Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey 2 Reveals Disturbing New Bear Design – And The Future Of A Horror Subgenre
"Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" remains one of the most surprising horror hits of 2023. Made for mere thousands of dollars, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield's slasher take on the beloved children's icon caught on like wildfire, finding mainstream success that nobody involved could've expected. Now, we're getting a sequel that will have much more blood and a much larger budget. As evidence of just how much bigger the sequel will be, a first-look photo of Pooh Bear in the sequel has been revealed. It's noticeably more impressive than what came before.
The image (below) was first revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, and it shows a far more detailed mask for Pooh — one that is dripping in blood. The original film featured a more basic mask, and the reason for that mostly had to do with budget constraints. Speaking with THR, Frake-Waterfield explained just how much the filmmakers have upped their game for "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2."
"Before we had a mask bought online, some cleaning gloves from the shop downstairs and a red lumberjack shirt from Amazon. The whole monster [in the first movie] was about £630 ($770). But this time we have people doing the prosthetics — it's a company that has worked on Harry Potter's Voldemort and Star Wars. And they've been in charge of the redesigns of the creature. And that's why Pooh looks a bit more scary. There's an extra level of detail there."
"The prosthetics alone for the creatures ended up being over $20,000," the director added. The first film had a total budget of less than $100,000 and was expected to go straight to VOD. Instead, images from the film went viral online, prompting a full-on theatrical release that netted nearly $6 million at the box office.
A bigger, bloodier sequel
Jagged Edge Productions, which is run by Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Jeffery, wasn't accustomed to having their films play in theaters. This time around, however, they were very much ready for the big screen. Filming on the sequel has already wrapped and they are currently in post-production. Having more money to spend this time around also means audiences will be treated to a much bloodier cinematic outing with Pooh and his pals.
"It's magnitudes higher compared to what it was on the first film. It's over 10 times what it was," Frake-Waterfield said of the budget in a recent interview with Variety. The precise figure hasn't been revealed, but it's expected to be in the $1 million range. That is still very much a low-budget affair by Hollywood standards. Even so, Frake-Waterfield is making the most of it. Speaking in that same interview, he discussed the scope of the violence in the sequel.
"In comparison to the first film everything's stepped up massively. It's a horror film. A lot of the times people are going there for the death scenes and for those elements and we've really upped the ante. I think the last time I did a count there was over 30 deaths in the movie, which is quite substantial compared to most movies. I think that's at least over three times what the first film had and there's various massacres and stuff. So there's a lot of blood and a lot of gore."
"We've got a little problem at the moment because there are too many deaths in it!" Jeffrey revealed in the THR interview. In short, expect Pooh and the gang to rack up a much bigger body count. Also of note, Tigger will be in on the action this time around as the character will be entering the public domain before the release. Since Tigger isn't in the public domain this year, he couldn't appear in the first film.
A public domain horror universe
Horror fans have a lot more to look forward to than just one sequel though. The plan for Jagged Edge Productions is not only to keep building the "Winnie the Pooh" franchise, but also to look at more public domain childhood favorites that can be turned into horror films. The company already has "Bambi: The Reckoning" and "Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare" on the way.
As one might expect, the plan is for these films to form a universe — not unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe — with the end goal being a big crossover film down the line. Jeffrey, speaking to THR, explained that "Blood and Honey 2" is going to start setting up this universe by including some Easter eggs.
"I want them to interact with one another. There's going to be easter eggs in Winnie the Pooh 2 about two films that have not been announced yet. Just a little tiny wink. Same in Bambi. They're very much connected, but it's not in your face. And then later down the line, I guess when we run out of ideas, is where they'll start meeting one another."
Jeffrey also reveals how messed up some of this is going to be saying, "With Peter Pan, we've got a Tinkerbell addicted to pixie dust like it's heroin." Frake-Waterfield also discussed the broader plans and explained that they know now that they have to keep the quality of these films up. They can't just pump out ultra-low-budget films and hope they will catch on. Things have changed now.
"For our films to reach audiences and build up a universe and keep being theatrical, they need to be good. We've had other people try to rush stuff out. Last summer someone made a Peter Pan horror film after we announced ours, and they were trying to make it look like it was us who had made it. But they just rushed it out. And that's not the game we're in anymore."
"Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2" is currently due to arrive on February 14, 2024.