Pinocchio Unstrung

Posted on October 27, 2026 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I know this person. He wanted to be a vampire.

Vampire Bat: You mean wooden vampire dolls?

Vampire Owl: Vampires of the Woods, may be?

Vampire Bat: We are already in a castle in the woods, aren’t we?

Vampire Owl: That makes us just the Vampires of the Castle.

Vampire Bat: We have enough vampires to make the castle full.

Vampire Owl: We still do not have a strong enough army against other species.

Vampire Bat: There is a peace treaty running in the realm set towards eternity.

Vampire Owl: Well, a vampire’s eternity is longer than that of anyone else.

Vampire Bat: The realm belongs to all species, not just vampires.

[Gets a parippu vada and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: James (Cameron Bell) is a fourteen-year-old boy sent to live with his grandfather Geppetto (Richard Brake) after his parents die in a car accident, and his best friend also dies by terminal cancer. This makes the grandfather feel that he could come up with a perfect companion for James to keep forever. He introduces James to Pinocchio (Jude-Evan Lloyd), a wooden puppet whose nose keep growing as he lies, and tells him that he is his best friend and like a brother to him, but nobody should know about the puppet’s existence. He adds that once ready, he can show him as the friend who will never abandon him, but for now he should keep quiet. As Pinocchio learns about human anatomy as he sees how a male body works in a book, he wishes to become a real boy like his best friend. One day, deeper in the basement, Pinocchio finds a disfigured wooden creature who introduces herself as his Wood Mother (Emma Tate) and reminds Pinocchio that he is just a puppet and will need human organs to become a real boy like James. She reminds them that he might need to forcibly take them from humans who would not be willing to provide them to him.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Pinocchio feels that he could take them from some bad people and with the help of these human parts, he could change and become a real boy. The next day, James takes Pinocchio to school without telling his grandfather, and the puppet with his movements, tries to hide from view, but ends up causing a chain reaction which kills two people in a gymnasium. Despite his grandfather’s warnings, he also introduces him to Mia (Jessica Balmer) and Dudley (Jack Art Gray) who are shocked, but also impressed considering it as an AI Robot. They decide to learn more about it later, but James keeps asserting that it needs to be placed at home before his grandfather comes. They get the puppet to the exact place the grandfather would place it, and gets the feeling that there is something odd about the basement itself. But Pinocchio feels that he should take care of James as his best friend, and after freeing himself, decides to finish off anyone who hurt him, including the drunken driver who hit their car and the dentist who took out James’ tooth.

And what more is to come with some more horror yet to be unleashed? :: Pinocchio further decides to go after the bullies who always torment James, Trey (Toni Olabanji), Logan (Luca Marandola), Georgia (Mya Brown) and Amanda (Karolina Knight). They would have beaten up James miserably last day if it was not for Mia and he had witnessed the hate right there. Pinocchio finds all of them at the same area. First, he dislocates Georgia’s jaw when she swims in the pool and electrocutes her to death while she begged for mercy. He then proceeds to rip out a clueless Logan’s tongue and take out his eyes to provide him a painful death. He then finds Amanda in the shower and is surprised by her naked body and sexuality compared to the male human anatomy which he studied, and his confusion leaves her with the time to escape from the bathroom with an injury on her leg which slows her down, only to be caught by him who tears off her scalp with hair and wears it, shocking Trey who is impaled on his arms with the worst yet to come. Can anyone stop the puppet in time, or will he go on with the hunting mode?

The defence of Pinocchio Unstrung :: The movie has the scares working with the support of gory sequences, and is more effective as a dark fantasy with a character that brings the fear elements in a different way, justifying the twisted childhood coming back to us while traveling on another path. Richard Brake as Geppetto makes a character that we would remember for long as he possesses those multiple shades that aligns on multiple shades. Among the young ones, Jessica Balmer stands out while Cameron Bell does a fine job, and Jack Art Gray brings the humour around here. The voices are nicely added too. The final half an hour is what elevates the movie and makes the whole thing darker and twists our childhood world of Pinocchio for kids to the terror for adults. There is also some innovation and divergence related to the same. Even the murderer gets a coming-of-age tale as the original character would have had during this age. The puppet is a tragic, naive creation whose kills come from unguided understanding of love and protection as well as corrupt guidance, bringing some emotional weight too.

Positives and negatives :: The way in which our childhood characters turn them into a mode which we appreciate for the quality related to the same, and we remember that children have always been evil unless civilized, like we have already known from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies – the recent cases on news related to minor with acts of cruelty, not that far away from unexpected brutality seems to reassert the same. The killing sequences are gory, and even though some might think that it’s a little too gory, it is indeed effective. The killings are all done with innovation and gore, with Karolina Knight’s shower sequence scoring the best, and makes one wonder why she would not be a scream queen in a big horror movie, as she shows the potential. One still wonders if there could have been more of her in the movie, but among the four bully characters, she is the one who stands out, and needs a better number of movies of horror in slasher mode. One can still have a little trouble with the pacing as the horror takes some time to get going. Some people can also find the gory detail to be a little too much.

How it finishes :: The movie would continue the journey of our twisted childhood heroes becoming pure evil murderers, whether it is Popeye’s Revenge (Popeye the Sailor Man), Bambi: The Reckoning (Bambi), I Heart Willie (Mickey Mouse), Winnie-the-Pooh; Blood and Honey (Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet) or Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (Peter Pan), and this one is a long way ahead of these movies in and out of Twisted Childhood Universe which reminds us that goodness has always been a lie in a world without hope. As horror remaining that genre which is truly part of our lives, and with all human beings being inherently evil, and this evil helping them to be successful in life, we are reminded that there is always some bigger horror out there. We remember that the people around us are more messed up than we know them, and are more evil that we think, while being good will never get us anywhere. There is no innocence in this world unless it is forced by civilization, and the lies that we see around will consume us one day, as the movie reminds us of the terrifying manipulation by these masked demonic humans all around us.

Release date: 24 July 2026
Running time: 82 minutes
Directed by: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Starring: Richard Brake, Robert Englund, Cameron Bell, Jessica Balmer, Jude-Evan Lloyd, Karolina Knight

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Pinocchio

Posted on July 4, 2020 by Dr. Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I know this person very well from childhood itself.

Vampire Bat: It is a fictional character from the children’s novel The Adventures of written by the Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence.

Vampire Owl: Okay, so it is from the land of Renaissance indeed,

Vampire Bat: Yes, most people don’t really know that this tale is not really English.

Vampire Owl: But it went on to become so popular all around the world.

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is that kind of a story that appeals to everyone.

Vampire Owl: And it is a fine story to read for the children of all ages.

Vampire Bat: We also add an Italian movie dealing with the same story to our list on this day.

Vampire Owl: I am sure that this one will become a fine deviation from our usual path.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and takes us back to childhood too, at least in parts.

[Gets a green apple cake and three glasses of blackcurrant shake].

What is the movie about? :: Geppetto (Roberto Benigni), a poor Italian carpenter has a hard time making his living, as he rarely gets any work, and nobody appreciates him for the quality products which he come up with. But one day, he sees a puppet theatre in the town, and becomes a lot interested in creating a puppet all by himself. He feels that he could create something special which would be appreciated all around the world for its beauty on wood. He manages to get a log of wood which its owner wanted to leave behind because it seemed to have some kind of magic associated with it. Geppetto spends all his time creating the perfect puppet, and in the end, when he finishes the same, he finds out that it can talk. After naming the puppet Pinocchio (Federico Ielapi), he decides to take him as his son. But the newfound son out of the log isn’t really an obedient one, as he keeps exercising his freedom against the wishes of his father.

So, what happens with the events here? :: Pinocchio does get into trouble due to his actions, and Geppetto decides to send him to school, so that he would study well and also mingle with the other children of the town. Geppetto sells his inherited jacket to buy Pinocchio an ABC book which is necessary to accepted into the school. Pinocchio does go for his first day at school, but notices a puppet theater, and he ends up selling the book to buy the ticket. In the theater, the other puppets notice Pinocchio among the viewers and calls him up the stage, thus messing up the show. A furious puppeteer Mangiafuoco (Gigi Proietti) catches Pinocchio and locks him in his caravan with the others puppets, and leaves the town. Mangiafuoco who has been very angry about what had happened, plans to use Pinocchio as firewood to help cooking his dinner. Pinocchio begs him to release him in order to return home from his father, who would be very much worried by then.

And what else is to follow around here with the puppet? :: Mangiafuoco decides to let him go, and seeing his compassion towards the other puppets who he saves from being burned, he gives him five gold coins to give to the poor carpenter whom he calls father. Pinocchio is really happy about it, and tries to get home as soon as possible, but is lost in his way, not sure where he is heading. As he tries to find the right directions, he meets Fox (Massimo Ceccherini) and Cat (Rocco Papaleo) who discovers that the puppet has some gold coins with him which they can use during their jobless ways. They tell him a tale about the Field of Miracles, a special place where they can bury the coins, and a tree full of money will grow rapidly. But they intend to murder the puppet and take the money. They make some fine plans for the same, and takes a room in the nearby tavern. Pinocchio is not aware of such sinister plans, and despite being warned by Talking Cricket (Davide Marotta). Can the puppet keep the money and finally get to his father who is looking for him?

The defence of Pinocchio :: The movie, as expected is a journey to a special world, and those who have known the tale before, will relate to the same very well. There is a beautiful world that provides a certain amount of enchantment close to the original version, and we have one puppet who is not familiar with the ways of humans going through. Roberto Benigni whom we know from the movie Life is Beautiful is here again playing the father figure, and that is indeed beautiful, as we remember how he managed to be a great father there – here, he is not far behind either. The one who used his imagination to shield his son from the terror within a Nazi concentration camp is not to be forgotten that easily. Marine Vacth who plays the fairy and many others also catch our attention, being out of the usual world, getting close to fantasy. With the cat, fox, snail, cricket, characters, the movie is as child-friendly as anything can get, and therefore makes itself a fine watch for the families. Well, a journey through rural Italy of those times never really gets to be less interesting for the eyes.

The claws of flaw :: Pinocchio might be different in looks from what many people might have imagined him earlier. The movie could have had a certain amount of visible magic in there too, not as being regular part of the proceedings, but as something completely out of the world. For the same, more special effects could have been used to create a visual extravaganza, because even lesser films these days seem to display the grandeur – after all, this is a children’s classic of a higher level on print. The fact that the puppet keeps falling into trouble due to not listening to the good advice makes it feel repetitive, especially for the adults who would be a long way past this tale by now – even I don’t remember most of what I read during my childhood. It could have also had more focus on the father-son relationship because the puppet as the adventurer is not of that much interest as a person, and we have to look forward to the fairy to find the next lovable character, followed by the snail. The growing nose could have also been used better.

How it finishes :: As far as the idea of Pinocchio from The Adventures of Pinocchio by the Italian author Carlo Collodi is concerned, this one manages the same well, and it is to be noted that usually the adaptations are supposed to come in the form of cartoons. Making a live-action movie with this type of characters is indeed difficult, but we can see that they have managed everything pretty well here. The Adventures of Pinocchio has been the world’s most translated book excluding religious works and had such a great impact on different cultures, also being a children’s favourite. But we see that it also explores the human condition, about what it means to be human, right here. We do have that usual child who doesn’t like to go to the school, and is not interested in obeying parents, with a certain love for entertainment and adventure over the rest, and is naive when facing the dangers of the outside world. Yes, this version is a successful one too, and you can choose to watch it, without expecting anything too special or highly innovative.

Release date: 19th December 2019
Running time: 125 minutes
Directed by: Matteo Garrone
Starring: Roberto Benigni, Federico Ielapi, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Marine Vacth, Gigi Proietti, Paolo Graziosi, Massimiliano Gallo, Maria Pia Timo, Davide Marotta, Alessio Di Domenicantonio