User reviews

Didn;t mind this at all.

Some nice effects and gore. Some obvious CGI miss-steps - but that's to be expected.

BUT - PLEASE stop with the evil, corrupt and stupid men. Stop with the strong females who can do nothing wrong and are bullet proof. It's just fatigue at this point. How about showing men and women working together as a concept?

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.

It's something I can say for sure: anyone who misses that old-school slasher vibe-where characters do dumb things and the scenes don't really make sense-will definitely be reminded of it here. Is the writing solid? I'd say "no." It's a wacky movie, more for the fun of it, and you'll keep going "huh?" while watching. But if you're in the mood for exactly that kind of film, then this one will definitely hit the spot. As for the visuals and horror elements, they're decent enough.

A concept so ridiculous the only choice it had was to look itself in the mirror and recognize what it is, Instead it fools itself and to believing it could be a grand demonstration of its genre. But with a Weak opening, weak progression, weak execution, weak characters, weak plot, weak kills, and a weak climax, and with how serious it takes itself, This movie couldn't even hope to be middle of the road. But at least it is a well-rounded waste of everyone's time.

Look, Bambi: The Reckoning isn't a good movie in the traditional sense, and that's exactly why it's worth watching. This gloriously unhinged revenge-horror parody takes Disney's most delicate deer and turns him into a bloodthirsty woodland avenger. It's absurd, over-the-top, and completely aware of how ridiculous it is.

You don't watch this movie for nuance or storytelling, you watch it to see Bambi tear through people like Rambo with antlers.

It's the perfect movie for a late-night hangout with friends, some popcorn, and a sense of humor.

Is it bad? Absolutely.

Did I enjoy it? Without a doubt.

I honestly thought it was going to be another car crash of a movie, but credit where it's due, this wasn't half bad. I'm always keen to see which childhood favorite is going to get the treatment, and this has to be the best one yet.

I genuinely enjoyed it; the mix of horror, special effects, unexpected moments (Thumper!), and a few recent scares were delightful.

I got Black Sheep vibes from it, the sort of horror film that shouldn't work, but bizarrely it did. I'm glad to see this has a reasonable score on here; it deserves it. From the opening credits, it felt a little different; that animation was terrific; it gave me Disney vibes, in a wrong kind of way.

The acting was rather good; Roxanne McKee added a bit of quality, and Joseph Greenwood made Harrison a character we'd love to hate. Good job! There were several really good scenes; the chase and Harrison with the bunnies are perhaps the best ones.

Not bad at all.

6.5/10.

Honestly pretty fun movie, the kills can be pretty gnarly and cool. Theres some genuinely amazing shots in this movie. The intro animation is also really nice.

Violent deer using their antlers for destruction and murder is honestly pretty under used in media so i love to see it here.

Out of other "Public Domain" horror movies ive heard of this ones actually an enjoyable watch, escpecially if you have low expecations.

Deceptive though it might seem, high camp can be a tricky artform to pull off successfully on screen, especially in genres like horror and sci-fi. It requires deftly managed, evenly sustained pacing - not necessarily at the breakneck speed of a screwball comedy, but certainly steady in its regular dispensing of delicious nuggets of wry and macabre wit with bridge segments in between them that move the story along without overstaying their welcome. Sadly, however, in his fourth feature outing, director Dan Allen only gets this down pat about half of the time in this twisted and sinister retelling of the classic Felix Salten 1923 novel about a motherless roe coping with life in the forest. In this ghoulish iteration of the tale, a divorced mother (Roxanne McKee) and her 13-year-old son (Tom Mulheron) are on their way to visit her in-laws' family after her ex-husband (Adrian Relph) summarily ditches his promise to spend the weekend with the boy. However, the duo's journey is interrupted when their ride is brazenly attacked on a remote roadway by a ferocious mutant adult stag that looks like something out of the "Jurassic Park/Jurassic World" movies only with cheesier special effects (but with a supremely stylish set of hooves that resemble those in the inner sleeve artwork from the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You LP (1981)). Not only does the woodland monster go after the stunned mother and son, but also all of their relatives, including the family matriarch (Nicola Wright), who suffers from a form of dementia but seems to have an unusual (but unexplained) psychic bond to Bambi. This scenario is further complicated by a band of apparent bounty hunters who are charged with capturing and/or killing the creature, as well as other equally gruesome wild animals that have also mysteriously mutated, including a pack of rabbits whose carnivorous proclivities put the bunny from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) to shame. The reasons behind the hunt don't become clear until well into the film (after more than enough of the aforementioned protracted narrative hammocks), but they nonetheless provide the absent justification behind much of the story (as well as the source of Bambi's unrepentant rage), making for a final act that compensates for many of the picture's prior shortcomings. To its credit, the film's campy elements are well done, but there just aren't enough of them and they're a little too loosely strung together (at least initially), almost feeling as if the in-between sequences amount to little more than excessive padding to fill out the runtime. In addition, there's a certain predictability to the narrative wherein it's easy to guess who's going to get done in and when, as well as who ultimately ends up surviving the ordeal. I was also somewhat puzzled by the preponderance of F-bombs scattered throughout the screenplay, a count that rivals "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) at times, particularly for a story involving younger characters. These issues are somewhat made up for by the inclusion of several surprisingly touching moments, an unexpectedly nice counterpart to the graphic (but generally in-context) gratuitousness that pervades the film, often depicted in colorful and cleverly raucous ways (remember what I said about those bunnies). Indeed, those who enjoy their horror with a touch of dark humor are sure to enjoy this production from the makers of the "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" films, though don't be disappointed if you still come away from it hungering for a little more, especially in light of this offering's scant 1:21:00 duration. Nevertheless, come the movie's end, don't be surprised if you still find yourself heaving a heavy sigh and heartily exclaiming "Deer me!"

Granted, I had absolutely zero expectations to this 2025 horror movie, solely because of the movie's title. I mean, the recent years string of turning children's books into horror stories haven't exactly been stellar movies. But still, I opted to watch "Bambi: The Reckoning" solely because it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. And thus is the curse of being a fan of all things horror.

Writers Felix Salten and Rhys Warrington put together a rather straightforward script and storyline. It actually wasn't as bad as you might expect from a movie with a title such as "Bambi: The Reckoning". Just don't expect anything award-winning here, and you're good to go.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with Nicola Wright. Yeah, I've seen more than my share of low budget and questionable movies to be familiar with her. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie were fair, not great, but fair enough for what they were. The design of Bambi was certainly interesting enough and added something to the movie. But some of the CGI animated scenes looked a bit questionable at times.

"Bambi: The Reckoning" was actually a watchable movie, if you don't sit down with a bunch of expectations to the movie. Not a phenomenally great movie, mind you, but watchable for the campy stuff that it was. Watchable, yes, but hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend horror fans to rush out and get to watch.

My rating of director Dan Allen's 2025 movie "Bambi: The Reckoning" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I get it, man. I've seen some of the reviews for Bambi: The Reckoning, and it sounds like a total train wreck. Like, you go in ready for some campy, crazy horror, and you end up just confused.

Honestly, the whole "mutant deer on a rampage" thing sounds hilarious on paper, but they just couldn't pull it off. It's like they had one cool idea, and then just forgot to write a story around it. The ending? Total garbage. And the grandma shouting "Simon!" was probably the funniest, most random part of the whole thing. Like, what was her deal?

It's one of those movies you'll probably just laugh at later, but in the moment, it's just a massive letdown. It's a "Twisted Childhood Universe" alright-the universe where good writing and solid plots just don't exist. You're not alone in thinking it was a total waste of time.

I'm positively surprised because I was prepared in advance to give it one star and write how it's the worst thing ever and blah, blah, blah... But that didn't happen.

What we actually have here is an almost comedic film that twists a well-known story in a bizarre way, and it does so far better than similar titles. The plot is decent. The sound and atmosphere even managed to create a decent bit of suspense at times.

Unfortunately, that's where all the positives about this movie end. The characters are awful, unimaginative, and underdeveloped. A chimpanzee with half its brain amputated could have written better dialogue. The action is boring, repetitive, and tiresome.

Three stars for the effort.

I recently watched the UK picture 🇬🇧 Bambi: The Reckoning (2025) in theaters. The storyline follows a mutated Bambi who is out for revenge after the death of his mother. When a car crashes in the forest, the victims will have to avoid Bambi at all costs if they hope to survive.

This picture is directed by Dan Allen (Mummy Reborn) and stars Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones), Samira Mighty (Beauty and the Beast), Nicola Wright (Peter Pans Neverland Nightmare) and Tom Mulheron (Carnage).

This movie is absolutely awful; however I have to admit, I was definitely entertained. The CGI is way over the top and horrible; however, the kills are unique, gory and pretty awesome. I also enjoyed the supporting wooded animals, thumper was great. The bunny and propane tank sequences had me laughing out loud in the theaters. There is a kitchen scene that was stolen from Jurassic Park, and the overall storyline and premise is as bad as you'd expect, but there is an elite bear trap sequence and ai liked the ending more than I wanted too...so much so I sat through the credits just to find out there's a sequel on the way that I will watch also.

In concluding, Bambi: the reckoning fell in the so bad it's good category for me. I'd score this a 4/10, but recommend it for those looking for something different.

Mr. Allen direction to the Twisted Childhood Universe is solid as it is, many Disney fans are NOT going to love this as much as I did, this 81 minute short feature runtime went through fast paced and done in a way that made me intense. Putting my foot down, the Visual Effects on Bambi looks beautiful crafted well top to bottom, cast did not a bad performance but solid, I more into international indie films like this one, we just had Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare back in January approx. (6 months ago), just got another film for the TCU which two TCU films in 1 year is extremely good, most of these films from the TCU are high expectations, usually once a year is enough to step back and work on another production. But 2 in 1 year is solid work, Thank you to the pre production team and the visual effects team who created Bambi as a monster that I adored.

(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.

If anyone wants to see what it's like when dear old Bambi guzzles down some radioactive toxic waste after witnessing his mother killed then goes on a mutated, methamphetamine infused, rampage, then check out this 80 minute C level horror flick.

The acting isnt really anything to write home about and the folks in this are really just there in the wrong place, wrong time sort of ordeal with not much plot to go on other than survive zombambi and his merry friends .

It isn't really great or even mostly good outside of a few slow churning tension build up scenes that ultimately just ends with really portly rendered CGI mutated forest critters. The film took a lot of cues from the first two Jurassic Park movies and I herein redub this movie as Jurambi: The Lost Deer.

"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.

When I first learned about the movie I was shocked. How could they transform such a lovely character from our childhood into a killing machine? I read the plot and I found it quite trash and then discovered that previously they did the same to Winnie the Pooh and Pitter Pan and we're going to do it to Pinocchio as well. No question tis films are indie because no company would have thought about doing something like this.