Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield has introduced Winnie the Pooh again to the massive display – however as an alternative of the loveable, honey-guzzling youngsters’s character created by AA Milne, he is now a grotesque killing machine.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey follows occasions after Christopher Robin departs the 100 Acre Wooden for faculty, leaving Pooh and Piglet to grow to be feral monsters as they attempt to survive within the wilderness. When Christopher returns as an grownup along with his fiancée, he’s quickly terrorised by his outdated childhood associates.
It is a premise that immediately went viral final 12 months when the trailer captured the creativeness of the web – and that was precisely what Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Jeffrey supposed when brainstorming concepts.
The group described their course of as “hook and idea based mostly”, and when Winnie the Pooh entered the general public area in January 2022, they rapidly realised they’d struck gold.
“As a result of the idea is so wacky and unusual and really totally different, lots of people battle to think about how he may very well be a killer,” Frake-Waterfield informed RadioTimes.com throughout an unique interview. “So we knew we had this X-factor to the concept we needed to make into a movie.”
The inventive duo initially toyed with the thought of creating Pooh like a Chucky character, a small doll operating round with a knife – however with such a small funds they realised it wouldn’t be potential with out the particular results essential to drag this off.
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And so as an alternative, they turned Winnie the Pooh and Piglet into six foot half-human, half-animal hybrids.
“[We] go down a Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers route, who’re simply these massive, imposing, and largely silent monsters who’re searching individuals down and it is extra focused in direction of a slasher,” stated Frake-Waterfield. “[But] it additionally has these humorous parts and satire to it as a result of finally it’s Winnie the Pooh irrespective of how a lot we attempt to make it tremendous scary.”
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And certainly, each Frake-Waterfield and Jeffrey had been eager to level out that enjoyable is a crucial a part of the movie, with the pair urging cinemagoers to not take it too critically.
“If you happen to go to the cinema to look at a Winnie the Pooh horror movie, go in there and have enjoyable,” stated the director. “Go there to giggle at factors and don’t count on a grounded, elevated horror.”
Jeffrey added: “We’ve not made Hereditary right here, we’ve made Winnie the Pooh. Some individuals count on this actually heavy, story-developed, character-driven film nevertheless it’s not, it’s individuals getting slashed up left, proper, and centre and it’s actually enjoyable.”
Frake-Waterfield and Jeffrey have massive plans for future horror motion pictures just like Blood and Honey, and are engaged on making a universe incorporating quite a few beloved characters. This results in their upcoming film Bambi: The Reckoning, a horror reimagining of the Disney traditional with Jeffrey this time taking up directorial duties.
“It’s going to be carnage,” Jeffrey stated of the movie. “It’s going to be like Jurassic Park meets The Ritual! He’s savage, he’s not going to take s**t from anybody, he’ll destroy a number of individuals in a single hit and it’s going to be actually violent.”
Frake-Waterfield added: “It’s like Bambi on rabies. It’s not a small cute deer; it’s a seven foot monstrosity.”
There are additionally plans for a Peter Pan film, and while the duo are nonetheless within the strategy planning stage for this movie, it may characteristic an “extremely obese” Tinkerbell who has a crippling pixie mud habit.
Regardless of the clear parody of turning Winnie the Pooh and Bambi into vicious killers, Frake-Waterfield has identified that this strategy is probably extra in line with the origins of many Disney and fairy story characters than individuals may count on.
“Once you have a look at their first model they’re much darker than what it has been twisted into,” he defined. “They’ve all these darkish and twisted parts and I believe that’s a part of the attraction of what we’re doing as a result of we’re taking one thing and twisting it again into virtually what it initially was.”
Jeffrey added: “Some persons are saying that these characters are their childhood however earlier than they had been these nice pretty characters they may have been this demented and twisted factor.
“Our massive factor is that we’re not making an attempt to upset anybody – in order for you your model of Bambi then hold that and our’s doesn’t need to exist, however we don’t like cuddly creatures so we’re simply making the movies that we need to watch.”
After all, the movie trade is basically a money-making enterprise and distributors won’t all the time take a big gamble on this kind of film – however Frake-Waterfield believes the viral success of Winnie the Pooh may very well be the litmus check for this sub-genre of horror.
There have already been talks a few darker live-action model of Barney the Dinosaur with Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya, plus there’s the long-awaited 5 Nights at Freddy’s which has began filming with Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson in key roles.
“That’s actually thrilling for us,” stated Frake-Waterfield. “As horror followers, [we’re] so excited to look at 5 Nights at Freddy’s and the Barney horror movie as a result of they’d come out to me as they sound thrilling and modern, and it’s not the identical outdated werewolf or zombie film. It’s making a wave of recent ideas.”
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is launched in UK cinemas on Friday tenth March. If you happen to’re searching for extra to look at, go to our Movie hub or try our TV Information and Streaming Information.
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