A new horror-comedy film, Popeye the Slayer Man, is poised to follow in the footsteps of other twisted reimaginings of beloved public domain characters, joining the ranks of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and Screamboat. Set for release in 2025, this grisly take on the classic spinach-chomping sailor man promises to deliver plenty of gore and violence for horror fans.
According to the film’s official synopsis, Popeye the Slayer Man follows a group of friends who venture into an abandoned spinach canning factory to film a documentary about the legendary “Sailor Man,” who is said to haunt the area. The group encounters the infamous Popeye, now re-envisioned as a bloodthirsty slasher, and is dispatched in increasingly gruesome ways. The newly released Red Band trailer teases a film packed with hand-breaking, scalping, head-crushing, and more, sure to satisfy lovers of bloody spectacle.
The movie stars Sean Michael Conway, Elena Juliano, Mabel Thomas, and others, including horror veterans Angela Relucio and Sarah Nicklin. Producer Jeff Miller emphasized that the film’s special effects, crafted under the direction of R.J. Young, rely on old-school, practical effects rather than CGI, delivering a gritty, visceral experience.
The emergence of Popeye the Slayer Man is part of a larger wave of re-imagined childhood characters, many of which have recently entered the public domain. Alongside this film, another Popeye-themed horror-comedy, Shiver Me Timbers, presents the sailor as a relentless killer during a meteor shower. These films add to a growing trend of horror comedies based on classic children’s stories.
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the first of its kind, is expanding into a full-fledged franchise, with a sequel released in 2024 and a third film already in the works. This marks the beginning of the so-called “Poohniverse,” an interconnected series of films from filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s Jagged Edge Productions. Upcoming titles in the Poohniverse include Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Bambi: The Reckoning, and Pinocchio: Unstrung, among others. The franchise has even teased a potential crossover film, Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, billed as “The Avengers of low-budget horror comedies.”
Beyond the Poohniverse, other dark takes on childhood stories are emerging, including Fairest of Them All, a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland; Mouseboat Massacre, another horror riff on Steamboat Willie; and a fresh take on Hook, distinct from the 1991 Spielberg classic. With these projects on the horizon, it seems the trend of gory, horror-themed adaptations of childhood favorites is far from over.
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