Nearly a century old, Winnie the Pooh is a household name. The beloved bear first appeared in A. A. Milne’s stories, which Disney adapted into feature films and shorts. While Disney’s licensed character wears a red shirt, Milne’s Winnie the Pooh character entered public domain on January 1.
And now there’s going to be a horror movie starring the bear by the same name.
The Winnie the Pooh horror movie is called “Blood and Honey.” Starring Craig David Dowsett as Winnie and Chris Cordell as Piglet, Jagged Edge Productions is producing the movie. It is unconfirmed whether or not other characters, like Eeyore, Kanga and Roo, will make appearances.
The film entered post-production on April 16 and reports indicate that it will be out later this year. The film is not yet rated.
The premise of the film, according to writer and producer Rhys Waterfield, is that “Christopher Robin is pulled away from them, and he’s not [given] them food, it’s made Pooh and Piglet’s life quite difficult.” Winnie the Pooh and Piglet then embark on a murderous rampage.
Variety characterized the first stills as “showing a demonic Pooh and Piglet about to pounce on a scantily-clad young woman relaxing in a hot tub” and said the images “have already set the internet on fire.”
According to the Independent, reactions to the creation of the film have been mixed. One person praised the film by saying, “This is why public domain is a good thing.” Others claim that the stills and subsequent film will “ruin their childhood.”
While much about the film is still unknown, Waterfield has indicated that it’s not family-friendly. “No one is going to mistake this (for Disney),” he said, per Variety. “When you see the cover for this and you see the trailers and the stills and all that, there’s no way anyone is going to think this is a child’s version of it.”
This is not the first time this production company, Jagged Edge, has turned once beloved bedtime stories into bloody horror films. The company has also produced films like “The Curse of Humpty Dumpty,” rated TV-MA, and “The Legend of Jack and Jill,” rated TV-14.
The few details revealed about the film involve violence, like alluding to the eating of Eeyore or depicting Pooh and Piglet running over a woman with their car. One journalist concluded her coverage of the film with, “Maybe don’t bring your kids once the film comes out.”