If you've ever wondered what Pinocchio would be like if he took his desire to become a 'real boy' literally, then you're in luck - because it's the subject of a new eye-popping horror film, Pinocchio: Unstrung. From the creator of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the children's character is reimagined in a horrifying way and is featured in a teaser trailer being told to go on a killing spree by Jiminy Cricket. Jiminy also gets the horror film treatment for the latest creation from ITN, which has been giving classic children's characters horrific reimaginings.
While the company's first creation, Winnie the Pooh, did not go down well with many horror fans, the murderous Pinocchio has received a slightly more positive reception ahead of the film's release on July 24. Reacting to the trailer, one viewer admitted: 'I lowkey wanna see it. They stepped up their effects...' Other viewers agreed, adding: 'Damn. Decent budget for this twisted fairytale movie. The effects, both practical and cgi look really good. Wouldn't expect that.'
'Looking suitably creepy!'; 'I don't care what people think of the movie that design looks amazing.'; 'Shockingly not too bad looking.' However, not everyone was a fan of the trailer and many slammed the creators for seemingly reusing the same formula for all of their films. Critics complained: 'I feel the Blood and Honey team found their formula and they're running it into the ground one public domain character at a time.'; 'Guys, I have the PERFECT idea. Let's take a fairy tale or a public domain cartoon.... And make it evil and kill people!'; 'What's next? A lion king horror movie? [sic]'
Controversial Origins
The Twisted Fairytale universe got its creations off to an extremely controversial start back in 2023 with the release of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Fans of the original, beloved bear were so outraged by his reimagining as a homicidal bear - alongside Piglet - that they actually sent its director death threats. The loveable characters - turned bloodthirsty killers - terrorise a group of university students and an adult Christopher Robin when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood five years after leaving for college.
The film's director Rhys Frake-Waterfield revealed there has been a backlash to the project, telling news agency AFP: 'Look, this is mental, I've had petitions to stop it. I've had death threats. I've had people saying they called the police.' The controversial film was subsequently followed up in 2025 by Bambi: The Reckoning and Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare - both of which are also in the public domain. However, it is worth noting that for Peter Pan, the rights only exist publicly outside of the UK, where the story perpetually belongs to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Upcoming Release
Pinocchio Unstrung is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on July 24. The film marks another entry in the growing trend of reimagining childhood classics as horror stories, leveraging public domain status to create new, darker narratives.
