Blood, Honey, And The Fragility Of Childhood
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We’ve all heard the statement: “this thing ruined my childhood!” The phrase really started to take traction with the release of the Star Wars prequel films and all their myriad problems. Jar Jar was dumb. Anakin was a moron, and we hated seeing him as a kid. The effects took away from the film. All of it. It’s still said all over the internet. The sequel trilogy has gotten its fair share of it, there are constant remakes or random sequels of everything these days, and Disney has pumped out mediocre-to-bad film after mediocre-to-bad film all to cash in on nostalgia, causing some people to have a lesser look on the original property.
Then there’s horror.
As a general rule, a big part of the horror genre is the twisting of the innocent. It’s one of the reasons The Exorcist worked so well: we saw Reagan as an ordinary kid before being possessed by a demon. It’s not just limited to official media either. Kids’ shows like My Little Pony and Teletubbies both have sections of the internet devoted to putting a horror spin on them (though My Little Pony has been known to dip its toes into some dark subject matter by itself) and generally making the products… not for kids.
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This brings us to a melding of the two. In late 2022, the internet was taken by storm by the news that a slasher film starring Winnie the Pooh was coming out, titled Blood and Honey. The trailer has 4.7 million views on YouTube, with more people viewing unofficial trailers and uploading reaction videos. The backstory is that in January of 2022, Winnie-the-Pooh and several of his friends officially became public domain, meaning that anybody could do whatever they wanted to with the characters. Try to release a Pooh horror film in 2021? Sued into oblivion. 2022? All good, legally speaking.
A movie is coming where Winnie the Pooh tries to kill Christopher Robin because he’s gone feral along with Piglet. But, at the same time, they’re gonna kill a bunch of dumb teenagers.
So what?
Childhood nostalgia is only as fragile as you make it. Does a man in a cheap rubber boar mask stalking teenage girls who happen to have the name Piglet ruin the times when you were in Disneyworld and hugged a costumed Piglet? Does a silly Pooh mask ruin the childhood memories of you watching old movies or reading the books that you then watch and read with your kids? No. Not unless you let it, and even then, that would be difficult. Blood and Honey is coasting by for the moment on its vaguely shocking premise. Most people won’t go to see the movie in theaters, and the internet will forget all about it. Likewise, the planned sequel that promises to be even bloodier and more disturbing will probably be met with zero fanfare or interest since the shock of a Winnie the Pooh slasher film will have worn off, and everybody will have forgotten it.
If that ruins your childhood, that’s… disappointing. The best this film can do is be a cult classic, either because people hold on to the shock value or it becomes a ‘“so bad, we love it” kind of film.
As more characters become public domain, expect to see more of this kind of thing, especially if Blood and Honey has a modicum of success. But again, how can a man in a cheap rubber mask that is Pooh only in name ruin your memories of reading the books as a child? It can’t. Blood and Honey will fade into obscurity. Your memories of that silly old bear won’t.
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