"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" Is Causing Death Threats

On Wednesday, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, the low-budget slasher movie set in Hundred Acre Wood that takes advantage of author A.A. Milne’s beloved bear and other characters recently entering the public domain, finally hits theaters in the United States. And while some horror fans are excited to see Pooh and Piglet turn feral and attack Christopher Robin and his friends, others are apparently upset with director Rhys Frake-Waterfield for ruining their childhood favorite.

In a recent interview, Frake-Waterfield called the angry response to his film “mental” and revealed that some fans have gone to great lengths to try to prevent him from putting it out.

“I’ve had petitions to stop it. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had people saying they called the police,” he told Agence France-Press.

That is, of course, absurd. It’s hard to imagine any adult caring about Winnie-the-Pooh so much that they’re willing to threaten another person’s life over it. Then again, Disney adults are a rare breed; if they’re willing to pay upwards of $1,700 a night to stay at Disney World, who knows how far they’d go to defend the integrity of their precious Pooh? Still, it’s hard not to wonder whether Frake-Waterfield is exaggerating to build hype for his movie. (Can you seriously imagine someone calling the cops to report that their favorite pantsless bear has been turned into a homicidal maniac?)

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Regardless of whether or not the outrage is real, Frake-Waterfield is apparently already working on a sequel to the movie, as well as new horror movies based on Bambi and Peter Pan.

“One person literally yesterday was like, ‘Do you want a million to make a film? Just tell me the concept and we will just go ahead with it,’” he said. “That’s really hard to get. It’s hard to get funding for any film, but people are starting to really try and engage.”