Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II is a British independent slasher film directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield and written by Matt Leslie. It is the second film in the Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU) and a sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), which served as a horror reimagining of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh books. The film stars Scott Chambers, Ryan Oliva, Eddy MacKenzie, Lewis Santer, Marcus Massey and Simon Callow. It follows Pooh and his gang as they embark on a murderous rampage through Christopher Robin's childhood town and seeking revenge on him.
Following the success of the first film, director Frake-Waterfield expressed interest in a sequel that, eventually, was greenlit in November 2022. Original cast members Nikolai Leon, Craig David Dowsett and Chris Cordell will not return for the sequel, with new cast members Chambers, Oliva, and MacKenzie replacing them as Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Piglet, respectively.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II has theatrically released for three days beginning on March 26, 2024.
== Plot ==
After Christopher Robin flees the Hundred Acre Wood, he returns to his childhood town of Ashdown to seek help. Several days later, the corpses of Maria and her friends are recovered from the woods, but Christopher is believed to be responsible; nobody believes his story about Winnie-the-Pooh's killing spree.
Now an outcast of the town, Christopher. who lost his job as a doctor, has nightmares about Pooh and goes to his hypnotherapist Samantha to deal with a childhood trauma when his twin brother Billy was kidnapped and never seen again. Meanwhile, Pooh and Piglet are recovering from the events of the first film. Due to a few people who believe Christopher's story, they are forced to hide with fellow creatures Tigger and Owl.
After Pooh and Owl slaughter a group of girls in an recreational vehicle, they are ambushed by some hunters who kill Piglet, not before being killed by Tigger as well. One hunter survives and returns to Ashdown, where he is hospitalized Christopher learns that only a hunter survived and told him what happened. He also meets Cavendish, the hospital's janitor, and confronts him about the creatures. Cavendish reveals that he worked for Dr. Arthur Gallup, a scientist who forced him to kidnap kids around Ashdown for experiments with animal genes. The kids did not survive and were buried in the Hundred Acre Wood, where they ended up coming back as half-animal, half-human hybrids with an enhanced healing factor.
When Gallup failed to mix animal genes with human genes, he commited suicide. Christopher decides to warn the town about Pooh's imminent attack, but faces ridicule and skepticism.
That same night, Pooh, Tigger, and Owl embark on a murderous rampage through Ashdown, which leads to the death of many residents. Pooh kills Christopher's parents Alan and Daphne and kidnaps his younger sister Bunny. Christopher is taken by his childhood friend Lexy to a rave party at a warehouse, where Tigger slaughters several partygoers.
Christopher and Lexy manage to kill Tigger when they learn that Bunny was kidnapped. In the woods, Christopher fights Pooh and calls him by his real name: Billy. Pooh apparently remembers his childhood with Christopher but sets out to kill him for abandoning them, leading to Eeyore being canni balized in the past. Christopher kills Pooh with an axe before he reunites with Lexy and Bunny. Footage from the creatures' killing spree on Ashdown is passed to the police, and Christopher is cleared of all wrongdoings.
Owl, having survived, recovers the bodies of Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet, and promises to find a way to revive them.
== Cast ==
* Scott Chambers as Christopher Robin
* Ryan Oliva as Winnie-the-Pooh
** Peter DeSouza-Feighoney as Young Winnie-the-Pooh
* Eddy MacKenzie as Piglet
* Lewis Santer as Tigger
* Marcus Massey as Owl
* Simon Callow as Cavendish
== Production ==
In a June 2022 interview with Josh Korngut of Dread Central, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield expressed interest in creating a sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), and stated that he wants to "ramp it up even more and go even crazier and go even more extreme". In September 2023, teaser images were released showing the addition of the new character Owl. Principal photography also concluded that month. The film features a new cast and new character designs, and takes place in the Ashdown community rather than the Hundred Acre Wood. Additionally, the character Tigger, who was absent from the first film, appears since going in the public domain in January 2024. It was written by Matt Leslie.
The film was originally reported to have a budget five times larger than its predecessor; it would later be confirmed that the budget had increased to ten times larger than the first film. Shaune Harrison, who previously worked on productions such as World War Z, the Wizarding World franchise, and Game of Thrones, was the film's creature and gore designer, while Paula Anne Booker leads the special effects. In 2023, it was revealed Frake-Waterfield intended to have Pooh wield a chainsaw as a weapon in the film, and that the film would feature over 30 deaths. The film takes inspiration from Terrifier 2 (2022).
Winnie-the-Pooh's prosthetics in the film cost over $20,000 compared to the $770 spent on the first film's costume.
== Release ==
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II is scheduled to be released in cinemas by Fathom Events for three days, starting on March 26, 2024.
== Future ==
In November 2022, two other horror films were announced: Bambi: The Reckoning and Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, respectively based on Bambi, a Life in the Woods and Peter and Wendy. In February 2023, Frake-Waterfield announced that the various projects take place in the Twisted Childhood Universe, sharing continuity as a franchise. The filmmaker further stated that Jagged Edge Productions intends to eventually have crossovers featuring all of the characters. In January 2024, a third film known as Pinocchio: Unstrung, based on The Adventures of Pinocchio, was announced as part of the TCU. Pinocchio: Unstrung will be referenced at the end of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II; while other teases to the expanded universe and future projects will be displayed through drawings during the credits. In March 2024, the series' first crossover film titled Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble was revealed, with Chambers confirmed to be reprising his role as Christopher Robin, as well as Roxanne McKee returning as Xana from Bambi: The Reckoning, along with brand new characters such as Sleeping Beauty, the Talking Cricket and the Mad Hatter.
== Videos ==
Winnie-the-Pooh- Blood and Honey 2 - Exclusive Trailer (2024)
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