Rating: C+
Dir: Dan Allen
Star: Roxanne McKee, Tom Mulheron, Nicola Wright, Samira Mighty
On the plus side, this does at least go in a somewhat different direction from the usual public domain horror adaptation. It’s not just a case of, “X, but X is a serial killer,” where X equals Mickey Mouse, Popeye, or whatever. However, what’s left is barely recognizable as a version of Felix Salten’s Bambi. It takes the name: everything else is closer to eco-horror from the seventies, like Prophecy, with pollution turning wildlife against the humans responsible. Though as Chris noted, this is likely nearest to a low-rent copy of Death of a Unicorn. On that basis, and watched as a B-movie, it’s decent enough. Likely better than I expected, truth be told.
We begin with some basic yet effective animation, telling us how a giant mutant stag with a grudge comes to be roaming the countryside. Turns out waste from Wibexr Pharmaceuticals contaminated the water, causing Bambi to transform. Toxic Avenger much? He’s seeking vengeance for the death of his mate, mown down by a Wibexr truck. Into this stumble Xana (McKee) and her son Benji (Mulheron), on their way to a family get-together for Thanksgiving. Which is kinda off, since nobody here is making the slightest effort to pretend to be other than British, but whatever. Meanwhile, a trio of hunters hired by Wibexr are in the woods, hunting for Bambi. They have also captured a young fawn. I dunno. Suspect that might be a bad move.
There is one scene here which basically justifies the film’s entire existence. While the family are fleeing from Bambi, irritating teenage brat Harrison gets separated, and has an encounter with some other woodland critters. Without spoilering it in detail, think Holy Grail. I bet Harrison wishes he had the Holy Hand-grenade of Antioch with him. It’s quite glorious, and I wish they had gone further down this route, with other fauna turning feral. That is, however, par for the course in these films. They largely seem content to do the bare minimum necessary, rather than mining the potential for satire. While I understand an eight-minute film like Steamboat Willie doesn’t offer much raw material, Bambi has a lot more to work with.
Still, for what it is, this is okay. There are some gratifyingly gnarly kills, people getting offed in such slicey ways, I wondered if Bambi was wielding a chainsaw. Could probably have done with less of the family drama. I imagine it was cheap, and I did like the grandmother with dementia, who seemed to have some kind of psychic link to the creature. Although it never served any real purpose, her charcoal sketches did enhance the creepy vibe. The plot has few surprises: the people you expect to die, die – typically in proportion to how unpleasant they have been. Bambi looks half-decent, though hard to be sure since this takes place almost entirely after dark. There does seem to be gradual improvement happening in this subgenre. Maybe they’ll reach “good” at some point. For now though, this’ll do.