Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) Ending Explained: The bear-mauling sequence from The Revenant (2015), the jaw-ripping scene from Adam Macdonald’s Backcountry (2014), and the unstoppable cocaine-high apex predator from the recent hit Cocaine Bear (2023)—all serve as a testament to the ferocity of one of nature’s most formidable creations. But despite their fierceness, bears would have a hard time believing that a book (and its subsequent adaptations) transformed their popular image from monstrous predators into naïve pot-bellied, honey-eating creatures.
While A.A. Milne, the writer of Winnie-the-Pooh, couldn’t alone be accounted for rendering the entire species so innocuous (we also have Kung Fu Panda and Paddington to thank for that), the book and the animated series definitely aided in cementing an endearing image of these giant predators.
Now, leave it to director Rhys Frake-Waterfield to dismantle your love for bears and your fond childhood memories about the beloved cartoon character. Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), directed and scripted by Waterfield, turns the eponymous adorable honey-loving bear into a slasher villain, who along with Piglet, chases after young women and butchers them in horrendous manners. Rest in peace any fond memories we had of Pooh and his memorable gang of cheerful characters!
While you mourn this torturous (not a compliment!) adaptation of your childhood classic, we look into the ending of this demented feature. As always, here is a spoiler alert!
Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The Animated Prologue
The film begins with a sketched animated prologue that recounts the story of a young boy called Christopher Robin and how he once befriended an eccentric bunch of adolescent talking creatures, including a bear called Winnie-The-Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore (the donkey), Piglet and Owl, who resided in the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher played with the creatures and daily brought them food from his kitchen.
But over time, Christopher grew up and left his friends for college to train to become a doctor. All the animals in the woods were left to fend for themselves during this time. During one particularly severe winter, the creatures began to starve. They had no choice but to kill one of them for food—and the group ended up choosing Eeyore to satiate their hunger. However, this incident proved to be deeply traumatic for the creatures, and they developed a hatred for human beings, especially Christopher Robin, for leaving them. The group abandoned their humanity and returned to their animalistic roots—making a pact never to talk again.
What Happens When Christopher Returns To The Hundred-Acre Wood?
Five years later, a grown-up, Christopher Robins (Nikolai Leon), finally returns to the woods with his fiancée, Mary (Paula Coiz). Christopher intends to reunite with his friends and also introduce them to Mary, who is skeptical about these creatures and believes them to be a figment of his imagination. When Christopher nears their place of meeting, he sees it all devastated and comes across a scarred photo of himself.
Mary is scared by the dreary atmosphere of the area and suggests that the duo leave. Before they can exit the premises, Pooh enters the place and sleeps on his bed. Mary and Christopher hide for a while and then try to escape. Suddenly, Mary is asphyxiated to death by Piglet. Despite Christopher’s pleas to stop, Piglet does not listen and comes after him. Pooh wakes up and joins Piglet in chasing Christopher. As they corner him, Christopher apologizes to them for leaving, but the two are unmoved and hold him captive.
The Story of Maria and Her Friends
Following the film’s opening credits, we follow Maria (Maria Taylor), a woman dealing with PTSD following a stalking incident in the past. Her therapist suggests that Maria takes a holiday to take her mind off the horrible incident. Maria follows suit and takes her friends, Zoe (Danielle Ronald), Lara (Natasha Tosini), Jess (Natasha Rose Mills), and Alice (Amber Doig-Thorne), to a cabin near the Hundred Acre Wood. Another friend Tina (May Kelly), informs the group that she will be late to join the group. While on her way, Tina loses her way and comes across Pooh, who chases her inside an abandoned factory and chops her inside a tree-chipper.
Following the introduction to the girls, the film cuts back to Christopher, who has now been imprisoned by Pooh and Piglet—tied up in chains. Christopher begs Pooh to let him go, and momentarily, Pooh remembers his childhood memories with his human friend. However, Pooh’s rage takes over him, and he begins to whip Christopher and makes him bathe in Mary’s blood.
When Pooh later goes to dispose of Mary’s corpse, he hears loud music emanating from the cabin where Maria and her friends reside. Meanwhile, Lara is relaxing in the pool, clicking selfies. In one of the photographs, Lara sees a silhouette of Pooh but ignores it, believing it to be Maria’s stalker. Piglet and Pooh suddenly attack her. Lara is then tied up and made to lie down on the road as Pooh drives a car over her, smashing her head.
The girls hear Lara’s scream and come out of their rooms to investigate. They find a threatening message, “Get Out,” sprayed with blood on the glass window. Scared that an intruder is outside the house, the girls prepare to hide. Zoe and Alice, who are also lovers, go to ensure the backdoor is closed. Just as they confess their love for one another, they are attacked by Piglet, who bludgeons Zoe with a hammer and abducts Alice.
Meanwhile, Maria remembers that she has a gun in her room. She and Jess go to retrieve the gun and chase after Pooh and Piglet. However, they are unable to shoot the duo as they carry Alice with them. Later, Maria and Jess encounter Pooh smearing honey over his face and beating Alice. When he leaves, Maria and Jess free Alice—and the trio prepare to escape.
Just as they are escaping, they hear another woman scream and go to investigate. They encounter an incarcerated Christopher and untie him. A wounded Christopher tells them that Pooh and Piglet have abducted another woman, and the three of them decide to help her. Maria, Jess, and Alice encounter a badly mauled woman called Charlene, who recounts her horrific ordeal about how Piglet beat her. When they free Charlene, she is aghast to see her disfigured face in the glass and vows to avenge the brutality inflicted upon her.
Charlene snatches the gun from Maria and goes after Piglet. She holds him at gunpoint but soon realizes that there are no bullets left to shoot. Before she can do anything, she is killed by Pooh—with her face later eaten by Piglet.
Pooh then chases after Jess and Maria. Meanwhile, a vengeful Alice goes after Piglet to avenge her lover’s death. She proceeds to tie him and hammers him in the head. Piglet’s squeals attract Pooh, and he returns to stab Alice to death.
A scared Maria and Jess managed to get on the road. They stop a bunch of rustic mechanics driving by and ask for their help. Pooh manages to catch up with the girls. The mechanics beat Pooh, but he soon manages to overpower them—killing all four of them (in a sequence that seemed directly ripped off from Halloween Kills (2021)). Maria and Jess try to run over Pooh, but he manages to climb over the truck. Maria presses the brakes, which causes her to hit her head on the steering wheel—rendering her unconscious.
Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
What Does Pooh Mutter In The End?
When an unconscious Maria wakes up, she sees Pooh beheading Jess. Before he can stab Maria, Christopher arrives in a car and crushes Pooh—pinning him between the two vehicles. An injured Maria and Christopher begin to escape, but a seemingly dead Pooh revives and gets hold of Maria.
A horrified Christopher tries to get hold of Pooh’s conscience for one last time and begs him to let Maria go. Christopher promises to stay with Pooh forever for the rest of his life if he lets her go. Pooh is, however, not convinced and reminds of Christopher’s betrayal by muttering, “You left.” He then slits Maria’s throat. A shocked Christopher consoles a dying Maria, who tells him to go. Before Pooh comes after him, Christopher rushes out of the woods—as Pooh repeatedly stabs Maria’s body in anger.
Does The Story of Murderous Pooh End Here?
If you are part of the handful minority that loved seeing their childhood icon turn into a misanthropic serial killer, then you would be elated to know that director Rhys Frake-Waterfield is planning to make an entire cinematic universe out of beloved children’s fairy tales. Considering the film’s box-office success, the second Pooh film has already gone into the development and is slated for a 2024 release.
Apart from this, Waterfield seeks to turn other children’s stories like Bambi and Peter Pan into horror media—with all the films converging at some point to form their very own fucked up multiverse. Hence, it is not very late until the once-loved yellow bear returns to haunt your dreams, carrying an axe in his hands.
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Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) Movie Links – IMDb
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) Movie Cast – Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor, Craig David Dowsett
Where to watch Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
