Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey Isn’t The Only Horror Movie Based On A Children's Story

At the beginning of 2022, the beloved character Winnie-the-Pooh, and all his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, entered the public domain. Only 5 months after, a low-budget slasher film featuring the lovable bear turned into a homicidal maniac was announced, and less than a year later, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was released. The film’s first announcement went viral and caused a wave of mixed reactions, Internet memes, and social media talk. However, this is far from the first time a famous children’s book has been turned into a horror movie. Many classic characters have met the same fate as Pooh and Piglet, and their horrifying reimagined stories are a must-watch for all fans of the genre, or anyone looking to reinterpret (or ruin) their beloved childhood favorites.

It is not uncommon for children’s stories to inspire horror movies. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey may be the best-known example at the moment, but it is certainly not the only one. Classic fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and old folklore tales, stories in the public domain gives filmmakers the freedom to reinterpret and twist familiar narratives and characters without any copyright issues. This often results in darker, crazier, and oftentimes hilarious adaptations that may not be possible with copyrighted material. It also avoids the high production costs of obtaining rights and licenses, which allows for smaller productions and independent creators to tell their own versions of these stories.

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Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey

This reimagined version of Winnie-the-Pooh became a hit before it was even released. The shock value of seeing beloved characters, often associated with Disney and childhood, engaging in disturbing acts of extreme violence was more than enough to get people interested. The story takes place after Christopher Robin abandons Pooh and the rest of his childhood friends in the Hundred Acre Wood when he leaves for college. Writer and director Rhys Frake-Waterfield explained, during an interview with Dread Central, that the characters went feral after they stopped getting fed by Christopher.

As the story continues, Pooh and Piglet continue their murderous rampage, rooted in their resentment towards Christopher and the pain of being abandoned. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is unhinged, violent, and packed with gore and brutal deaths. Despite its poor reception from critics, it has the potential to become a horror cult-classic, and anyone looking for nightmare-fuel should look no further.

Pinocchio’s Revenge

If there’s one beloved children’s story perfect for the horror genre, it’s Pinocchio. Not much needs to be done to turn this story about a wooden boy who wants to become a human into a terrifying nightmare. Both Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion and the Disney animated classic are already considered creepy enough by themselves. However, the 1996 direct-to-video horror slasher Pinocchio’s Revenge takes the already disturbing story to a brand-new horrifying level.

Pinocchio’s Revenge reimagines the classic story as a low-budget horror slasher that closely resembles the plot of Child’s Play, starring the titular puppet. The story follows Jennifer Garrick (Rosalind Allen) a lawyer who is defending a convicted child murderer (Lewis Van Bergen). A Pinocchio puppet doll is brought to Jennifer as evidence for the case, and when she brings the doll home, her emotionally vulnerable daughter develops a bond with it. As per usual for the genre, weird and twisted things start happening, and Pinocchio begins killing those around him. Rather than a direct adaptation, the film can be seen as more of a homage to the original story. Although its production and direct-to-video release has made it pretty forgettable, it still delivers a different and twisted take on the beloved classic story for those who can’t get enough versions of Pinocchio.

The Curse of Humpty Dumpty

Dolls are a staple of horror cinema, and just as the original story of Pinocchio, The Curse of Humpty Dumpty also features a beloved children’s character as an evil creepy doll antagonist. Made by the same studio that later released Blood and Honey, this horror film is somewhat inspired by the classic nursery rhyme about an egg who falls from a wall and breaks into pieces. While the titular character takes its name from the famous poem, the movie version of Humpty Dumpty is a terrifying haunted doll with an egg-shaped head rather than the egg with arms and legs countless people have become familiar with.

The Curse of Humpty Dumpty follows an elderly woman suffering from dementia. She discovers her old childhood Humpty Dumpty doll at an antiques store, and the minute the doll enters her home, as expected, things start going horribly wrong. Rather than the typical fast-paced violence-packed haunted doll story, the film focuses more on psychological horror and family drama. It may disappoint those expecting to see a beloved egg going on a violent killing spree, but the story, but those interested in story-focused horror may enjoy this brand-new take on the nursery rhyme character.

While these low-budget horror adaptations aren’t exactly a fit for the Oscars, they can almost serve as a cathartic experience for viewers. They clearly aren’t meant for the entirety of the mainstream demographic that enjoys their source material, but blending horror and violent elements with stories and characters that often carry a sense of innocence offers something unique, unpredictable, and fun to fans of horror and slasher content. As time goes by, more classic stories and characters enter the public domain, opening the possibilities for new interpretations. With the success of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, it is more than likely that filmmakers will continue taking familiar stories and giving them macabre horror twists that will keep people talking.

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