Robert Englund Providing Voice For Evil Jiminy Cricket In Storybook Slasher, ‘Pinocchio: Unstrung’
It was the late/great Chronicles of Narnia author, C.S. Lewis, who once said, “When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up”
While these wise words for developing both spiritual and personal maturity may be a useful tool when navigating everyday adult life, it doesn’t guarantee that it will stay locked up forever. These personal joys of adolescence continue to live on while buried deep inside the forgotten parts of your mind. All alone, these memories fester without ever dying until insanity finally takes hold. From there, they patiently wait for the time they can crawl from out of the dark, and play with you once more.
First reported by MovieWeb, Jagged Edge Productions are gearing up for their fifth installment in the popular Twisted Childhood Universe (aka the Poohniverse). A collection of childhood treasures reimagined as bloodthirsty monsters, and this time these crazy Brits are reintroducing the world to Pinocchio for some unconscionable fun in the upcoming Pinocchio: Unstrung.
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With two Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey slasher movies, Bambi: The Reckoning, and the most recent Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, it’s clear that Jagged Edge Productions is trying to resurrect our youth in the ugliest way possible. Only this time they’re bringing back an old friend for this new nightmare.
Horror icon Robert Englund (V: The Final Battle, Galaxy of Terror, The Mangler, Wishmaster, Hatchet, A Nightmare on Elm Street film series) has been announced as the voice for this macabre version of “The Cricket,” and the movie’s director, Rhys Frake-Waterfield (both Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey movies), shared two images of the creature’s design on his Instagram this week:
“First look at ‘Cricket’ in Pinocchio: Unstrung!” the IG post reads. “Voiced by horror legend @officialrobertenglund, he’s the exact opposite of a conscience. This foul-mouthed little bastard (the cricket, not robert) will stop at nothing to make Pinocchio ‘real.’ Release date coming soon…”
Aside from looking awesome, any horror fan worth their salt (or should I say “sawdust”) immediately noticed how the creepy cricket bears an uncanny resemblance to Englund’s most famous role, and also one of the most popular horror monsters of all time, Freddy Krueger.
Loosely based on Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, the original Disney film tells the story of a lonely aging woodcarver named Geppetto who creates a small boy out of a wooden puppet that comes to life after the old man wishes upon a star.
This abominable outrage against nature wishes to become a real boy, but it must first embark on a personal journey to discover the difference between right and wrong, and how to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” before getting its wish. Helping Pinocchio along the way is a talking cricket named Jiminy who serves as its conscience, and he teaches the doll how to be a Good Guy.
Still no word yet on the release date of Pinocchio: Unstrung, but it will also feature horror veteran Richard Brake (Death Machine, Batman Begins, Doom, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, Mandy, Barbarian) as the demented dollmaker, but it’s safe to assume that moviegoers will be in for some bloody no-strings-attached fun when it hits theaters.
For now, treat yourself below to a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 where Freddy (Robert Englund) breaks a young dreamer into the world of primetime television:
