Pooh is pissed. But, rather than slaying alone, this time, he’s dragging his pals, Tigger, Piglet, and Owl, along for the blood bath. Hello, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2. We’ve been waiting for you. Mostly because we know Team Pooh can pull off a “better” slasher film than Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Confirmation of that comes via WTPBH2 star Lewis Santer (playing Tigger), who tells us that the sequel to the 2023 jaw-dropper is “like the first film on steroids.”
Reportedly, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who shares writing duties alongside Matt Leslie in the sequel, wanted to flush out a better tale here, however grizzly and gory it is, in this freakishly savage (but fun) spin on A.A. Milne’s classic characters. The sequel finds Winnie-the-Pooh (Ryan Oliva), Piglet (Eddy MacKenzie), Owl (Marcus Massey), and Tigger enraged when their home and lives are endangered after Christopher Robin (Scott Chambers) reveals their existence. They decide to take the fight to Christopher’s town of Ashdown, where, well, there will be blood, honey.
Deadlier, stronger, and smarter than anybody could ever imagine, the quirky quartet fuels this second outing. Lewis Santer unpacks the sequel, what audiences can expect, and teases an expanded Pooh-verse, with a “big” announcement hitting social media on Mar. 22. Dive in.
Bad-Ass and Bigger Than the Original
Pumped out on a budget of less than $100,000, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey reportedly garnered just north of $6 million in 2023. That’s a great payoff for a low-budget indie film. Even better, the film somehow found a niche audience and is capturing more attention now. With the sequel, the burning question is: How does Blood and Honey 2 measure up to the first outing, and what will audiences be most shocked by? To which Lewis Santer grinned and shared:
“I think just the kill count, really, like literally, because as a horror fan, I love a good gory kill… the more blood the better… the kill count is literally the first film on steroids. It really is. The first one obviously has singular kills. It focuses more on picking people up one at a time.
”
Whereas this one is just complete… destruction the whole way through. It’s just people dying left, right, and center. There’s so much gore and so much blood.
So, if you like the first one, then you’re going to absolutely adore the second one. It’s just [like] the first one on a much, much, much bigger scale.”
No kidding. As revealed in the trailer, Pooh goes on a rampage. Bodies are impaled. Decapitations happen. Chainsaws are grabbed. Bear traps are, like, a big deal. And no bandages in sight.
The Wonderful Thing About Tigger?
Playing Tigger, Lewis Santer enters the mix with new characters Piglet and Owl. Imagine the terror this posse can unleash. Santer said he had a blast playing Tigger, but, of course, this version of the popular tiger isn’t so “wonderful,” as the classic song suggests.
“Tigger is the loose cannon of the group. He’s the most vicious one of them all… almost like the misfit of the group. He’s like the outcast… the other three are more quite tight with each other, and they’re all still crazy, don’t get me wrong, but they have more reason to kill. They’re sort of
killing for… revenge
and pain. They are almost, dare I say, more civilized.“Whereas Tigger, he’s sort of kept a bit away from the group, he’s sort of put down. He’s having some fun, but even the other characters are a little bit like, ‘Okay, now take us out.’ Like in the cartoon, for example, he’s too much for the characters, and it’s the exact same in this film.”
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Santer went on to say that originally, the filmmakers described Tigger as being on 50 Red Bulls at all times. “He’s just ready to kill,” he added. “He’s just full of adrenaline — shaking, vibrating, he’s like twitching his starlings, he’s just always ready to pounce. You’ll never catch him on an off day… he’s ready to go 24/7. That’s Tigger. He’s a killing machine.”
Inspirations and Big Kills in Blood & Honey 2
Santer has long been a horror fan, particularly inspired by 2017’s It. He said what Bill Skarsgård did with his performance as Pennywise was “magical,” adding, “Just everything — the voice, and the way he moved his body, and the prosthetics. I remember watching that with friends and saying that, because I wanted to be an actor at this point. I was like, ‘That, for me, would be my dream role.'”
“And it’s almost manifested into this role,” he added. “I’m now 23, and I’ve got this role. Pennywise is a massive inspiration for Tigger, and it’s obviously heavy prosthetics, and it’s the same frantic movement, stuff like that. It means a lot that I’m playing this character. So, I look back on It, and I think it really has manifested to this character.”
1:59
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As for the kills in Blood and Honey 2, one bit finds the actor completely covered in blood. “I remember that got a really good reaction when I was completely covered,” he shared. “There’s another kill in particular where I rip out — I don’t want to give it too much away — but I rip out something out of someone’s head. Something in your face that is very important. And then [Tigger] decides to eat it as well. And I remember that process of figuring out, ‘I’ve got to eat this part of someone’s face and enjoy it,’ and it’s like, you know, it’s still a challenge, but I love really showing the pleasure in the killing. [Tigger] loves it. Tigger lives for it, and he loves playing with victims and tormenting them.”
Tigger Is the New Freddy Krueger
Slasher and horror films have certainly evolved since their ’80s heyday—from Halloween to Friday the 13th to Scream to Thanksgiving. But Santer appreciates director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s new take on horror with the Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey films, noting:
“It’s quite refreshing because I feel like we’ve had every sort of type of killer you can have since, you know, the ’80s…[
Blood and Honey 2]
is this new take on these characters but it still has that old classic feel of it.
For example, Winnie-the-Pooh is very similar to Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, and Tigger is very similar to Freddy Krueger.
And it’s like, and I know our [film] is being compared to the
Jeepers Creepers
, but it’s like all these old horror icons that people have loved throughout the years, they now enjoy them in a completely new light.”
He says Tigger was a “dream role” and that he “hit the jackpot” stepping into the Blood and Honey universe. He also reveals in the MovieWeb exclusive interview clip that he’d love to play/voice The Joker from DC in a video game, and he’s been “obsessed” with the horror film Evil Dead Rise.
“Honestly, the possessed mom [played by Alyssa Sutherland]… I think she’s just a genius. What she did with that character was just amazing. She was a massive inspiration for me because she is that same sort of character. I remember watching that film about four times, prepping for this character. Because she’s just crazy… completely unpredictable.”
There Will Be Pooh
Well, sort of. Santer was coy but did admit that, “Yeah, I can confirm that Tigger will be back for future films. That’s very exciting. He will be back. And also, on Mar. 22, there’s going to be a massive announcement on Instagram and on X as well.”
“It’s another film getting announced in this universe, and this particular film will blow fans’ minds away. It really is something special, so stay tuned and find out what it is. I think fans are going to go crazy, so I’m very excited for that project.”
Any thoughts on what it is? Blood and Honey: Winnie-the-Pooh vs. Tigger? Let the speculation begin. In the meantime, catch Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 in theaters on Mar. 26.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
