As children, we enjoyed watching a variety of movies that were created specifically for children. Among these movies was the classic “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” which is based on the stories written by A. A. Milne. We enjoyed seeing Winnie the Pooh interact with his friends including Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore and Tigger. And, of course, we can’t forget about Christopher Robin, the boy who visited his friends in the 100 acre wood as often as possible.
While there have been new, happy, child-friendly films made about Winnie the Pooh and his friends in recent years (including 2011’s “Winnie the Pooh”), there have also been other adaptations of the characters created by A. A. Milne, and some of these stories are not based on Milne’s stories.
A horror movie called “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” was released in 2023. This movie is about the idea that Christopher Robin has grown up and left Winnie the Pooh and his friends behind. The result is that Winnie the Pooh is no longer the friendly, cuddly bear he used to be. Instead, he’s a killer.
One 4th grade teacher who works at a charter school in Miami, Florida, accidentally showed his students “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.” He didn’t realize it was a horror movie until about 20 to 30 minutes into the film when he finally stopped the movie. It was too late. The children in his class already saw enough of the movie that at least some of them were quite disturbed.
Variety spoke to Rhys Waterfield, the co-writer and director of the horror flick, to find out what he thought about 4th graders seeing the film. He explained, “I think it’s crazy. Because when you watch the film there is no way you can mistake it for a child’s film, literally in the first 10 minutes, crazy stuff’s happening.” Waterfield continued, “I don’t know how — because they said it went on 20 to 30 minutes — I don’t know how it went on that long. I don’t know if the teacher put it on and just walked out and left them or if the kids tricked them or something. Hopefully we haven’t ruined these kids’ childhoods.”
The head of the school where the film was shown has shared that a mental health counselor has met with the students, and the administration has talked to the teacher.
How would you react if you found out that your 4th grader was shown a horror film at school?