Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is an astonishing spectacle set to “ruin all 7 billion childhood memories” as said by writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield. While clearly set back by budgetary limitations, the film is overflowing with ideas that can’t quite find any connective tissue to bring them all together by the film’s close. 

 

Let’s talk about the characters… Please let us talk about the “characters”. Apart from the titular Winnie the Pooh and his disturbing comrade Piglet,  the humans including the recognizable Christopher “Chris” Robin are all poorly fleshed out and commit to some pretty hilarious line deliveries, especially when lines tend to repeat themselves constantly. Character arcs aren’t a thing within Blood and Honey, although certain cues from the score may make you think otherwise. I couldn’t confidently tell you what any of our characters' names were beyond those most of us grew up with and you can’t truly root for a person to survive that you barely know or know absolutely nothing about.  

 

The kills are gruesome, albeit unclear at times and the Pooh and Piglet designs are amazing once you understand they are part human, part animal. Frake-Waterfield stated it was “time for a Pooh people fear” and to an extent, he captured that horrifying reality. Blood and Honey is unfocused 98% of the time, it’s a slasher at heart with a classic story behind its motivations and while I believe Frake-Waterfield accomplished what he set out to, the final product is in the safest of terms “The Room of horror”. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to rate a film such as the now classic The Room a high score, the film earns a special place in all of our cinematic hearts and it’s not unreasonable to see Blood and Honey earn a spot like that in time.