A Hooked On Horror Review: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Updated: 2 days ago
I'm not really sure where to start with this one. I'll admit, I was intrigued by this film. I was curious to see how Rhys Frake-Waterfield would take such a beloved iconic childrens character and turn them into a pyschotic, feral killer. And the fact it pissed so many people off gave me a chuckle, so I was going into this with reasonably high hopes for a fun indie slasher.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Transformed into feral and bloodthirsty, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet terrorise Christopher Robin and a group of young women at a remote house.
As horror fans we all know there are some absolute howlers out there, but they're still enjoyable under the whole "this is so bad it's good" vibe. Unfortunately Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is not one of those films.
I know there was most likely budgetary issues that forced certain things not to be done but a lot of this film is just sloppy, lazy film making. Whilst fully embracing the tropes and cliches of most horror films, it never fully embraced the whole indie horror vibe. Felt like at times it was trying to be more of an arthouse film than the fun indie slasher it should have been. Never feels like it knows what artistic direction it's going in. Shame as there are some incredibly well shot scenes in the film.
Apologies to the cast but the acting in this is poor from start to finish. Gets to the point where you just get more and more annoyed the longer that character lives. I mean I give them props for giving it their all, but they were doomed from the beginning with a poor script and lack of direction. You can't really blame them for that. Then there's the stars of the film- Poohbear & Piglet- which I'll admit were one of the few things in this film I did enjoy. But I'll get to them in a moment.
As I said with the poor script- the plot seemingly goes absolutely nowhere. It sort of bandons what it was trying to do some of the way through and just became an out and out indie slasher. I mean usually I'd be all for that, but the film introduces other major character development plot points that get forgotten about and left out of the latter half of the film. There's a lot that will leave you scratching your head by the end.
Whilst the film makers behind this may call them 'Easter Eggs' the film was just full of moments directly lifted from far superior horror films. As I said above, it's just lazy. And as for the soundtrack, the less I say about it the better. Just bizarre if I'm honest. Sort of feels like a Hellraiser rip off.
A Hooked On Horror Review: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Ok so maybe the kills can be the films saving grace? Umm, mostly... no.
I'm trying not to just shit on this film but the CGI (especially the CGI blood) is bad to the point it's an unwelcome distraction. There are a few fun kills, but majority of them fall short and feel like another missed opportunity to really make this film pop. Most opportunities to showcase an inventive / fun kill, or classic B-Movie SFX (whether practical or CG) were ignored or the action was kept off camera. The rare occasion we did get to see some of the action, it was more detrimental than enjoyable.
There are a few positives to be fair. The design of Winnie the Pooh & Piglet are pretty great as far as B-Horrors go. Pooh still manages to still look lovable and whimsical whilst also looking unhinged. That complete with both Craig David Dowsett (Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Cordell's (Piglet) performances are probably the saving grace for this film.
Unfortunately, it's not enough to save or carry the film when the rest just feels like a under developed mess. It does feel like a massive missed opportunity, as this had a lot of potential and could've been something special for horror fans.
Maybe I've watched this in the wrong frame of mind and been far too critical, but this felt like a uphill struggle at times. Perhaps I'll feel different in future, but after initial viewing this isn't for me. I've no doubt this will find it's audience (probably), but I've no intention of re-watching this anytime soon.
