As our classic children’s novels grow older and older, the fondness and sense of prestige we feel for them only strengthens. The remakes are never as good as the originals and the new tales are never as sincere as the old ones. Now, those points are a matter of opinion, but there is another modern interpretation of children’s stories that is harder to defend.
The reinvention of children’s classics into horror movies has been splitting hairs ever since the first characters were approaching the release into the public domain. The beloved Winnie the Pooh was one of the first to jump off the cliff, leaving the protection of A.A. Milne and falling into the hands of any Tom, Dick, or Harry that can be bothered to whittle up an idea. The result of Pooh’s release into the public domain was Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which my Brig review gave a very generous two stars.
Grimm’s gory tales
The thing is a children’s tale-inspired horror could make for a good movie. The Boogeyman– albeit less of a story and more of a myth- was a genuinely scary horror film that made many in my theatre unable to keep their popcorn in their buckets, constantly startled by the jumps.
The fault with Blood and Honey is that both the Pooh depiction and the horror itself were half-arsed. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a genuine horror or a spoof, so the film fell flat. The Boogeyman was able to use the familiarity of a childhood fictional figure and make something terrifying out of it- and the film had children in it, making innocence and fear an electrifying mix.
Blood and Honey was adults in the woods being chased by humanoid animals, who’d reverted to their animalistic ways. It did not play into the fears of children, or the love children feel for the characters.
In its defense, the gore was fantastic and seeing Pooh graphically slaughter people was a little freaky. However, any film can be gory and just using the image of Pooh to create fear rather than what Pooh stands for is a cop out.
There is a sequel coming to Blood and Honey, and a trailer has also been dropped for the latest character to enter the free-for-all of the public domain: Bambi. My hopes aren’t high for either of them, but I’ll be sure to watch and see if my campaign against the horrification of children’s tales is still grounded in validity (it probably will be).
Featured image credit: Altitude Film Distribution
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