Surely you already know. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey It will be the first attempt to turn the children’s icon into one of horror cinema. Do it further by taking the premise to its more terrifying and bloody consequences. As it turned out, the horror film will show the most vile version of AA Milne’s beloved characters. Which includes even the death of Igor, the lovable donkey.
It’s a bold experiment that explores new — and creepy — spaces in one of the most beloved children’s books in history. Especially when the horror film will take the characters to delve into alternate narratives. From a Pooh turned into a soulless and sadistic creature, to a Christopher Robin turned into a sinister figure. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey seems willing to delve into all the codes of horror movies to build a powerful and extravagant premise.
But of course it is not the first or the most elaborate attempt to combine endearing characters with gloomy stories. In fact, there is an entire filmography dedicated to subverting the children’s story until turning it into the most terrible nightmare. We leave you three recommendations that will surprise you for their depth, good narrative skills and, especially, ability to scare. And yes, all of them based on childhood stories that perhaps you did not expect could have a dark and definitively adult side. A whole disconcerting journey through a new vision of fantasy that is disconcerting due to its solidity.
Snow White: A Tale of Terror
A sinister and monstrous woman, a dangerous stepdaughter, an unsolved murder. Believe it or not, we will tell you the horror film version of the story of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. Michael Cohn’s adaptation of the traditional children’s story is a fest of horrors. From the disturbing look at his characters — all ambiguous and in the midst of dark temptations — to his twisted approach to history. The notion about the evil that conceives Snow White: A Tale of Terror It is suffocating and paradoxical, especially when, in its best moments, goodness is questioned.
What pushes us into the darkness of violence? What makes us lose our scruples? The horror movie asks elegant, well-constructed questions about the nature of human behavior. But beyond that, abandon all perception about morality, to give free rein to its premise about the unspeakable. What is hidden under the mask that we show to another? With Sigourney Weaver as Lady Claudia Hoffman — the wicked witch incarnate from the original tale — the question can have terrifying answers.
With its grotesque, unusual air and a more than efficient use of the speech of the stranger on the prowl, the horror film turns the tale of Snow White in a brilliant thriller. Also in an unusual perception of the sinister from its most subtle nuances.
Gretel and Hansel
Gretel (Sophia Lillis) and Hansel (Samuel Leakey) will have to face darkness and witchcraft in this contemplative and visually stunning tale. Based on the fairy tale of the same name, the tale is a sumptuous take on enigma and power. All mixed in the conception of horror and the mysterious through the inexplicable.
Oz Perkins, who has experience in turning horror into an introspective experience, turns the original story into something new. Especially, when using the figure of the witch, as a common thread that advances between disturbing terrains about power and faith. As if that weren’t enough, the horror movie takes to a new level, the symbolic substratum of the story from which it comes. For its second installment, the film finds its rhythm and its identity as a horror film in a brilliant apotheosis of ideas about the darkness within.
But Gretel and Hansel It’s much more than that. It is also a precise collection of amazing images, which are connected with a gloomy twilight air. As the plot progresses, the characters become deeper, darker and more dangerous. And not just the well-known witch from the house in the woods. In an unexpected plot twist, Gretel and Hansel end up being much more than victims. But also, much less than heroes.
the red slippers
Based on the tale of the same name, this Korean horror film is a scathing journey through the original mythology. When a recently divorced woman finds a pair of red shoes in the subway station, she doesn’t imagine what will happen. Either, as their destiny will be intertwined with an unexpected kind of horror and especially, increasingly dangerous and latent. With its air of a gritty, shabby urban thriller, Red Shoes meditates on horror in a dizzying and overwhelming sense.
Specifically when he decides to use all the perceptions of the fairy tale, to create something unknown and dangerous. What is real and what is not? The line between the dreamlike, the ghostly, and the supernatural is rapidly blurring, and the horror film moves into increasingly unnerving territory. For his ending, he not only found a way to honor the story from which it came. At the same time, to create a type of elevated terror that combines the chilling with a careful discourse of beauty that surprises with its effectiveness.
The Red Shoes In addition, it takes the connection between fear and the invisible to unknown levels. Little by little, the plot reveals his secrets and when he finally manages to show everything that is hidden under his symbol of evil, he surprises. With a creepy ending and a curiously effective look at secrets in plain sight, it is an option for lovers of the most cryptic horror genre.