From Scott Jeffery Chambers, the daring chap who delivered the gory Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey set and costar of Joe Stephenson's neo Hammer flick, Doctor Jekyll, comes a new, gruesome re-imagining of an old (public-domain), childhood favorite: Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare.
The terrifying modernization not only taps J.M. Barrie's (obvious) spirited classic, but the haunting aspects of what the author had toyed with before the novel, with Peter Pan being more of a sinister Pied Piper type. To further Chambers' radical reinterpretation, Neverland Nightmare references Psycho (for its mother/son psychosis), A Nightmare on Elm Street, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, It, NOS4A2, Jeepers Creepers and The Phantom of the Opera to drive home its petulant point, as well as any number of masked-slasher flicks that have surfaced over the years.
Pan, we learn, was once an abused child and later a circus clown, now existing as a deformed serial killer. Through his warped mindset, he believes he's doing good by sending children to his dark paradise, Neverland, and does so by murdering them. Tinkerbell, aka Timothy Carter, is a "pixie-dust" addict (and wingless, grown woman) assists him, and along the way, the two capture little Michael Darling, which leaves his guilt-ridden sister, Wendy (who should have been more attentive of his whereabouts), to retrieve him.
Pan, as portrayed by the nuanced Martin Portlock, is a feisty twist of Tim Curry/Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise, Jeff Goldbum's fly-forming Seth Brundle and Heath Ledger's Joker, sometimes smeary-faced (like a rain-drenched Eric Draven) and at other times, a wild and guiltless, phantasmagorical entity, whose ungodly disposition is as giddy as it's repugnant.
Kit Green's Tinkerbell is quite a creepy catalyst, too, calling for sympathy (and perhaps, to some degree, deserving it), despite her abhorrent devotion to her maniacal master. Megan Placito's Wendy acts as her flipside, also asking for sympathy, but in her case, it's more justified as she goes that extra mile to snatch Peter DeSouza-Feighoney's Michael, the personification of innocence staged for defiling. (It should be noted that Teresa Banham, who reprises her role of Mary from Blood and Honey 2, gives a worthy performance as Michael and Wendy's mom, as does the rest of the supporting cast, even if its members are often fleeting. They include Campbell Wallace, Nicholas Woodeson, Hardy Yusef, Olumide Olorunfemi, Oscar Hastings, Charity Case, Lucas Allerman and Kierston Wareing.)
Pan is to be the ringmaster in Chambers' Poohverse, which will enlist a rampaging Bambi and killer Pinocchio as part of its crazed ensemble. Considering the grotesque nature of what's established, I can only imagine the results will satisfy the slasher/splatter sect, but for those who insist on holding a sentimental attachment to their cherished fables, it might be smart to evade Chambers' sadistic shape of things to come.
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