unstrung and incredulously, horror reincarnations of The Powderpuff Girls, Teletubbies and Thor.

Do we laugh or cry that filmmakers are stooping so low for the sake of ‘art’?

In the meantime, movie goers are able to attend screenings of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 – but be warned you’ll wish you didn’t…

★

In Cinema March 28