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Pinocchio: Unstrung review – public domain slasher turns beloved puppet into sick serial killer
The Guardian's review takes aim at Pinocchio: Unstrung, the latest instalment of Britain's tongue-in-cheek "Twisted Childhood Universe" slasher franchise, which follows earlier films turning Winnie-the-Pooh into a killer. Directed once again by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the film recasts the classic wooden puppet as a murderous companion, and the review argues it repeats the same flaws as its predecessors: crude shock tactics dressed up as satire, without genuine horror or laughs to back them up.
The story sees grieving grandson James (Cameron Bell) given a living puppet, Pinocchio, by his grandfather Geppetto (Richard Brake), only for the toy to take a wish for revenge on school bullies literally. The reviewer criticises the film for leaning on tired slasher clichés, including a gratuitous and questionable nude scene involving a character playing a schoolgirl, and for gore that looks too fake to properly unsettle viewers, concluding the film fails even on its own terms as horror.
In short
- Guardian reviews Pinocchio: Unstrung, latest "Twisted Childhood Universe" slasher.
- Puppet turns killer after boy wishes bullies dead.
- Review calls it unfunny, unscary, and tasteless.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The Twisted Childhood Universe films intentionally subvert beloved children's characters by placing them in maximalist horror scenarios—the transgression and shock are the artistic statement. Public domain figures serve as neutral vessels for commentary on nostalgia and cultural reverence, and the crude execution is consistent with a deliberately absurdist, B-movie aesthetic rather than a failure of ambition. Shock value, when employed with full awareness of its transgressive nature, can function as legitimate satire that challenges audience comfort, and this franchise represents an honest, unironic embrace of bad-taste cinema as artistic expression.
The case against
Shock value and transgression require genuine artistic purpose and competent execution to function meaningfully; simply making something offensive does not constitute satire or commentary. The film relies on tired slasher clichés and unconvincing gore whilst failing to generate genuine scares or laughs, suggesting it has not succeeded even at its self-imposed task of shock entertainment. The inclusion of problematic content, such as the questionable nude scene, suggests that the filmmakers are relying on shock tactics without careful consideration of responsibility, blurring the line between provocative satire and irresponsible provocation.
Explained simply
Pinocchio is a wooden puppet in a 19th-century Italian children’s story by Carlo Collodi. In the familiar tale, the woodcarver Geppetto makes him, and Pinocchio longs to become a real boy. The character and original story are now in the public domain, so filmmakers can adapt them without asking the rights holder.
The Twisted Childhood Universe is a British horror film series that reimagines well-known children’s characters as killers; earlier entries turned Winnie-the-Pooh into a slasher villain. Pinocchio: Unstrung is directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield and casts Geppetto and Pinocchio in a story about grief and revenge. Its premise draws on the gap between the character’s child-friendly origins and the violence of a slasher film.
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