Over the years, a multitude of stories and works have been brought to the world, like The Little Mermaid, Pinnochio, Peter Pan, and Cinderella. Companies like Disney then managed to use these stories to turn them into their Intellectual Properties (IP), creating fond memories for children, while also making a buttload of money to fuel their never-ending corporate greed. All of these movies and characters have had a huge impact on the world, but what if someone decided to throw all that out the window and make a monstrosity of these memories?
Introducing the latest, totally not money-hungry and totally not creatively bankrupt TCU, also called the Twisted Childhood Universe. It all started back in 2023 when Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was released in theaters as a “horrifying alternative” to the kind and adorable Pooh bear we’re all familiar with.
Not to sound like a broken record, but it was bad. Still, that didn’t stop it from earning 5.2 million dollars, and with a budget of only 50,000 dollars. Sometime after its theatrical release a sequel was announced which was released last month on March 26. Did this one do any better? Surprisingly, yes, at least according to the reviews.
From what I’ve seen, the costumes seem to have had an upgrade, and the budget overall has increased. Rotten Tomatoes may have the Critic’s score at a low 52%, but the Audience score has a surprising 80%; a vast improvement from the first movie which felt generic, poorly written, and poorly acted. The costumes weren’t even handmade, they were just masks someone bought online.
I will say this though, I am willing to respect the work of everyone who worked on both movies. Even if the purpose of the movies was simply to make money, I can’t deny that there was effort put into the score, the setpieces, and the kills.
Also, according to the internet, the ending credits of the movie feature concept drawings of what seems to be a very ugly and distorted Pinnochio. And that’s not the only character that’s getting a movie of their own. Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield announced that he would like to create an entire cinematic universe out of these beloved characters, with each one getting its own slasher movie.
Some of these include the already mentioned Pinnochio, as well as Peter Pan, Bambi, and possibly Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty. Of course, while it may seem like everyone on board is practically begging Disney to throw the lawsuits at them, the directors, screenwriters, and everyone else in the studio should be fine as far as copyright goes.
Characters like Pinnochio and the Alice in Wonderland story were already in the public domain for a long time, but some like the original Bambi story and Winnie the Pooh – along with nearly half of his 100 Acre Wood friends – entered the public domain recently, allowing not just these filmmakers, but everyone in the world to do whatever they want with these characters. Of course, as long as they still follow the rules of Trademark.
All of these movies are planned to crossover in Waterfield’s biggest project in this universe, Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. A big movie that brings all of these cursed childhood abominations together so that we can watch them spill civilian blood and try to take humanity down.
Overall, the ideas sound more insane than terrible. On paper, it sounds like a concept that’s doomed to fail, but people all over the internet seem to still be intrigued by the idea of childhood characters becoming bloodthirsty serial killers, despite the idea being overdone to hell and back. The crazier these movies get, the more it’s going to get people talking about it.
