Intellectual property rights have a duration: seventy years after the death of its author, his heirs can claim nothing. Those who can claim are the spectators who see Winnie the Pooh: honey and blood.
Rhys Frake-Waterfield took advantage of the fact that the rights to the work of Alan Alexander Milne they expired in 2022. In other words, there are no more rights, but he also has no right to do what he did.
And not because he borrowed the character and transformed into an animal -which he had-thirsty for blood -and honey-.
NO.
What if the Brazilians made an erotic version of it Snow WhiteWhy shouldn’t a Brit make a horror film with the character that made Disney popular?
The problem with this “adaptation” is that it basically takes Winnie the teddy bear, Piglet the pig, and Christopher Robin a few years after the then-boy goes to school.
various aberrations
Since then, says a voiceover, while what you see are drawings, Christopher’s animal friends have developed a hatred for all things human. They became aberrations, and made a pact: they would renounce their humanity, and return to their animal roots, vowing never to speak again.
The Hundred Acre Wood, where Christopher Robin returns with his girlfriend, is never the same. She accompanies him, but doesn’t really believe that Pooh and the others existed except in the head of his lover. She tells him they were imaginary friends and he says no.
Until, yes, Piglet and the bear appear, who have bodies similar to human ones (could it be because they are played by two actors, covered by rigid masks?) and the “I’ll protect you, everything will be fine”, which Chris tells him, says to his girlfriend, to “Fuck you,” which he utters, you can imagine when, there’s a stretch. An hour and ten minutes, give or take.
The problem with the film isn’t that it’s low budget. -The rain is so crazy that it rains on half the screen and not the other- otherwise there is no idea. Or there is no other idea than to exploit the character’s name. Because here it doesn’t matter if his name is Winnie the Pooh, or Freddy, Jason or Michael. All four are indestructible.
Because he also takes advantage of the Disney film, not the one with the cartoon, but Christopher Robin: An Unforgettable Reunion (2018), in which the titular boy left his stuffed animals in the 100-acre woods because he was joining the army and when he had already become a Ewan McGregor returns to the Hundred Acre Wood to find them alive and friendly.
Well, not here. Christopher refers to his animal friends as “strange mutant animal hybrids” who depended on Chris for food. And when he leaves, the animals have begun to starve. Owl, Piglet, Rabbit and Pooh even ate Eeyore.
It’s the cinema of exploitation in a slasher key, with this pair of gigantic humanoids with masks as if they were from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but more rustic, without humor, without using any iconography, or original dialogues, or anything else.
The director has already warned that he will make a sequel, which has raised only $5 million worldwide, and hopes to make another Peter Pan and Neverland film, a horror version. In other words, more of the terror await us.
Do not wait for me
“Winnie the Pooh: Honey and Blood”
Terror. United Kingdom, 2023. Original title: “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey”. 84′, SAM 16 R. From: Rhys Frake Waterfield. With: Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor, Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell. Rooms: Cinépolis Recoleta, Hoyts Dot and Unicenter, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.
Source: Clarin
