Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is the third entry in Jagged Edge Productions’ Twisted Childhood Universe, following Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and its sequel. It is one of several upcoming horror films (from Jagged Edge and other studios) featuring beloved childhood characters now in the public domain. While some of these films may be easy money grabs, others will strive to produce a solid horror film. Fortunately, Peter Pan lands on the latter side of the aisle.
Martin Portlock plays Peter Pan, a disfigured man attempting to earn his entrance into Neverland. With a performance that blends Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise, and Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber, he kidnaps boys and promises to take them to the fantasy world. Tinker Bell (Kit Green) sincerely believes in Peter’s promises and looks after his “Lost Boys.” However, following the kidnapping of Michael Darling (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), she realizes she may not know the whole truth.
While writer-director Scott Chambers, who starred in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, chose to make a psychological slasher, he cleverly toys with reality just enough to leave things open-ended. Is something more supernatural going on here, or is this a man suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome brought on by childhood trauma? Until we get a sequel, these questions will be for the viewer to decide.
Although Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare has a larger budget than Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, it is still a low-budget production. Chambers made good use of every dollar and wasn’t afraid to utilize multiple locations, which elevated production. Peter and Kit’s residence is chaotically filthy and layered in grime, making you want to shower. This atmosphere also permeates other settings, including a dark party shop and a nightmarish circus. Even in more comfortable surroundings, the atmosphere is dense and confining.
The performances are of a higher caliber than you might expect from a public-domain horror. Some of the supporting cast was a bit weaker, which was sometimes distracting, but the main cast carried the film well. Kit Green was beautifully tragic as Tinker Bell, an innocent soul lost to drug addiction and a madman. Martin Portlock’s portrayal of Peter Pan is hauntingly dark and sinister, making this a terrifying and memorable installment in the Twisted Childhood Universe.
More than just a cash grab, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is a brutal, twisted retelling of the classic tale. Even if you didn’t enjoy the first two entries in the universe, this might be up your alley. Fans looking for a less serious spin on the fanciful story may be disappointed. There is very little humor or whimsy to be found.
The film will have a three-day theatrical run from January 13th to January 15th. Be sure to check out our interviews with Scott Chambers and Rhys Frake-Waterfield, as well as stars Martin Portlock and Kit Green.
Peter’s immaturity – you might even call it “Peter Pan syndrome” – makes for an interesting horror-villain pathology: The character “saves” his victims from the trials of adulthood by sending them to Neverland via strangulation or mutilation. The problem is, that’s just run-of-the-mill psycho behavior by genre standards. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare leaves several possibilities for interpretation on the table, opting instead for a “grounded and gritty” take that ditches the more fantabulous edges of Barrie’s world. Tick-Tock the Croc is just some background image on a television screen in Michael’s prison bedroom, while Neverland is represented by crayon drawings hung around Peter’s crumby lair. There’s an element of delusion to Peter’s Neverland ramblings that Jeffrey neither indulges nor refutes, which is a detriment to an already paint-by-numbers approach.
That’s not to say the filmmaker doesn’t push into rancidly dark territories. But these marquee shock-ya thrills can’t save Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Drag Race UK star Charity Kase shows up briefly to play the Captain Hook to Portlock’s Peter, shackled in the basement and begging for more screen time. There are also two body augmentations executed with gruesome practical effects that’ll sear into your memories. The film embraces taboo and B-movie luridness, but these harder genre leanings – while deliciously insane – are unfortunately not enough to excuse its persistent, underwhelming, and dread-free unremarkableness.
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare takes itself more seriously than its predecessors in Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Twisted Childhood Universe, which is a problem. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 star turned Neverland Nightmare director Scott Jeffrey strives to accentuate his main character’s arrested adolescence by turning the boy who never grew up into a serial killer and kidnapper – keeping him more grounded than the typical pirates-and-fairies image of Peter Pan. As Wendy Darling squares off against this throat-slashing, brother-snatching version of Peter, Jeffrey skips the imaginative sparkle of the stories that inspired his film. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare might be bleak and gory, but more notably, it’s a dull adaptation of Peter Pan’s adventures that makes him no different than a thousand other van-driving murderers who’ve come and gone before.