For fans of schlocky horror, 2023 is off to a sweet start. After months of viral hype,
"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" is almost here. Here's all you need to know.
For horror aficionados, Winter 2023 is all about the viral dancing robot slasher
"M3GAN," M. Night Shyamalan's "Knock at the Cabin," "Scream 6," and, for the real sickos,
the childhood-tarnishing "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey." Such a project is possible
thanks to the original "Winnie-the-Pooh" IP entering the public domain in January of 2022.
The first trailer for "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" premiered in August of 2022,
providing viewers with their first look at its murderous versions of Pooh and
Piglet in action since still images of the characters first appeared in May.
"We used to be friends. Why are you doing this?"
The trailer opens with an adult Christopher Robin introducing his fiancee Mary to the
Hundred Acre Wood, where he spent his childhood taking care of Pooh and company. Christopher,
however, has trouble locating his old friends,
and even stumbles upon a makeshift scrap lumber gravestone for Eeyore.
"Thank you, Pooh."
Pooh seemingly dispatches Christopher and Mary with ease, before directing his and
Piglet's murder spree toward a group of college girls staying at a rural cabin,
where the balance of the film looks to take place. Naturally, the trailer concludes with glimpses of
horrified and sometimes bloody faces, teasing the kills that will likely drive "Blood and Honey."
In June of 2022, shortly after its core concept went viral online, Dread Central spoke with the
director of "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey," Rhys Frake-Waterfield, about the film's plot.
Notably, he made it clear that Pooh and Piglet are not humans in masks,
but instead a humanoid bear and a humanoid pig, just as in the source text. Their reason for
becoming violent is that Christopher Robin fed them when he was younger,
before growing up and leaving them to fend for themselves without a proper source of
food. They hunt and kill humans, then, both for sustenance and out of anger at their lot in life.
The general public first learned of "Winnie-the-Pooh:
Blood and Honey" around May of 2022, at which point filming had already wrapped,
according to an early profile that Variety published around that time. The "Blood and
Honey" team, it turns out, was able to conclude filming in just 10 days.
Fittingly, the project was filmed near the Ashdown Forest located on the outskirts of East Sussex,
England, which once served as inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood in which "Winnie-the-Pooh" takes
place. Then, after receiving positive responses to early still photos of "Blood and Honey,"
its creators decided to expedite its release to make the most of the growing momentum behind it.
As a result of this quick turnaround, "Winnie-the-Pooh:
Blood and Honey" will hit theaters in the United States on February 15, 2023,
as a single-day theatrical engagement, so those interested in catching it in theaters will have
to plan to see it that very day. "Blood and Honey" will also screen in the United Kingdom,
Canada, Mexico, and some additional countries, though whether or not it
will remain in theaters for a longer period of time worldwide has yet to be announced.
"Blood and Honey" is a decidedly independent production,
so its cast is largely composed not of marquee names, but instead of actors
whose experience consists predominantly of other independent horror projects.
Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield has served as a producer on more than
20 such independent horror movies, most of which were released between 2021 and 2022,
and draw from similarly over-the-top premises. These include films with names like "Dinosaur
Hotel," "The Legend of Jack and Jill," "Kingdom of the Dinosaurs," and "Curse of Jack Frost."
As a director, Frake-Waterfield's past work consists of three releases: a short titled
"Go Viral," alien horror film "The Area 51 Incident," and the cheeky Christmas slasher
"Demonic Christmas Tree." Furthermore, Frake-Waterfield's name is attached to
several upcoming releases beyond just "Blood and Honey," including "Dinosaur Prison," "Firenado,"
and "Rise of Loch Ness," all of which seem to indicate their premises in their titles.