Ifhorrorfans thought October couldn’t get any better thanks to the plethora of genre films making their way to streaming just in time for spooky season, think again, becauseone of 2024’s most bizarre moviesis finally hittingPeacockthis week. PerComicBook.com, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’sWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2is making its way to the streamer on October 1, giving fans who might have missed it in theaters a chance to finally check out the controversial horror film from Jagged Edge Productions.
Based on characters created by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard,Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2serves as a direct sequel to the 2023 movie that helped kick off an interesting new trend in horror cinemathat sees beloved children’s characters that are in the public domain turned into slasher villains. Produced on a budget of just $500,000, the independent film went on to gross $7.5 million dollars at the worldwide box office, a small drop from the first outing, which managed to take in $7.7 million in receipts.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2
Starring Scott Chambers as Christopher Robin and Ryan Oliva as Winnie-the-Pooh,Blood and Honey 2follows Pooh, Tigger (Lewis Santer), and Owl (Marcus Massey) as they leave the Hundred Acre Wood to go on a blood-soaked path of terror through Robin’s hometown of Ashdown, hell-bent on getting revenge on him for revealing their existence to the outside world. With creature designs by Shaune Harrison (World War Z,Game of Thrones, theHarry Potterfranchise), and special effects by Paula Anne Booker-Harrison (Peaky Blinders), the slasher sequel was highly praised by critics for being an improvement over the first film, withMovieWeb’s own Greg Archercalling it"a love letter to horror fans who like their horror raw, rowdy, and ridiculously over-the-top."
Winnie-the Pooh Is Only the Beginning
Given the overwhelming financial success of theWinnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honeyfilms, it only made sense for Frake-Waterfield to label his creations as taking place inThe Twisted Childhood Universe, and as such, he’ll be bringing fans an entire franchise of movies that will all culminate in a glorious production that will gather his characters togetherfor what will undoubtedly be one of horror’s craziest films in years.
Next up isPeter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, which sees Wendy searching for her brother who was kidnapped by Peter Pan and Tinkerbell,followed byBambi: The Reckoning, which features everyone’s favorite white-tailed deer seeking revenge over the death of his mother.Pinocchio: Unstrungwill come next, and finally, we’ll getPoohniverse: Monsters Assemble,which will bring characters from all the preceding installments togetherfor a macabre masterpiece that will introduce new personalities such as Rabbit, Sleeping Beauty, and the Mad Hatter, who will then carry on the series going forward.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 Now in the Works, Will Have Bigger Budget
A third movie in the Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey franchise is now officially in development and will introduce more beloved characters.
WhileThe Twisted Childhood Universehas certainly not been without its detractors – many of whom are crying foul over Jagged Edge Productions taking our childhood icons and bathing them in blood – it’s clear that there’s a market for these offbeat movies that have managed to strike a chord with many, if for nothing more than showcasing what can be done on a microbudget. There’s since been a wave of imitators hoping to capitalize on their success, includingThe Mouse Trap, which also hits Peacock on October 1, and reimagines Disney’s Steamboat Willie as a deranged serial killer. Love them or hate them, as long as they keep making millions of dollars,these guilty pleasures won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
