As if the original animated classic wasn’t heartbreakingly morbid enough, Hollywood’s decided ‘Bambi’ needs more than one hyperrealistic version, too. Oh, and why not make one a horror movie where the animated woodland creature is a vicious killing machine?
The horror revenge tale, currently titled Bambi: The Reckoning, is helmed by the same mind behind the nightmare-image filled live-action Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Rhys Frake-Waterfield. According to Dread Central, Frake-Waterfield will be partnering with director Scott Jeffrey, who said the movie’s creature design is inspired by the 2017 film The Ritual — a Netflix-distributed movie about a group of men hunted by a terrifying monster while hiking through the Swedish wilderness.
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“The film will be an incredibly dark retelling of the 1928 story we all know and love,” Jeffrey told Dread Central. “Prepare for Bambi on rabies!”
Disney is also working on a live-action retelling of the 1923 book and its 1942 movie adaptation, Vulture reported, but its hold on the deer was relinquished as the film moved into the public domain at the beginning of this year.
Ever wanted to know what Bambi would be like if — instead of processing his grief and falling in love alongside bunny rabbits in meadows full of flowers — the orphaned animal just went beast mode and killed all the hunters? Then this one is for you, I guess.
Production is set to begin in January.