Interview: Pinocchio Unstrung writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield on turning fairy tales into nightmares and future plans for the Poohniverse

Rhys Frake-Waterfield has transformed familiar childhood tales into nightmares. He first did it with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and now he's crafted a demented take on Pinocchio with Pinocchio Unstrung, which turns the iconic puppet into a homicidal maniac who takes the idea of being a real boy way too far, resulting in bloody mayhem. The puppet is a remarkable practical effect, created by Todd Masters and his crew. The film also stars horror staple Richard Brake as Geppetto, Cameron Bell as Geppetto’s grandson, James, and Robert Englund, who voices a devilish version of Jiminy Cricket.

We recently spoke with the writer and director about his latest entry into the "Poohniverse," also known as the Twisted Childhood Universe, his plans for the universe moving forward, and working with horror icons Brake and Englund.

This interview was edited slightly for clarity.

 The Horror Lounge: What's the appeal of taking these familiar childhood characters like Winnie the Pooh and Pinocchio, and turning them into gory slashers?

Rhys Frake-Waterfield: There are some absolute crazy concepts in there. With the story of Pinocchio, you have talking crickets, a wooden boy coming alive, blue fairies, and all of this is really fun to subvert and a nice playground to work in. That’s one reason we picked the fairy tales.

The concepts are also household names. Everyone has heard of these stories. They’ve seen the original interpretations of them. It’s nice to take something familiar like that, twist it and change it and take it back to its horror origins.

The Horror Lounge: With Pinocchio Unstrung, the puppet is the star. What was that like from a writing and directing standpoint?

Rhys Frake-Waterfield: It’s very, very technical and needed a lot of planning. I didn’t have to do this in Blood and Honey 2, but I knew how much I needed to prepare for the shooting. I always knew I wanted to go down a practical route with this. I had to block the puppet in a certain way, meaning I had to position him in a certain way from a puppeteering perspective. You’ll see that throughout the film that a lot of time, he might be on a hospital bed. The reason he’s on a hospital bed is because there’s people on the other side of the bed working his legs and his hands and holding him to support him.

All of these decisions were important during the writing stage to make this possible and make this a reality to actually shoot. Puppets are incredibly difficult to work with. If you have a slasher or villain in a mask, you can ask him to pick something up. It’s easy. With a puppet, it’s not the case at all. You have to be selective in how you shoot certain moments. I think that’s what gives a lot of charm to the film. It’s different and very ambitious. Our Pinocchio is in about 80 percent of the movie.

Jiminy Cricket, voiced by Robert Englund, from Pinocchio Unstrung- Courtesy of Viva Pictures

The Horror Lounge: The movie features horror icons Richard Brake and Robert Englund. What was your experience like working with them?

Rhys Frake-Waterfield: They’re amazing. I’m a big fan of old school horror. When we had a sufficient budget and quality, it allowed us to attract this talent. I’ve been a fan of Richard Brake for a long time, from his Rob Zombie films to his more recent ones, like The Last Stop in Yuma County. I really wanted to bring him on board as Geppetto. He really loved the script. He read it and was game.

Todd [Masters] was on board early on when we showed him the script and concept for Pinocchio. He likes working with puppets. He’s done The Boy and Child’s Play.

With the Cricket character, I needed him to be a devil on the shoulder of Pinocchio. I wanted to subvert the original Jiminy Cricket. Who else is a better devil on the shoulder than Robert Englund? [Laughs]. I didn’t know if he’d want to do it. I thought there was about a 20 percent chance that he’d do it.

I must have wrote, for each Cricket, several different alternative lines. I have this humungous bank of Robert Englund one-liners now, about 250 things he says. It gave me options in the editing stage. Ultimately, those options and his performance enabled a sinister, evil Cricket character to have personality and come to life.

The Horror Lounge: Are there still plans for an Avengers-like Poohniverse movie? What's the status of that and what would you like to see in such a film?

Rhys Frake-Waterfield: That’s our Avengers-style crossover. That’s still the intention. All of these films have been working towards that. You can hear different Easter eggs and different lines throughout some of them. There are a few in Pinocchio that allude to how they’re connected. We shot Blood and Honey 3, so we’re in the preparation stage. It should be super fun.

I haven’t seen anything like that before, other than maybe Freddy vs. Jason or Alien vs. Predator. I’ve never seen anything beyond two characters, probably because licensing rights are locked up. It's not really a reality, but it is for us because we made each of these characters. I’m excited because there’s never been a horror film like this. We want to see them all interconnected and experience an Avengers-style, battle royale. The puppet will be in it.

The Horror Lounge: Thank you so much for talking to us!

Pinocchio Unstrung releases in theaters on July 24.

https://youtu.be/h3CygG0LNLU