As Felix Salten’s original book enters the public domain, a reimagining titled “Bambi: The Reckoning” hopes to terrify audiences.
When the trailer for the upcoming “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” dropped this summer, many Disney fans were horrified to see beloved childhood characters like Winnie the Pooh and Piglet appearing in a gory slasher flick. But, as the film’s producers made very clear, the upcoming B-movie has no connection to the Disney franchise. As A.A. Milne’s original “Winnie the Pooh” books have entered the public domain, artists and filmmakers of all stripes are now free to do whatever they want with the material.
And what director Rhys Frake-Waterfield wanted to do was get very, very bloody. In an interview, he explained that his take on the beloved children’s literary characters is not going to pull any punches. According to him, “Blood and Honey” is a revenge-driven film that sees the anthropomorphic animals taking revenge after Christopher Robbin grows up and abandons them.
“They get enraged when they see him, and all of their hatred that they’ve built up over the years unleashes and they go on this rampage,” Frake-Waterfield said. “It’s definitely Pooh and Piglet — it’s not just two people in a mask. The story is meant to be that they’ve gone on this onslaught from being kind of enraged by what’s happened to Christopher.”
Now, the team behind the Hundred Acre Woods-set exploitation film are preparing to repeat that formula with another childhood classic: “Bambi.” Felix Salten’s 1923 novel “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” has entered the public domain, and Frake-Waterfield is set to produce a horrifying take on the story titled “Bambi: The Reckoning.”
In a new interview with Dread Central announcing the project, the film’s director Scott Jeffrey revealed that the horror film is partially inspired by David Bruckner’s “The Ritual.”
“The film will be an incredibly dark retelling of the 1928 story we all know and love,” Jeffrey said. “Finding inspiration from the design used in Netflix’s ‘The Ritual,’ Bambi will be a vicious killing machine that lurks in the wilderness. Prepare for Bambi on rabies!”
No release date or other plot details were revealed, but considering how many children have been traumatized by a certain death scene in Disney’s “Bambi” film, Jeffrey and Frake-Waterfield should have no shortage of material to work with.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
