Bambi: La Venganza

Bambi is a weird, wild spin on a childhood staple. Imagine a creature-feature twist where the gentle deer becomes a mutated nightmare after tragedy transforms him. 6.5/10

The creature design is bold: massive antlers, gnarly teeth, and a beast-like presence that channels the absurd energy of Jurassic Park-style horrors.

Roxanne McKee holds the heart with a grounded performance as Xana, and Tom Mulheron adds a relatable kid-in-danger dynamic. But mostly it's about thrills. The action scenes deliver twisted kills, though pacing dips when the story pauses for family drama that never quite earns your attention.

I understand it's part of the Twisted Childhood Universe which adds a weird allure... this is horror knowing it's absurd, and leaning hard into that. It's rough around the edges, but if you're in the mood for an outrageous, grazing-the-edge-of-camp horror ride, it hits enough marks to make it worth the ticket.

I might check the other movies in the TCU.

"Bambi: The Reckoning" (2025), directed by Dan Allen, takes the beloved childhood character and twists it into a relentless, R-rated creature feature. Part of the "Twisted Childhood Universe," this film reimagines Bambi as a mutated, grief-stricken deer on a deadly rampage, seeking revenge on humans. While some critics note inconsistent pacing and CGI, many praise its effective monster design, creative kills, and willingness to lean into its wild premise. It's a bloody, unapologetic horror film that delivers on its promise of an unhinged Bambi.

Is it worth watching? If you're a horror fan looking for a campy, gory, and surprisingly fun take on a classic, and don't mind a B-movie aesthetic, then "Bambi: The Reckoning" is a surprisingly entertaining watch.

Bambi: The Reckoning had a few decent moments, but overall it fell flat due to a lack of depth and emotional connection. The story felt underdeveloped, with barely any world-building or explanation around the who, where, or why of what was happening. None of the characters were particularly likable or compelling.

Even the kid, who should have been a sympathetic figure, just came across as kind of a blank slate. The mom made questionable choices, especially in how she handled the broken relationship between the father and son, and that dynamic was never explored in a meaningful way. The film seemed to rely on shock or sentimentality in the final act, but it didn't earn that emotional payoff.

The ending felt heavy-handed for a movie that hadn't taken the time to make you care about anyone. I usually enjoy these B-movie horror spins on fairy tales or childhood IPs, but this one just didn't land. It lacked heart, clarity, and ultimately any real reason to get invested.

This movie knows what it is, and makes the most out it. It's fun, and entertaining. One of those movies you enjoy watching with a group of friends after a party.

This movie doesn't pretend to be artsy in the name of film making unlike most of A24 horror movies these days. The actors are surprisingly good except for few, most of whom die pretty early on anyway. While the CGI is nothing amazing, compared to some of the rushed Marvel projects, it certainly is comparable.

(Watched July 25th, 2025) Bambi: The Reckoning is currently the best installment in the Twisted Childhood Universe. I love almost everything they went for in this movie. The only problem I have is some of the acting can be bad. But the acting wasn't terrible some of it was actually good, the story is decent, the CGI is amazing for a movie with a low budget, the deaths were clever, and it had some funny moments that I laughed at in the theater.