In the beginning there was Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey. Then, there was Winnie the Pooh_: Blood & Honey 2_. And now, as Rhys Frake-Waterfield — the Kevin Feige of effed-up fairytale films — envisioned back in early 2023, the Twisted Childhood Universe of public domain based horrors is set to expand with Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare. Written and directed by Scott Jeffrey (not to be confused with Muppet Babies helmsman Jeffrey Scott), the TCU's latest childhood crusher is set to see Martin Portlock bring to our screens a slightly more murderous version of the boy who never grew up than Disney's take on the J.M. Barrie fairytale. Check out the bloody first trailer below;
Welp — we don't know about his shadow, but it sure does look like our pal Peter has found his dark side here! Whilst theorists have long contested a dark truth at the heart of Barrie's book (that the reason Neverland's Lost Boys stay young is because Peter "thins them out" when they start growing up), Scott's movie makes no such thinly-veiled allusions as we see a stab-happy Pan terrorising a small town and kidnapping its children. Taking cues from IT both in tone and Portlock's distinctly Pennywise-esque persona (Pan's intro directly apes the cosmic killer clown's first storm drain appearance), the trailer for this one is exactly what you'd expect from the guys behind Blood & Honey: it's schlocky, grubby, distinctly British, iconography-subverting stuff — complete with a distinctly Jokeresque, Halloween outfit ready creepy mask for Peter. What more could you want, eh?
Per the movie's official description, Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare "follows Wendy Darling (Megan Placito) as she strikes out in an attempt to rescue her brother Michael (Peter Desouza-Feighoney) from 'the clutches of the evil Peter Pan.'" According to the synopsis, along the way Wendy meets Tinkerbell, who — far from the sassy pixie of Pans past — is now a heroin addict who's convinced the drug is pixie dust. In a statement given to Bloody Disgusting, director Jeffrey called his entry in the Poohniverse an "extremely darker" film than Blood And Honey, describing his Pan as "twisted, cruel and cunning." And on present evidence, we don't doubt it!
Will this new take on Peter Pan take flight with horror fans? Or is it destined to, er, never land? We'll find out when Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare hits cinemas in early 2025. In the meantime, we're still trying to make "Dark Poohniverse" a thing — join us!