WINNIE-THE-POOH SLASHER MOVIE IS NO POT OF HONEY FILM

WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY

DIR: RHYS FRAKE-WATERFIELD

BY STEVE DINNEEN

For characters in classic literature, there is nothing more frightening than the spectre of the Public Domain. After 95 years, admittedly a not unenviable lifetime, works of fiction are no longer protected by copyright, meaning it’s open season for whoever wants to publish, adapt, borrow from or utterly pervert a piece of fiction, no matter how unhinged the individual or their ideas.

Usually it heralds a wave of adaptations, such as the ceaseless conveyor belt of A Christmas Carols and Draculas and Alices in Wonderland. But sometimes things go further.

The 2016 film Pride and Prejudice and Zombies introduced a bloody, postapocalyptic twist to Jane Austin’s novel of manners. Now it’s the turn of beloved bear Winnie-the-Pooh, who is reimagined in this low-budget slasher as a crazed sadist who, alongside his trusty sidekick Piglet, embarks upon a gruesome killing spree. Safe to say this isn’t one for kids.

There’s a certain anarchic charm in the idea of subverting a nostalgic work of fiction, of placing familiar characters into a surprising new context, and things start promisingly enough in Blood and Honey.

An animated sequence shows the aftermath of Christopher Robin leaving the Hundred Acre Wood to go to university, abandoning Pooh and Piglet and Eeyore and the rest of the gang to fend for themselves. Pooh, the silly old bear, can’t cope and after a freezing winter they are forced to eat Eeyore, imbuing them with a ferocious hatred for humans, especially Christopher Robin. All of which is bad news for a group of young women who decide to holiday at Hundred Acre Wood.

What follows is a slasher movie in thrall to the greats but devoid of any fresh ideas, the only ‘original’ element being the now-gigantic Pooh and Piglet, played by a couple of big lads in rubber masks and lumberjack shirts. There’s no riffing on what these characters might represent, nor any clever call-backs to the AA Milne books –there are a few shots of Pooh dripping honey from his quivering, lipless mouth but that’s the extent of the character study.

Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield can’t