Plenty of us grew up with the sweet cartoon animals, the princes and princesses, the unforgettable songs (that we still know all the words to) and it was the kind of stuff we dreamt of.
Not had nightmares about.
And amongst the likes of Remi, Simba and Nemo, was a little sweet deer from one of the much, much older Disney films.
Disney released Bambi way back in 1942, based on the classic novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten in 1923.
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Now, fast forward over 100 years, that story is being retold again, only in much, much darker way.
Watch the teaser for Bambi: The Reckoning here:
This new horror film is part of the Twisted Childhood Universe - with the interconnected franchise kicking off with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey last year and its recent sequel.
Peter Pan and Pinocchio will also join the ranks in 2025’s Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble.
Released earlier today (3 April) the first teaser of Bambi: The Reckoning consists of just two scenes.
First, we see two hunters out in the woods with guns as one asks: “You ever shot a deer?”
And this, of course, leads to the implication that the older one, who'd killed just one specific time, may be the hunter who famously shot cute little Bambi’s mum.
Then, we see the fully-grown, haunting, murderous Bambi toppling over a car with his antlers.
Talk about villain origin story.
The film follows a mum and son who are hunted down by the 'vicious killing machine'.
And users reacted to the short teaser on X, with someone simply writing: “Childhood ruined.”
One put: “I'm both disturbed and intrigued. They're really going to traumatize a new generation with that childhood classic lol.”
While someone else seemed more positive, as they put: “Bambi’s revenge, I’m here for it.”
Another put: “This actually kind of sorta maybe looks cool.”
While one simply wrote: “Even if this whole universe turns out super well. My initial response in seeing these will still be: Why?”
As another said: “So lemme get this right… Bambi will play a similar role of the hulk…. In the Poohverse?”
And tying the franchise together, one user joked: “Pooh is about to show up in the post credits scene like Nick Fury.”
While the first Winnie-the-Pooh film might not have landed strongly on Rotten Tomatoes, the recent sequel received impressively high ratings.
So, let’s see what happens with Bambi.
Topics: Disney, TV and Film, Horror
Jess Battison