Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey Review

 

Well folks, a day after my review for the 1990 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I found out what I was going to review on Thursday. And you clearly see it isn't Animaniacs.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is a independent slasher film, and serves as a horror re-telling of the classic A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard character, Winnie-the-Pooh. It's produced by Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios and distributed by Altitude Film Distribution. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield.

The story is many years ago Christopher Robin met a group of anthropomorphic animals named Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl. As Christopher grew older he soon leaves for college and leaves his friends behind. Due to a lack of food and a harsh winter storm, the creatures went into an extreme starvation and had to eat Eeyore. This traumatized them to the point where they made a pact to not also remain silent, but to abandon their humanity and go back their feral instincts. Now Christopher has returned and there's also a group of college girls, and they both need to find a why to survive these savage killers.

Initial Reaction

If any of you read my most anticipated list then you already know why I was looking forward to this. But for any of you that haven't, let me explain. The reason why I wanted to see this was because I found the premise to be hilariously ridiculous, in a good way. Also, if I reviewed previous children's media being turned into horror flicks, such as The Banana Splits Movie and The Mean One, why not continue that tradition with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey?

Cons

My biggest gripe with the movie was the ending, or lack thereof. It didn't feel like a true ending to me. It felt more like it all came to an abrupt stop.

Middle Ground

One of the three mix bags are the characters. Now yes, you really shouldn't expect much regarding character in a slasher, especially one like this, but the movie tries and not everyone benefits. Christopher Robin isn't in the movie that much, so we really don't get much with him. Then there's the four university students [Maria, Jess, Alice, Zoe, and Lara]. Maria has a full blown story with her, so she's definitely the most developed. Alice and Zoe are in a relationship, but it's barely touched upon. As for the rest, I couldn't tell you anything. Every other character was just here to slaughtered. The gray area was the special effects. Now practical wise, they're pretty good. Where it slightly drops is with the CGI blood. It's only in small instances, but it's noticeable. Then there's the humor. The main joke is much like The Mean One, where nobody is questioning this and the characters are taken this 100% seriously. Hell, the movie itself can be viewed as a satire of the gimmicky slasher flicks. However, while I wouldn't want them to go overboard with both this and the upcoming sequel, I still feel like there could've been more obvious attempts at humor.

Pros

One thing that's for sure about Blood and Honey was how gruesome it was. Lots of brutal kills throughout the movie that I believe horror fans will love. Another pro is the look. Now the style isn't anything that's gonna set the world on fire, but for a movie made with less than $100,000 dollars, the cinematography and such is actually pretty good. The last positive thing I'll say is this wasn't boring. Sure I still had issues but, the movie is still entertaining one way or another.

Now while Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey isn't what I personally wanted it to be, it's by no means a terrible horror flick. Trust me, there's a lot worse out there than this. But overall it wasn't too bad.

My final rating is, Okay.

Alright, I'm all done here. Come back on Saturday, Feb 18th, for my review of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.