Winnie the Pooh slasher film and Expend4bles named the year’s worst
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey dominated the Razzie Awards by securing five out of the 10 categories, capitalizing on the expiration of AA Milne’s classic tale copyright to reimagine the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood as ruthless serial killers.
In addition, Sylvester Stallone’s Expend4bles clinched two awards at the event, which takes place a day before the Oscars to highlight the year’s most disappointing films.
Described as the “ugly cousin to the Oscars” by its organizers, the Razzies aim to spotlight Hollywood’s lowest-performing productions. Upon its release last year, the Pooh film received overwhelmingly negative reviews.
Critics lambasted it as a “terrifying combination of not-scary and not-funny,” with The Guardian awarding it a single star. Empire criticized it as having “the poorest writing and acting seen in a theatrically-released horror film in living memory.”
The movie swept categories for worst picture, worst screenplay, worst director, and worst rip-off. Furthermore, Pooh and Piglet, portrayed as bloodthirsty killers in the film, were dubbed the worst on-screen couple.
But the negative reviews have not deterred director Rhys Frake-Waterfield, who won worst director. He has announced a sequel to the film and other horror films centering on beloved children’s characters such as Bambi and Peter Pan.
According to US copyright laws, rights to characters can be held for 95 years. After that, the characters can be legally shared, performed, reused, repurposed, or sampled by anyone without permission or cost.
At the beginning of 2024, the copyright for Walt Disney’s 1928 animated short film Steamboat Willie expired.
As a result, the trailer for another new slasher film, featuring a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse, was released on the same day the copyright expired.
A new Mickey-inspired horror game, showing the rodent covered with blood stains, also dropped on the same day.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey did manage to escape winning in some categories, most notably worst actor and actress.
The Worst Actor award went to Oscar winner Jon Voight for his role as an Irish mobster in Mercy.
The film, which follows a former combat surgeon who faces ruthless Irish gangsters holding innocent patients hostage, received mainly negative reviews.
Megan Fox picked up two awards this year – one for worst actress in the horror-heist film Johnny & Clyde and the other for worst supporting actress for her role in the fourth installment of the Expendables franchise.
Expend4bles, as it is stylised, also saw Sylvester Stallone, who has been nominated 16 times over the years, win Worst Supporting Actor.
The full winner’s list
Worst picture: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Worst actor: Jon Voight, Mercy
Worst actress: Megan Fox, Johnny & Clyde
Supporting actress: Megan Fox, Expend4bles
Supporting actor: Sylvester Stallone, Expend4bles
Worst on-screen couple: Pooh & Piglet, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Worst remake, rip-off, or sequel: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Worst director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Worst screenplay: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
Redeemer award: Fran Drescher
