I missed this flick in its (very) limited theatrical run so was waiting… and waiting… and waiting some more for it to hit streaming. It never did and yet so many reviews were popping up. I assumed they were from people living the pirate life… or possibly watching it on some obscure rental service. Either way, I had no particular curiosity to find out which and waited patiently (VERY patiently) for the big digital launch. Well, I finally gave up and investigated only to realize it’s been on Prime Video (and Prime Video only) for months. Guess Amazon wasn’t in the advertising mood?

So finally caught up to it… and… surprise it’s the same basic movie, only noticeably improved. Various Pooh characters – Winnie, Owl, and Tigger too! – are out for revenge and Christopher Robin has to stop them.

I was going to rate this movie a little lower but a combination of its gore and final rave slaughter bumped it up slightly. And, yes, I realize saying “the rave slaughter was the best part of this Winnie the Pooh slasher film knockoff” is something I didn’t expect to type. Ever.

And while two whole stars ain’t much to cheer about, at least it’s much improved over the cheap scam that was the first film (I gave it a half star). The direction and editing are improved… though the film is still full of awkward cuts. It’s overall production value is improved. The gore effects are improved (but that’s something the first flick did ok with). The masks are a big improvement over the dime store ones from the first flick… though that’s not a high bar to clear.

This flick is most noticeable for being very brutal. It’s arguably maybe too viscous given the yuk-yuk joke of turning the Pooh character into slashers. And, sadly, that’s largely all they are, even with the improved makeup/masks. There are a few har-har lines that call back to the source material but mostly this is just a regular old slasher film. It doesn’t treat its premise or its characters as anything unique or interesting.

On the happy side, they justify the cheapo Halloween masks from the original by claiming that film was a cheap adaptation of the actual events. I like the joke and the justification for having not-shit masks this time. A little meta humor never burdened my day.

But, yeah, ultimately it’s still just a not very good slasher film that doesn’t do enough with its gimmick. Much credit though to the violence and the kills… and for using all that sweet lucre from the first flick to at least show marked improvements.

Score: 67