Bambi: The Reckoning

About 7 months ago i was invited to a female friend´s children´s birthday party. There were 8 children there with adults and the children seemed to have a great time. They played some games and then of course the birthday boy blew out the candles of the cake. After this they all sat down to watch the cartoon Disney movie Dumbo on Disney +. I had not seen this film and my female friend ( who have basically seen all Disney animated movies ) was suprised and said:- You have not seen Dumbo in all these years? It was alright i guess, the thing about me is that i have never been a huge fan on animated Disney films in general so there are a lot of titles i have not seen. For example i have not seen Oliver & Company, The Great Mouse Detective, Pocahontas ( i don´t know the animation in this one always looked bad to me ), Dinosaur, Home Of The Range and many more titles. So, the good thing about this is that if i ever wanted to do a Disney movie marathon i would have lots of titles to choose between. Will probably never happen but you never know what the future holds. One film i do remember though is the 1942 animated Disney film Bambi. A charming simple story regarding a white-tailed male fawn named Bambi, who learn to walk and talk by his rabbit friend Thumper, where he also meet the skunk Flower and the female fawn called Faline. Bambi is about to face reality as he one day sees the Great Prince. Bambi is a pretty harmless animated children´s movie, but considering how old this film is i have to say the animation is really well made. Is it one of my favourite Disney films? No, that would probably be 1997 animated Disney film Hercules that i actually saw in cinema at that time. You may have seen low budget horror films using classic animated characters such as Winnie The Pooh, Peter Pan and Popeye. Well it´s time for Bambi to get a different version as well in the horror film Bambi: The Reckoning from director Dan Allen ( who directed the low budget horror film It Came From Below ). I did like the trailer for Bambi: The Reckoning so i was curious about checking this film out. Is this a must see for true fans of Bambi or is this just a low budget horror film to cash in from using the title of a classic animated Disney film?

Being disappointed in her ex-husband not caring about their son, mother Xaxa ( Rosanne McKee ) travel with her son Benji ( Tom Mulheron ) to the family home of Benjo's beloved grandmother Mary ( Nicola Wright ) in a van. It is during this journey they encounter the savage beast Bambi, who have a taste for human flesh. 

Since i have seen several films made from Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey similar films i knew that Bambi: The Reckoning would probably remind me of similar films. With a limited budget you have to be as creative as you possibly can. I will say this, compared to films like Piglet and Popeye´s Revenge i would say that Bambi: The Reckoning looks better on a technical film making level, have better acting included and the story does feel more interesting than both of the films i mentioned earlier. The CGI effects of Bambi is actually better than i expected considering the budget of this film and i do enjoy when he attack a whole family inside a house. The creature design of Bambi is actually pretty cool and the fact that they designed this version of Bambi being so creepy, i really appreciate the effort. There are a few brutal death scenes and especially one scene surprised me, where a whole body gets split into half. That´s exactly what a film like this needed to feel more entertaining. There are some very traditional horror scenes in here we have seen before, what makes this film work other than Bambi itself is some of the characters of this film. I like the chemistry between son Benji and mother Xaxa, played by actors Tom Mulheron and Roxanne McKee. The scenes that they have together matches well with the plot, having a family driven story included into the horror elements can be effective if it´s done well. Actress Nicola Wright ( who i especially love in the British horror film The Curse Of Humpty Dumpty ) does another great performance as grandmother Mary. I do like the performance from actress Samira Mighty, too bad she didn´t have more scenes in this film. As a horror film in general i would say that Bambi: The Reckoning is effective considering there is no unique story here. Everything is very old school, it almost feels like an 80´s horror movie in a more updated version. Director Dan Allen bring back animal horror with this film like we used to see in the 1970´s except here they use CGI effects instead. If you just want a simple but effective B horror movie then this film should do the trick. Bambi: The Reckoning proves that animal horror still is an important part of horror society, make sure to get your digital copy or physical release to support independent horror. 

Rating: DDD