Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey review

Coming fresh off its UK festival premiere, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is set for its home release; but does justify the hype?

The sheer audacity of creating a horror property from a classic children’s tale has sent shockwaves around the press worldwide, which has inadvertently ensured the film has done great business at the US box office alone.

Blood and Honey recreates the characters of Pooh and Piglet as feral killers who have turned on humanity following Christopher Robin’s departure.

This could have been quite fun if it leaned into its own absurdity but Blood and Honey has a really nasty and nihilistic undertone.

There is just no fun to be had here, plus despite going for a harder edge, the kill scenes lack any direction or tension effectively nullifying Pooh and Piglet’s threats. We just don’t have enough distinction of these new interpretations of the characters that they could just be any old slashers in masks hacking up girls in the woods.

The cast is largely female, but they are painted in the main as damsels in distress and it is left to a largely sidelined Christopher Robin and some random backwoods hunters (with some questionable accents) to try and save the day.

One element I did like, especially given the limited budget was the set design for Pooh’s lair which was very creepy plus the fairytale-esque music was quite effective.

Because of the financial success of Blood and Honey a sequel is guaranteed but whether there will be an appetite for it is another story.

WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD & HONEY is released in UK & Irish cinemas from 10 March and on digital from 20 March.  Own it on DVD and Blu-Ray from 17 April.