Horror Movie Review: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024)

We all know that 2023’s sleeper horror hit, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey wasn’t a good film, right? What should have been hidden twenty pages deep on Amazon Prime, ended up taking the internet by storm. Getting a cinema release and make a surprising amount of money (when compared to its budget). It managed to do what so few low-budget horror films can, which is to capture the imagination of the mainstream, and without a big studio backing it.

A sequel was inevitable, but the buzz has died down, and the charm of a murderous Winnie-the-Pooh just isn’t there anymore. It seems an impossible task to capture lightening in a bottle twice, but here we are.

Taking up the directing reigns again and sharing a writing credit with Matt Leslie and A.A. Milne, Rhys Frake-Waterfield looks to try though. Utilising more time and a higher budget to deliver something quite different to the first film. Something better and something more visceral. Gone is the basic slasher aspects of the first film, and in its place is something clearly inspired by the recent success of Terrifier 2. As well as a film that pays homage to numerous horror franchises from the past.

Scott Jeffery (yes, he of Jagged Edge Productions) stars as Christopher Robin, a young man with scars. Having survived a massacre perpetrated by Winnie-the-Pooh (Ryan Oliva), he has become a social outcast as no one believes his stories surrounding the bear and the anthropomorphic animals, and some even blame him for the murders. Alongside this, Christopher’s younger brother was kidnapped when he was a child, and it still affects him today.

If you’re thinking that’s not the Christopher Robbin story that was told in the first film, you are right. As Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 takes a meta route to explain the differences in this film and the first. The massacre happened and Winnie the Pooh does stalk 100 Acre Wood, but what we saw was actually a film made about it.

A very clever idea that explains the visual differences in this film, and allows freedom to tell a new story without being caught up in the web of nonsense that the first film spun.

Some people do believe Christopher though, and those people have made it their mission to drive Pooh and his friends out of the woods. Pooh, Owl (Marcus Massey), Piglet (Eddy MacKenzie), and Tigger (Lewis Santer) are running out of places to hide, so finally sick of being treated badly, they decide to go on the attack. Christopher Robbin’s nightmare isn’t over, in fact it’s only just beginning.

Gore, gore, and even more gore. That is what Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 has to offer, and in that regard, it doesn’t disappoint. A higher budget has meant a lot more can be done, and just like Terrifier 2, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 looks to push the boundaries of brutality. Which, in of itself, is a massive positive. The film looks great, especially when contrasted with the original, and the violence is thoroughly entertaining.

If there is one obvious area that Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 improves on over the original film, it’s here. However, alongside that are the look of the 100 Acre Wood residents, also much improved. Even if Tigger looks like he might have come from the stage show Cats and Owl doesn’t really look like an owl.

The cast that play them do it well. Pooh really gives of a Jason vibe, whereas Tigger has a more Freddy Kruger feel, even spouting awful one-liners as he hunts his prey. Whereas the humans of the film are also played well, with Scott Jeffery making the most of his screen time to make Christopher Robbin quite likable and sympathetic.

Then there is the cinematography, with some excellent shots and great use of lightening. Several times, I found myself nodding my head in approval at how a certain scene was shot. Which is vastly different to non-stop shaking my head during most of first film.

It sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not, simply because there is absolutely no substance here. The only character with any depth is Christopher Robbin, and even then, the added aspects surrounding his missing brother could have been cut out completely, and it wouldn’t change the film. As for the rest of the characters? All fodder with the most basic of characters, and in the case of two; Christopher’s best friend, Lexy (Tallulah Evans) and Christopher’s younger sister, Bunny (Thea Evans), forgotten about after a certain point.

In the case of the latter, it results in a hilarious resolution that suggests some major cuts were made in the editing room.

Around the halfway point, right when Simon Callow’s Cavendish is introduced, the film slows down to a crawl. Dropping a ton of exposition to the point of boredom, as if this film was complex in anyway. The writing treats the viewer like they’re stupid, making sure every single thing is spelled out, even if that means a character just talks and talks.

It is nice to have an actual story here, but it’s still nothing to shout about. Which sums up Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey completely. Nothing to shout about, aside from the fact that it is a big improvement over the first film. There are many entertaining moments, most of which revolve around gore, and everyone involved clearly tried to make this the best it could be. It nails the three Bs of a sequel: Bigger, bolder, and better. It just isn’t a great film.