The reason why Tigger is now part of the cast is because the character entered the public domain this year. It’s how this franchise got started when Winnie the Pooh became fair game for any storyteller who wanted to use the character. Owl is here because they are working with a bigger budget and are able to make the character fly. The bigger budget also allowed for Pooh and Piglet to wear better masks than they had in the last movie.

“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2” is much better than the original. Bare in mind the bar was set extremely low. The change in screenwriters, moving on from A.A. Milne to Matt Leslie helped. The story is more layered this time around. The extra budget to help with the makeup improved the look and the acting is better too. Scott Chambers is a much better actor than Nikolai Leon, who played Christopher Robin in Part 1. That’s not to suggest the acting is better all around. Some of the actors hired to play just victims are quite bad. Also, Pooh and the other killer animals, largely silent in the first movie, now have much more dialogue.

Rhys Frake-Waterfield returns to direct and making these movies was his brain child. He’s not done here as Bambi, Peter Pan and Pinocchio all have horror movies coming out about them and there is even a plan to bring them all together in one movie some time next year. Frake-Waterfield is not directing all of them, which is a positive, because its his direction that hurts this movie the most. The film is not short of blood and gore, but it has no real scares in it. The attempt to build tension in scenes is there but it is a goal the director never manages to reach. In the hands with someone better skilled this franchise could have really left a mark.

The screening I attended only had four people in it including myself so perhaps these movies will not continue. However, given the low budget it will likely continue to find profit. A film like “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2” would qualify for die-hard horror fans while those who only come out from “Scream” movies would be happier spending their movie elsewhere.

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