The Hundred Acre Wood runs red in first trailer for Winnie the Pooh slasher flick 'Blood and Honey'

Earlier this year, Winnie the Pooh (and the other anthropomorphic inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood) entered the public domain, and while the Disney interpretation of A.A. Milne's beloved character may be the definitive version for many people, it most certainly won't be the last. In what can only be described as a genuine swing for the fences, writer-director Rhys Waterfield reimagines the honey-loving bear as a remorseless slasher villain — à la Halloween's Michael Myers — in the first gonzo trailer for Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. "It's Winnie on Rabies," Waterfield tells SYFY WIRE over email. "Don't send your children to see this."

Coming to DVD and On Demand in late 2022, the film imagines a reality in which Pooh and Piglet devolved into bloodthirsty murderers after they were abandoned by their old pal, Christopher Robin, years before. “Because they’ve had to fend for themselves so much, they’ve essentially become feral,” the project's director explained during an interview with Variety back in May. “So they’ve gone back to their animal roots. They’re no longer tame: they’re like a vicious bear and pig who want to go around and try and find prey.”

Mr. Robin and his wife-to-be don't last long when the couple returns to the dilapidated forest dwelling in the hopes of a sappy reunion. Not long after, a group of young women turn up and...well, you can guess where this story is going. Given the incredibly low-budget, there was no money for CGI creations (think 2018's Christopher Robin). Instead, Pooh and Piglet are depicted as masked killers, lending an atmosphere of gruesome absurdity to the overall proceedings.

Watch the trailer below:

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey was filmed in England over a 10-day period this past spring. Waterfield, who produced the feature under his Jagged Edge Productions banner alongside co-founder Scott Jeffrey, wanted to strike a balance between classic horror and dark comedy. "When you try and do a film like this, and it’s a really wacky concept, it’s very easy to go down a route where nothing is scary and it’s just really ridiculous and really, like, stupid. And we wanted to go between the two," he told Variety.

He later concluded: "No one is going to mistake this [for Disney]. When you see the cover for this and you see the trailers and the stills and all that, there’s no way anyone is going to think this is a child’s version of it.”

Look for some serious slasher fun? Check out Chucky, now available on the SYFY app and streaming on Peacock!