The Twisted Childhood Universe continues to expand this summer with Pinocchio: Unstrung, a new horror adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, arriving in UK cinemas on July 24. The film will also make its UK Premiere at this year’s Raindance Film Festival, where it has earned four nominations, including Best UK Feature and Best Performance in a UK Feature for Richard Brake.
Directed and written by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, known for Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, the film introduces another reimagined childhood character into the growing horror franchise. Richard Brake stars as Geppetto, who gives his grandson James a magical doll named Pinocchio. As James unknowingly introduces the doll to the world around him, Pinocchio begins carrying out violent acts against anything he considers bad, guided by a sinister version of Cricket played by horror icon Robert Englund.
Englund, best known for portraying Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, joins a cast that also includes Cameron Bell in his feature film debut. Producer Scott Chambers, whose recent projects include Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare and Bambi: The Reckoning, continues building the interconnected Twisted Childhood Universe alongside Frake-Waterfield.
Pinocchio: Unstrung follows earlier entries in the franchise including Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and its sequel, continuing the trend of transforming familiar childhood stories into darker genre films. With its Raindance premiere approaching and Englund attached to the project, the film is likely to attract horror fans curious to see how this latest reinterpretation unfolds on screen.
