Pinocchio: Unstrung

Pinocchio: Unstrung is a 2025 British independent slasher horror film directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the filmmaker behind the viral micro-budget horror hit Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. The film is the third installment in the Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU), a shared cinematic universe that reimagines classic children's characters as murderous villains. Shot on a budget of approximately $500,000, the film was released in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2025, and in the United States on August 15, 2025, by ITN Distribution and Premiere Entertainment Group.

The story takes a dark turn on Carlo Collodi's classic tale. Geppetto (Richard Brake), a lonely woodcarver grieving his dead son, carves a puppet that mysteriously comes to life. But this Pinocchio (voiced by Jude Evan Lloyd) is no sweet boy. Rejected and locked in an attic, he grows bitter and murderous. Guided by a parasitic Cricket (Robert Englund), Pinocchio believes that carving up Geppetto's surviving son, James (Cameron Bell), will make him a real boy. The film leans into gothic horror, with Pinocchio's wooden joints contorting as he stalks his prey through a shadowy Victorian manor.

With an R rating for strong bloody violence and gore, Pinocchio: Unstrung has found an audience among fans of twisted fairy tales. It has grossed over $3 million worldwide, a strong return on its tiny budget. The film has sparked debate about the ethics of exploiting beloved children's characters for violent content, and its financial success has encouraged other indie filmmakers to pursue similar IP-based horror projects.[edit]

The film opens with a prologue set in a small Italian village in the late 19th century. Geppetto (Richard Brake), a lonely, widowed woodcarver, is grieving the death of his young son, Carlo. In a desperate act of grief, he carves a wooden puppet and, through a mysterious, unexplained supernatural event, brings it to life. The puppet, named Pinocchio (voiced by Jude Evan Lloyd), is initially a blank, curious being who desperately seeks Geppetto's love and approval. However, Geppetto is repulsed by the creature, seeing it as a grotesque mockery of his lost child. He locks Pinocchio in the attic, where the puppet is tormented by isolation and rejection.

Years later, Geppetto has remarried and has a new, biological son named James (Cameron Bell), a teenager living in the shadow of his father's grief and the family's dark secret. The household is strained; Geppetto is emotionally distant, and James's mother is protective but unaware of the creature in the attic. The central conflict is established: Pinocchio, now embittered and twisted by years of neglect, has developed a murderous sentience. He believes that to become a real boy and finally earn his father's love, he must not simply be good, but must literally carve away the imperfections of the living, specifically, he believes that dismembering James and wearing his skin or body parts will allow him to assume his place as the perfect son.

Guiding Pinocchio is the voice of a sinister, parasitic Cricket (Robert Englund), a malevolent entity that lives inside the puppet's hollow chest. Cricket whispers lies and rationalizations, twisting Pinocchio's desire for love into a compulsion for murder. The film's main story beats follow James as he begins to suspect that something is wrong in the house, objects move, strange noises come from the attic, and his father is increasingly paranoid. James's friend, a local girl named Mia (Jessica Balmer), becomes involved as they try to uncover the family's past. The plot escalates when Pinocchio escapes the attic and begins stalking James through the family's sprawling, shadowy Victorian manor and the surrounding foggy woods. The film leans heavily on gothic horror tropes, with Pinocchio using his wooden joints to contort and crawl, his nose growing not with lies, but with his bloodlust, and his strings becoming weapons. The narrative builds toward a confrontation where James must fight for survival against his father's monstrous creation, with Geppetto forced to choose between his last living son and the puppet he accidentally created.[edit]