Le Cauchemar de Peter Pan

British filmmaker Scott Chambers revisits J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan in the third installment of his long-gestating The Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU).

This aspect of re-adaptation warrants particular attention. While the mention of Peter Pan might first conjure the cartoonish iterations popularized by Disney, the character originally conceived in 1902 by the Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie is, in fact, quite steeped in the gore tradition.

(Peter Pan, the book, has frequently faced accusations of racism due to its often barbaric depiction of Native Americans. However, some researchers and writers have argued that the book should be evaluated within the context of the era in which it was written. This issue is largely absent from contemporary versions of the book and its cinematic adaptations.)

Those who follow the young filmmaker Scott Chambers, barely past his thirtieth birthday, will already be familiar with his characterizations and color palettes, and this film maintains a consistency that should satisfy his established audience.

Martin Portlock delivers a quite satisfactory performance as an actor who appears to have thoroughly internalized the narrative.

Another name to note in the film is Peter DeSouza-Feighoney. Having already accrued credits in numerous gore productions at a young age, one hopes that DeSouza-Feighoney will emerge as a significant actor in the genre's future.

The first ten to fifteen minutes of this movie were kind of cool. There were some creepy/cool visuals and the Peter character also felt properly creepy. Then the movie started. It's chalk full of bad acting, a plot that is absolutely insane and felt like a drug addict wrote it (wouldn't be surprised if that was true), and was just really really bad. By the end of this movie I felt emotionally and mentally drained and I don't think I could have handled much more had the running time been longer. It had some redeeming moments, but they were few and far between. Som decent gore and special effects but outside of that it was pretty much unwatchable. I can't recommend anyone watch this movie. Even if your a fan of the new children's character horror movie genre.

I didn't like Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey, but this movie is not talked about enough. They took everything that was wrong with Winnie-The-Pooh, and learned from their mistakes. And actually made a descent horror film. I wouldn't say it's a *slasher* movie, but it has elements *of* a slasher movie. There is actually a story, instead of abandoning your setup and main character for some random b*tches in the woods that have NOTHING to do with the source material and make THEM the main focus of the movie (I'm looking at you, Blood And Honey). They actually use the source material and craft a story that actually takes inspiration from the original Disney movie. Oh, and by the way, there's no Neverland. It's mentioned throughout the film about a billion times, and the main reason that Peter Pan is killing people, but we never actually see it. I just thought I would mention that. Tinker Bell, though, is a completely different story. "She" is more disturbing than Peter himself. And "she" actually makes an impact on the story. The gore, though. Oh my God. The kills in here do NOT hold back even when people aren't killed and just injured. Now, it's nowhere near Terrifier level gore, but it's still kind of over the top. The main problem with Blood And Honey, (other than its existence) is that it took itself WAY too seriously. This film does the same thing, but in a good way. This is by far the best public domain horror film yet.

Needless to say that I had indeed not heard about the 2025 horror movie "Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare" prior to sitting down to watch it. But given the recent year's horror movie rendering of classic fairytales and animated characters, such as Winnie the Pooh, Goldilocks, Popeye, etc., then I wasn't really harboring a grain of expectations to the movie. But I still opted to give it a go, perhaps writer and director Scott Chambers would deliver a surprise.

The movie certainly started out quite nicely, and I was not expecting that from the movie. So thumbs up for such a brutal start. But that didn't set the standard of the rest of the movie, unfortunately. No, the storyline in "Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare" wasn't great, nor was it bad. Sure, it was a watchable movie, if you distract from the "Peter Pan" aspect of the movie. Now, had the movie not carried the "Peter Pan" name, it would actually have made for a more enjoyable slasher movie. But it shouldn't be necessary to say that writer Scott Chambers mauled the work of J. M. Barrie.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with actor Nicholas Woodeson. Regardless, it should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were actually fair.

The special effects and make-up in the movie were actually good, and it definitely helped to keep the movie afloat.

My rating of director Scott Chambers's 2025 movie "Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I really love when I start watching a movie expecting to end up disappointed, and the exact opposite happens.

A lot of things in this film aren't original, but it all feels more like a tribute to the original rather than a cheap rip-off. The atmosphere is excellent. The film is never boring, not for a moment, and the story is well thought-out. There are several unexpected moments that only add to the grotesqueness of the entire film. The characters are well developed, especially Peter Pan and Tinker Bell.

All in all - I expected (more or less) a standard Neverland story told through a horror lens, but I actually got so much more! This is a psychotic conglomeration of madness, filth, and drug addiction, and Peter Pan is the crown jewel of insanity and a unique portal to the land of Neverland.

Seven stars from me!