Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the recent critically-panned horror parody which puts a slasher spin on the classic Disney children's tale, was screened for a group of fourth grade students at the Academy of Innovative Education, a K-12 charter school in Miami Springs, and parents are up in arms.
Apparently, the kids selected the movie themselves, and the teacher was under the impression that the gory low-budget flick was just a normal, kid-friendly Winnie the Pooh adventure. However, reports claim that he still decided to leave the movie playing even after Pooh and Tigger began their murderous rampage and the "distraught" students asked him to turn it off.
Michelle Diaz, mother of a pair of twins in the class, is not at all happy with the faculty's response to multiple complaints from parents.
"I feel completely abandoned by the school," said Diaz. "They were exposed 20 to 30 minutes to a movie called Winnie the Pooh, Honey and Blood. He didn't stop the movie, even though there were kids saying, 'Hey, stop the movie, we don't want to want this.' It's not for them to decide what they want to [watch], it's up to the professor to look at the content."
CBS News Miami reached out to the head of the school, Ms. Vera Hirsh, who provided the following statement:
"The Academy for Innovative Education has become aware that a segment of a horror movie was shown to fourth graders, Monday, October 2, 2023, that was not suitable for the age group," the statement said. "Our administration promptly addressed this issue directly with the teacher and has taken appropriate action to ensure the safety and well-being of students.
"We are actively monitoring the students and our mental health counselor and principal have already met with those students who have expressed concerns."
Blood and Honey is certainly not suitable for young kids, but if they only saw the first half an hour or so, they'd be more likely to be traumatized by how bloody awful it is than any of the slasher violence on display.
"Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is a 2023 British independent slasher film edited, produced, written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield. It serves as a horror reimagining to A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh books and stars Craig David Dowsett as the titular character, and Chris Cordell as Piglet, with Amber Doig-Thorne, Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor, Natasha Rose Mills, and Danielle Ronald in supporting roles. It follows Pooh and Piglet, who have become feral and bloodthirsty murderers, as they terrorise a group of young university women and Christopher Robin when he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood many years later after leaving for college."