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Horror legend Robert Englund's latest genre film, Pinocchio Unstrung, is off to a great start with its reviews heading into its theatrical release. It has managed to earn a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, marking the first installment of the Twisted Childhood Universe to do so.
Pinocchio Unstrung will have its wide release in theaters on July 24. With its early reviews, it has an approval rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. As previous chapters of the TCU have endured harsh criticism in their reviews, the high score for this new installment could be seen as surprising. As Sean Boelman of FandomWire stated, "Pinocchio Unstrung is easily the best entry in the Twisted Childhood Universe yet, and frankly, far better than it has any right to be."
Pinocchio Unstrung Gets Praise for Its Dark Humor and Practical Effects
Another review by Daniel Kurland for Bloody Disgusting noted, "Pinocchio Unstrung is a surprisingly entertaining horror film that's a love letter to practical effects and old-fashioned animatronics. Rhys Frake-Wakefield has crafted a disturbing reimagining of Pinocchio that doesn’t get its strings tied up in knots."
"A wildly entertaining, bold and gory slice of horror that's destined to become a cult classic. One of the most terrifying, engrossing and wickedly funny horror films since Child's Play," NYC Movie Guru critic Avi Offer also said.
Meredith Jill Brown of Upcoming Horror Movies addd, "Pinocchio Unstrung delivers the life, love, and longing one could hope for inside the warped abyss of a dark imagination."
Robert Englund, best known for playing Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and its sequels, provides the voice of the Cricket, the film's reimagined version of Jiminy Cricket. Fellow horror icon Richard Brake (3 from Hell, Game of Thrones) is also featured as Geppetto. Meanwhile, Jude-Evan Lloyd voices Pinocchio. Rhys Frake-Waterfield, the filmmaker behind the Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey movies, wrote and directed Pinocchio Unstrung.
Pinocchio Unstrung Reimagines the Iconic Story
The film is a horror reimagining of Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, which was famously adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940. In this version, Geppetto introduces his grandson, James, to a magical doll named Pinocchio. Trouble ensues when James then shows Pinocchio the world, putting the wooden doll on a bloody crusade to eliminate all things bad. As the reviews have noted, the movie leans into practical effects and boasts a lot of blood and gore, all of which should be appealing to longtime horror fans.
The Twisted Childhood Universe was sparked in 2023 with the release of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. That movie, which put a horror spin on the story of Winnie-the-Pooh and pals, was a major financial success despite its harsh reviews. It had a sequel the following year, and spawned similar horror reimaginings of other classic children's stories. That includes 2025's Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare and Bambi: The Reckoning. There are plans to have all of these different titles have an Avengers-style crossover dubbed Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble.
Pinocchio Unstrung will be released in theaters on July 24, 2026.
