Director Rhys Waterfield has spoken out about the absurdity of the humor in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. While Winnie the Pooh is a franchise best known for catering to children with its lovable bear protagonist and its menagerie of fun and exciting creatures, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey takes the character in a different direction. With Christopher Robin abandoning the woods after going to college, the animals are left murdering for food to combat starvation.
While Winnie isn't a teddy bear in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey like prior versions of the character, the film still maintains its absurdity by keeping a serious tone. Instead of pointing out the strange nature of a Pooh-gone-dark movie, it instead takes itself entirely seriously. The jarring nature of the Blood and Honey concept was a deliberate decision by Waterfield, as he explains in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Check out his quote below:
"We did try and take it all very seriously. That was one of the directions I gave the actors. I was like, 'I don't want you to kind of treat this like it's going to be humorous, I want you to act like it's deadly serious. The humor is going to come in from the fact that it's Winnie-the-Pooh, you don't have to play into it. [But] everyone, crew and cast, were in hysterics a lot of the time about what was happening. When you're trying to direct a scary scene, and then you look to your right, and there is literally a six-foot-man in a Winnie-the-Pooh outfit listening to you, we would just start laughing at that point."
Why Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey Works
Having a budget of less than $100,000, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has made its money back and more with its incredible $1 million take so far. The movie has only been released in Mexico, meaning that it still has a few days left before it receives a wider theatrical release on February 15. With success already achieved in only a single country, the concept of a murderous Winnie the Pooh continues a big trend at the box office of low-budget horror movies thriving.
As Waterfield highlights, the concept of a bloody Pooh bear is always going to draw eyes, which is a major boon for the horror franchise. With Waterfield looking to create a universe of evil children's protagonists, the fact that the serious sort of humor is making so much money at the box office is a testament to the viability of the concept. Though it was criticized when first announced, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey works because it plays into its common critiques and uses them to add levity.
The humor sets it apart from most horror movies, which is essential when the slasher genre has slowly begun to stagnate into predictability over the years. Everything about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey suggested the project could struggle in finding an audience, yet it has proven more than capable of surviving the post-pandemic landscape. Waterfield's self-awareness of the project's ridiculousness only helps to set Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey up for success.
Source: EW
