'WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY' Leaves Us Conflicted If Not Confused

The singular premise that drew us in for ‘WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY’ was that Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, the adorably clumsy characters become horrific monsters after Christopher Robin abandons them, was enticing enough for the ticket price.

The opening, hand-drawn-style of animation to set up this premise was intriguing. It adjusts the original stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends to actually being a strange group of mutations that the child, Christopher Robin, befriended. However when he abandoned them, they are driven to barbarism to fend off starvation, blaming Christopher and all humans for their plight. This opening is concluded with Christopher returning as an adult and encountering the larger and more violent Pooh and Piglet. His fate left unknown until later.

The remainder of the story follows a group of five girls staying at a rented house near 100 Acre Woods. There is subplot that one of them is recovering from being stalked, but it hardly matters, and seems mostly to fill the time and justify her having a gun. Nothing about these girls is given any significant payoff, not the gun, the struggling lesbian relationship, or the large breasts of the social-media-obsessed girl.

To put it plainly, the film leaves much to be desired. The script was lacking in drive, consistency and narrative development. The characters were shallow, poorly developed and most of the girls felt largely interchangeable. Between the five of them, they had the character depth of maybe two from a Jason Vorhees film (which appears to be a considerable inspiration).

There are, however, two big caveats.

Firstly: The production. This film was made on a budget of less than $100k, and principle photography was done in 10 days. An intense sprint on a shoestring budget. This alone almost entirely excuses and explains what the film lacks. The fact they could even get everything shot as well as they did in such a short time is honestly phenomenal.

Secondly: The effects. They clearly put their actual time, effort and talent into the special effects and set design. The kills’ effects are really impressive (even more so when considering the budget), and are well shot to show off the visceral details. They are varied and genuinely entertaining, with actually some good atmospheric build-up in between. Each kill is intended to be shown-off, nothing is rushed and very little is obscured. They were clearly confident and proud of these effects. And honestly, they totally should be.

Additionally the set design of Pooh and Piglet’s homes are really quite a spectacle, reminding me of the elaborate, large-scale sets that were made popular in the ‘90’s films that were also based off childhood comics and books (like Popeye and Hook).

This does not end well for her, but damn are the effects well done.

This is such an odd film overall. Its script reads like a student film, but its production, sets, sound design and effects are that of a mid-to-high-tier indie film. It is honestly worth the watch just for the absurd spectacle.

There is already a sequel planned, so hopefully we get to more denizens from 100 Acre Woods in their new mutated forms.

A classic Vorhees-style standoff

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