One, two, Pinocchio’s coming for you. No, wait. That’s not right. It’s one, two, Freddy’s coming for you, the nursery rhyme made famous in A Nightmare on Elm Street, which just so happened to feature Robert Englund, who has been announced alongside Richard Brake to star in Pinocchio: Unstrung. See, it’s all connected. Set for release in 2025, the movie is another entry in The Twisted Childhood Universe (dubbed the Poohniverse) created by Rhys Frake-Waterfield that follows in the footsteps of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, and its recent sequel.
Per Variety, horror legends Englund and Blake have been cast in the new flick, for which production is already underway. Blake will star as Geppetto, while Englund is said to be taking on the role of Cricket, who was appointed by the Blue Fairy in the original Disney movie to help guide Pinnochio on his journey as he becomes a real boy. Brake, who’s appeared in a number of Rob Zombie horror favorites such as 3 From Hell and Halloween II, released a statement to celebrate the news, touting the film’s VFX done by Todd Masters, as well as the incredibly “twisted” script.
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Pinocchio: Unstrung Details Reveal ‘Lots of Practical Gore’ and Skin Suits in R-rated Reimagining
The makers of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey promise more carnage as they work toward their end goal of a shared universe.
Not only is the script dark, twisted and gory, it’s also at times very funny. Todd Masters and his team have created incredible practical effects. Audiences are in for a crazy ride.
Masters is the Emmy Award-winning artist whose work has been featured in the likes of Dune: Part Two, Child’s Play, and Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, and he’s also the man responsible for bringing Pinnochio to life in the new Jagged Edge Productions movie. He said the film “is still a little puppet’s pursuit to becoming a boy,” but how he goes about doing that is “extremely gnarly… and frankly, very fun.”
The Poohniverse Is Expanding Even More in 2025
Pinocchio: Unstrung is just one of many films in The Twisted Childhood Universe created by Frake-Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey that’s slated to be released in 2025. Fans of the demented movies that take beloved characters from our youth and turn them into bloodthirsty monsters can also look forward to Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, and Bambi: The Reckoning.
With both parts of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey coming before them, the goal is to eventually create the ultimate horror mash-up, and bring everyone together for yet another 2025 release, Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. The film will feature a plethora of characters, including Pooh, Piglet, Tiger, Bambi, Pinnochio, and Cricket, while at the same time introducing new ones that will move the franchise forward, such as Rabbit, Sleeping Beauty, and the Mad Hatter.
Say what you will about this craziness, but 2024’s Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 was made for just $500,000 bucks, and generated more than $7 million in box office receipts. While it might only have a 46% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score sits at a healthy 74%, proving that there’s clearly a market for such gore-heavy fodder that takes our childhoods and rips them to shreds. To that we say bring it on, because regardless of what critics think, we’re having a lot of fun seeing this all come to life.
- Release Date
- March 26, 2024
- Director
- Rhys Frake-Waterfield
- Cast
- Scott Chambers , Ryan Oliva , Tallulah Evans , Simon Callow , Eddy MacKenzie
- Main Genre
- Horror