Pinocchio: Unstrung

Looking back into the late 1980´s, i can actually appreciate what my mother Lena did with me and my sister visiting the public library. We used to borrow children books and sometimes even read some while visiting the library. We didn´t have access to mobile phones or the internet, and we didn´t need any of that because we were actually very social with other children. I remember some of the books that i wanted to borrow and i especially had one favourite book at that time. And that was the novel known as Treasure Island by author Robert Louis Stevenson. I would dream myself being away on a pirate ship, sailing across the seas and facing danger in different parts of the world. Just a year later i got to go and watch the latest film adaptation of Treasure Island in our local cinema in my hometown Uddevalla. This was during the summer of 1990 and considering i have read the book of Treasure Island, seeing a film adaptation of the book was very exciting. I recognized the name of actor Charlton Heston, because i used to love watching his 1968 science fiction cult classic film Planet Of The Apes on VHS. You also have legendary actor Christopher Lee in this film as the fun character Blind Pew. The 1990 film adaptation of Treasure Island tuirned out to be a great adventure, capturing the spirit of the book. It´s been a while since i watched this film so i might pick it up on  DVD at some point. Regarding books and film adaptations, we have seen a number of fairy tale books become animated films such as Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,  Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid and many more titles. In recent years we have seen a number of characters from famous fairy tales turned into horror films, such as Winnie The Pooh Blood And Honey, Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan´s Neverland Nightmare and other titles. I have seen almost all of them, not all of the Popeye horror films ( i gave up after Popeye´s Revenge because it wasn´t good ). But did you know that even in the 90´s they did a horror film based on the fairy tale character known as Pinocchio, known as Pinocchio´s Revenge released in 1995? I did not see this film on VHS back in the day, even though i did see the cover in rental VHS stores. It wasn´t until around 2006 i got a DVD copy from America where i got a chance to see this film. Pinochio´s Revenge turned out to be a charming B horror movie from the distribution company Trimark Pictures ( the same distribution company that released Leprechaun ), where especially Pinocchio looked quite creepy with the big eyes and the wooden design. Worth a watch if you enjoy B horror movies. This year i was really excited about checking out the new horror film Pinocchio: Unstrung. With a hand made puppet of Pinnochio and practical make up effects included, this sounded exactly like my kind of film. Is the slasher horror film Pinocchio: Unstrung a must watch or should you just watch the 1995 low budget movie Pinocchio´s Revenge instead?

Fourteen-year-old James ( Cameron Bell ) is sent to live with his gandfather Geppetto ( Richard Brake ) after his parents died in a car accident. He makes friend´s with two other children, Zach ( Elliott Spilling ) and Dudley ( Jack Art Gray ). His friend Zach finds out he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the cancer have spread so fast there is nothing they can do. While remembering his dead friend Zach, Geppetto want to show James his latest creation known as Pinocchio. The wooden boy is actually alive and wants to become a new friend to James. All that Pinocchio want is to become a normal boy just like James, while he is trying to accept who he really is.

If you think that Pinocchio: Unstrung is very similar to Pinocchio´s Revenge from 1995 i would say these films are quite different from each other. Pinocchio: Unstrung is much more brutal and a real throwback to gory slasher horror movies of the 1980´s. There are several details that i am pleased about with this film, so let´s dig into the things i appreciate the most about Pinocchio: Unstrung. Let´s talk about the puppet design and i think Pinocchio looks really good. Knowing this is a hand made doll, that is actually impressive what they achieved with the design of Pinocchio. They could have gone the easy way and made a similar to the classic design, instead they do a complete oppisite and make the most creepy looking Pinocchio doll i have seen so far. The movement of the wooden body and the facial expressions of Pinocchio looks really good, knowing this all done practical. We have to talk about the brutal killing scenes in this film. I have heard that this film would be brutal, but i was surprsied how extremely brutal some scenes are and i really love that. This is exactly the kind of Pinnochio story i always wanted, i want to watch him kill the old school way. Real practical make up effects and no AI effects, just the way it should be. I love the fast that they use parts of the original story of Pinocchio and turn a modern twist on the plot, so you can actually feel a connection to the classic Pinocchio story. The friendship between Pinocchio and the main character James ( played well by child actor Cameron Bell ) is portrayed well in this film. Especially when you know that Pinocchio only want to be a normal boy, and he knows he looks different than a human child. The creepy characer Cricket ( with a voice from legendary actor Robert Englund ) looks great and have some charming horror scenes. Actor Richard Brake ( who i enjoy in the 2005 film adaptation of Doom ) as Gepetto is a good match for this classic character. Of all the fairy tale inspired horror films i have seen in recent years, i would say that Pinocchio: Unstrung is one of the better films in this category. This film have flaws of course such as the main plot could have been more effectively constructed, but still manage to entertain me enough to recommend you getting a physical copy. Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield have made his best film so far with Pinocchio: Unstrung, i actually hope we get a sequel.

Rating: DDD