The ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ horror movie trailer is here. And, yes, that’s blood in his honey
Winnie-the-Pooh has always had a craving for honey, but now he’s bloodthirsty.
Or at least that’s the premise for the upcoming slasher film “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.”
The movie’s first trailer dropped Wednesday morning and showed a new, deadly side to the silly ol’ bear. The plot centers on Winnie (Craig David Dowsett) and his buddy Piglet (Chris Cordell) as they seek revenge on their old friend Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) for abandoning them after enrolling in university.
After years of separation from their favorite human, the two once-cuddly buds turned against humanity and stop at nothing to reunite with and kill Christopher, leaving a trail of bodies along the way.
The Rhys Waterfield-directed film’s sneak peek shows a soon-to-be married Christopher returning to his hometown with his fiancée to introduce her to his buddies in the Hundred Acre Wood. Instead, they arrive to a grisly and desolate scene and immediately notice something is wrong. The remainder of the trailer is a montage of Winnie and Piglet killing young people.
Not traumatic at all for fans of Winnie-the-Pooh and his many friends.
But how is this movie even possible? How could Disney allow the pants-adverse tubby little cubby to be portrayed in such a way?
Well, it didn’t.
‘Winnie-the-Pooh,’ ‘The Sun Also Rises’ and many other works entered the public domain on Saturday. They show what’s wrong with the system.
Starting this year, characters from A.A. Milne’s 1926 book “Winnie-the-Pooh” have been released from copyright restrictions and entered the public domain. That means anyone can use the characters’ likeness without facing legal action. It’s important to note that this applies only to the characters as originally rendered in Milne’s book and not to the red crop top-wearing cartoon Disney character, which is still very much protected by copyright.
In an interview with Variety in May, when the first photos from the set came out, Waterfield said the film was capitalizing on its online buzz from the absurdity of a Winnie-the-Pooh horror flick.
“Because of all the press and stuff, we’re just going to start expediting the edit and getting it through post production as fast as we can,” said Waterfield. “But also, making sure it’s still good. It’s gonna be a high priority.”
He also noted that the movie was shot in 10 days in England, near Ashdown Forest, the real-life inspiration for Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood.
Waterfield made it abundantly clear that his take on the characters would have nothing to do with Disney’s.
“No one is going to mistake this [for Disney],” Waterfield said. “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.”
Disney’s copyright protection for the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse will expire in 2024, and Republicans want to make sure of it. Does it matter?
Predictably, people online had some thoughts about the gory trailer.
“‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ looks like it might be the worst movie ever made,” tweeted @laneymakesstuff. “That said, I plan to preorder tickets and be there opening night.”
@HalloweenYrRnd wrote, “No matter how this movie turns out, I just love the fact that as soon as Winnie the Pooh went public domain, this is the first new movie we get!”
@AhmedBaba_also loved the ridiculousness of the film, writing: “The fact the very second Winnie the Pooh became usable in the public domain someone was like ‘let’s make him and piglet murderous monsters’ is hilarious.”
Others were less cheerful about the new spin on Winnie.
“Ok I get it now it’s a generic low budget horror with no real identity of it’s own EXCEPT for the fact it’s using Winnie The Pooh in an effort to drum up social media clicks right?” wrote @NoahIsAHuman.
@TheConnorRentz refused to give the trailer any thought and redirected fans of the bear to another interpretation, writing: “anyway christopher robin is the only live-action winnie the pooh movie that we will ever need it is perfect and no other interpretation is required.”
Scott Wampler of the horror-based publication Fangoria captured the energy of the whole situation, tweeting: “Good morning. S— is already weird.”
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