“Is nothing sacred?”: Horror movie ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’ image reveal leaves netizens divided

Disney's Winnie the Pooh has left an indelible impression on millions of people who cannot imagine their childhood without this memorable character. However, the sweet, lovable anthropomorphic bear will now be depicted in an entirely new light in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.

As the name suggests, this upcoming film uproots the beloved character from his sunlit world of Hundred Acre Wood and thrusts him into the realm of slasher horror flicks of yesteryear. The emergence of first-look images from the movie has sent netizens into a flurry and left them divided over the revamping of the yellow bear.

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Winnie the Pooh enters public domain after almost a century

Disney fans will be left utterly blindsided by this complete 180-degree character arc, but that's because this new horror film is not associated with the multinational entertainment conglomerate at all.

Winnie the Pooh was first created by A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard in 1926. It became a household name upon its adaptation by Walt Disney Productions in 1961 to become one of the most renowned children’s entertainment franchises.

However, since the project was created before the historic Copyright Act of 1976, it has enjoyed a copyright of 95 years that expired at the end of 2021. By virtue of this, Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain on January 1, 2022, thereby removing Disney as the exclusive owner of the character and its story. The Pooh story is now up for grabs for anyone who wishes to present their own take on it.

This is precisely what enables Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the director and writer of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, to wheel the sacred character into the bloody and gruesome world he has created. The R-rated independent indie horror film produced by Jagged Edge Productions is still under wraps, with little being known about it.

However, Frake-Waterfield did reveal first-look images into Blood and Honey, which gave viewers a taste of what to expect — a throwback to the gory glory days of 90s horror cinema. The film's protagonist isn't the jolly anthropomorphic teddy we all remember, appearing to be a man donning a morbid mask of Winnie the Pooh instead.

Another still shows the creepy Pooh hovering behind a woman in a bathtub, alongside another masked character, presumably his trusty side-kick Piglet. With bloody warnings of "Get out" painted across windows, macabre frames of Pooh wielding a deadly sledgehammer looming over a tied-up victim, and the classic horror-genre lighting, the images certainly deliver on creating a haunting, chilling atmosphere.

Blood and Honey does not have an established release date yet, but it is rumored to be in the post-production stage. The film's IMDb page brands it "a horror retelling of the famous legend of Winnie the Pooh." The cast list includes Craig David Dowsett as Pooh, Chris Cordell as Piglet, Amber Doig-Thorne as Alice, and Maria Taylor as Maria, among others.

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Netizens are conflicted over first-look images of the horror flick

The unveiling of the first-look images sent Twitter into a frenzy, eliciting a divided response. One camp is understandably scandalized at the decimation of the sacred character in their precious childhood memories, while the other applauds the creative liberty taken by Frake-Waterfield to craft this grisly and spine-chilling twist on the iconic character..

Here are a few reactions to the promotional pictures.

While the film has certainly been contentious, it holds the promise of faring well commercially, if only to check out if the hype was worth it. The release date is unclear, but we will update you regarding the same as soon as there is official confirmation.