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Film: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Year: 2023
Director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Writer: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Starring: Maria Taylor, Craig David Dowsett and Chris Cordell
Review:
This was a movie that when I first heard about it made me laugh. The closer we got to it coming out, I was intrigued to check it out. When it came to the Gateway Film Center, I made it a point to see it on the big screen. It is just wild to be honest.
Synopsis: after Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon) abandons them for college, Pooh (Craig David Dowsett) and Piglet (Chris Cordell) embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food.
Now where I’m going to start is that I don’t recall watching Winnie the Pooh growing up. I know a bit about the character and his friends, but I’m far from an expert. I like that writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield seems to know enough of the subject to incorporate elements. We start this with seeing a book version of the events. They are narrated by Toby Wynn-Davies. Christopher Robin befriended odd half man-half animals things living in the woods. Among them are Pooh, Piglet and a few others from the story. One day, Christopher didn’t come back and they started to starve as he was bringing food. This drove them mad.
We then shift to the present. Christopher comes back to 100 Acre Woods with his wife, Mary (Paula Coiz). He went away to college and while he was there, he talked about his friends. Mary doesn’t believe him but is coming along in support. This makes Christopher uneasy. He is determined to prove it. What he finds though isn’t what he is expecting.
Also coming to this area are a group of women. Alice (Amber Doig-Thorne) needs time away due to a stalker situation that she had. Coming with her are Jess (Natasha Rose Mills), Zoe (Danielle Ronald), Tina (May Kelly), Charlene (Danielle Scott) Maria (Maria Taylor) and Lara (Natasha Tosini). One of them is running late and has a strange encounter on her way. The rest also get more than they bargained for when as the synopsis said, Pooh and Piglet are out looking for a new food source.
That is where I’ll leave my recap as I’ll be honest, there isn’t much to the story here. I chatted with a buddy of mine after the movie ended and we both agreed. This is taking a backwoods slasher and taking out killer you’d normally get to replace it with Pooh and Piglet. We see newspaper headlines for the credits that give you a bit of information about this duo, but it is never fully explained. I don’t necessarily know if that is a bad thing. I personally don’t know if they’re just a couple of insane people wearing masks or are they mutant hybrids.
Regardless of that, this movie knows what it is doing and leaning into. The kills are what you are here for. They even make most of our group of women being unlikable or given much personality. We don’t connect with them and care what happens. The only one that you could argue against would be Maria. I believe she is the one dealing with the stalker. I give credit to the effects. The blood and gore we get is good. There’s quite a bit of that which I wasn’t expecting. They go brutal with the kills which had my theater cheering. I should include here that it was a full house.
I do have some negatives though and it comes with the acting. Doig-Throne is fine. My issues with her are with the writing I feel like. They include this back-story, but it doesn’t go anywhere so I’m not sure why. The rest of her friend group was underdeveloped. I did know there was Tosini who is Lara, she is addicted to social media. The dialogue isn’t good so that doesn’t help. I will credit Dowsett and Cordell. They have good size as these two killers. They don’t have much personality due to the masks. Leon and Coiz are fine as the Robins, but they fall in the same trappings as their co-stars if I’m honest. The acting holds this back a bit unfortunately.
All that is left to go into then would be with the filmmaking. I think that the cinematography is good. We get good shots so I can appreciate that. Knowing where to focus the character to hide the seams of effects is good. I also like the setting being as far out and isolated as it is. Another strong aspect here is the soundtrack. It sets the atmosphere and I was impressed.
In conclusion, this is a movie that coming in I didn’t think would work. This is absurd, but they play it straight. It oddly works as a backwoods slasher with having these odd hybrid killers. The acting isn’t good, but that’s not the focus. It is all about the effects. The rest of the filmmaking was good around it, with special credit to the soundtrack. Don’t come in expecting much. This is a fun, shut off your brain movie and is there for the slasher fans in my opinion. That’s who I would recommend seeing this.
My Rating: 6 out of 10