Rhys Frake-Waterfield recently made a controversial take on a character loved by children since 1926. Frake-Waterfield transformedWinnie the Pooh, created by A.A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, into a horror villain inWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and he plans to do the same with other children’s cartoon characters, including theTeletubbies.
Following the recent release ofWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honeyin cinemas, Frake-Waterfield spoke toScreen Rantabout the horror film and discussed other horror adaptations he has in mind. He revealed his desire to adapt other children’s movies and shows, includingTeletubbies. Frake-Waterfield said:
“I really want to do like some other crazy ideas like Teletubbies and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I think that’d be so fun to do. Now, they obviously have an IP, and they obviously have are still in copyright, so it may be a bit of a struggle to do those two concepts. But I want to try and find stuff like that, I want to find things which I could license, and I could do that are just crazy and wacky and weird, and they’re purely for people just to go and watch a horror movie and just have fun. I don’t want them to be too deep and too serious. I do like watching sort of grounded and elevated horror, but there is a big market for this. A lot of people do want this, they want to go there and just have fun.”
Related:Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Filmmaker Wants to Make The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a Horror Movie
Can the Teletubbies Make a Good Horror Film?
Even thoughTeletubbiesis a children’s show about four colorful characters, Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa, and Po, who play in Teletubbyland under a baby in the sun, it is possible to turn the show into a horror film. This is because the show includes four giant alien-like creatures with different creepy episode themes that many people would describe as disturbing. TheTeletubbiesepisode “See Saw Margery Daw,” released in 1997, was controversial because many children (and parents) found it too scary for a children’s show. It was later banned in several countries because of this.
The episode featured two cardboard cutout characters, a bear and a lion, who enter the Teletubbyland and repeat scary phrases.
“I’m the Bear, I’m the Bear, and I’m coming.” says the cartoon bear, with its eyes rolling around. Then, the lion joins, saying, “I am the scary lion, with big scary teeth. I’m scary on the top, and I’m underneath,”
Scenes of this episode were shared multiple times across social media platforms, and many adults agreed that this episode had “traumatized” them as children. This episode, and the fact that the show is already bizarre, make it the perfect show to adapt into a horror film. As forWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, it has been available in theaters since Feb. 15.
