Internet Janitor
The Poohinverse. A wonderfully twisted concept that, if done even mostly right, could be a horror cinematic, guilty pleasure classic. I surprisingly enjoyed the Blood & Honey films with their take on Winnie the Pooh, but this? This is about as low effort as you can get, and while it has its moment, for sure, it’s mostly generic and dull.
As we begin, young Wendy Darling (played by Megan Placito) sets out to find the man who kidnapped her brother. Well, that’s not exactly the start of the film, but it doesn’t matter. A man, who believes he is the chosen one, Peter Pan, is forever entrusted to send little boys and girls to Neverland in the hope of one day going himself. With his heroin, I mean pixie dust, addicted friend Tinkerbell, they make children’s dreams come true. Either that or she’s just a junkie and he’s a mentally ill serial killer. You won’t believe which one of those is true.
The original novel, Peter & Wendy by JM Barrie, was anything but a kids’ book, worlds different than the cheery, family-friendly Disney film. I do think that the idea of a twisted story of Peter Pan can work. After all, it seems like something a delusional person would come up with. I still wanted a twist in this film, anything at all, but what you see is what you get. Possibly a light spoiler, but if you’re going into this expecting a rich plot, then you’re already doomed to fail.
Overall, for being a very low-budget film, it looks decent. It’s shot well enough and certainly slathers on the mood with a few crusty stains and questionable puddles. Actor Martin Portlock (from Furniture World: Her First Day) does a decent job as our villain. Given the nature of the film, though, I wanted him to be more over the top. This all needed a bit more absurdity; taking itself 100% seriously didn’t work.
This one coasted on the better reception of the Blood & Honey films, so it will be interesting to see if they put more effort into the next stage of the Poohinverse.