Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Review
When I found out about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and how the idea for the film came about, I was intrigued. I was even more intrigued when sportskeeda.com described it as “a throwback to the gory glory days of 90s horror cinema”…. for obvious reasons!
Looking at the cover art, I thought this film was about a hulking tower of a man donning a Pooh mask. A man who likes terrifying teens in the Hundred Acre Wood! Well, I wasn’t completely right… but I was half right! Pooh bear in this film is actually half man, half bear. Piglet, half man and half pig.
Now, before you get flashbacks of Al Gore warning the town of South Park about the coming of ManBearPig, let me tell you now, this movie is no spoof.
Whilst the original concept gives off strong B-movie vibes – the effects, performances, and execution are no small smackerel, as Pooh would say! No film is without flaws, though, and they will be laid out later in this review. For now, let us explore deeper into the woods, first looking at the plot and the themes you can expect to see.
Plot
We start with a creepy sketch animation showing Christopher’s friendship with the animals. Christopher, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit and Owl all enjoy each other’s friendship. Christopher becomes their sole provider, bringing them food to enjoy over picnics. They all play and have fun together, and Pooh Bear becomes Chris’ BFF out of the group.
But Christoper is growing up. He has to break the news to his friends that he will not be back for a long time, for he is starting his education at college. The Animals become lost without him, having no means of getting their own food. They turn feral and cannibalise Eeyore – marking the advent of their reign of terror over the woods. It is then they vow to never speak again in the spirit of their newfound hatred of humanity.
Some time has passed and Christoper Robin returns to Hundred Acre Wood with his wife, to show her that these animal friends are not imaginary. What they find is the home of the animals in a desolate state, and something doesn’t feel quite right. It’s evident that something sinister is lurking nearby!
Later in the film, we see Maria and her 4 university friends arriving at Hundred Acre Wood for a luxury holiday. Beautiful accommodation set in rural England, complete with a swimming pool and hot tub – all to help Maria get over the traumatic experience of being stalked! … Oh, bother! As the viewer, we’re very well-aware of the fact that a very pissed-off, human-hating Pooh Bear and Piglet are out for blood in the woods. The question is, who’s going to make it out alive?!!
Is this really a 90s throwback?
I would describe this flick as mid-brow – not quite low-brow, but definitely not high-brow. There are some subtextual themes which the narrative of the film follows. So it is not quite a “smart horror”, which was a prevalent trend in the 90s, however, it does show some compromise with this. It balances this subtext with being an outright slasher – which is more a product of the 80s. More on this in the summary.
Some find this a little far-reaching, but given the talking animals and the age of the stories, Winnie the Pooh may have earned fairy tale status. Another trend in the 90s was the release of many fairy tale films, in which many of these overlapped into the horror category. Films such as Rumplestiltskin (1995) and Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) are prominent examples of this crossover. A little more tenuously you could argue that Sleepy Hollow (1999) and The Witches (1990), with it’s folkloric themes, also come under the same umbrella.
Finally, I feel comfortable that this is not a full-on spoiler. The fact that Pooh seems to have command over bees gives me strong Candyman (1992) vibes!
Whilst there are some aspects of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey that are a nod to the horrors of 20-plus years ago, it is not self-aware at all to be considered Meta Horror, and too dim-witted to be considered a ‘smart horror’. There are parts which make me feel like this film is a throwback – but they have to be hunted for.
Criticism
Universally this film received bad ratings. Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer gave the film 3%, and IMDb’s average rating for the film is 2.9/ 10. The fairest review that I could see on Rotten Tomatoes is as follows:
Paula Vázquez Prieto
The horror only rises out of grotesque deaths as if they were slasher museum pieces rather than the construction of a disturbing atmosphere that reveals the sanguine reverse of a childhood experience.
I may be accused of seeing things in the film that were not there. Yet, I felt that there was enough creepiness, atmosphere and subtext between the “slasher museum pieces” to keep me enjoying the movie. Saying that, the creepiness peaks a little too early too soon for my taste. The animated introduction reminded me very much of cliché CreepyPastas, which while derivative, was interesting visually. It was novel in itself to see this in a visual format.
Another prevalent criticism is that the film was amateurishly made. Clearly, these people have not seen Alien Beasts. If you compare the quality of the gore, camera work, and set scenery to that monstrosity, perhaps you would not be so harsh.
There are a fair few plot holes within the story, many of which we cannot ignore. For example, Maria happens to have a gun. Are we forgetting that this film is set in England!? I know she is meant to be traumatised by her previous stalking experience, but where the heck is a middle-class (presumably as we see her early in the film having a private therapy session) uni student get a gun!?
Perhaps more implausible is that in the opening credits, there are shots of newspapers and news report audio which describe mutilated bodies have been found in the Hundred Acre Wood. The animals live in a permanent den, so surely a decent police search of the area would uncover this. Had just they not gotten around to it yet!?
Positive points and Summary
Now, the subtext. What subtext you ask? Well, first there is the theme of rights versus responsibility. Christopher Robin leaves the animals to fend for themselves to live out his dreams – with no thought on how they will survive. We see this crop up again in the first and second murders of the uni students. Both characters take a somewhat lackadaisical attitude towards the reason behind the holiday before their demise. That is, to help their struggling friend Maria.
The second theme I recognised and liked was that of misanthropy. Both Pooh and Maria have negative outlooks on humanity at large. Whilst Pooh and Piglet have murderous intent, Mariah is constantly fearful. Fearful enough to get a gun, as unlikely as that seems. This shared motivation of protagonist and antagonist is seen a lot in horror, and is something I find personally adds interest.
Yet with the massive and multiple plotholes, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a very entertaining watch. The film’s conclusion is unexpected, albeit not completely satisfying. As a whole, however, the low ratings feel unfair. This film does have a lot of flaws, some of which I have touched upon, some I have not listed.
The plot was essentially nonexistent, yet it was shot incredibly well, the effects are spot-on and what there is left of a story is a thrill ride. Being opportunistic or not is irrelevant.
