IT might look like Winnie the Pooh, but the story is not quite the cosy version with Piglet and Tigger.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a horror movie which will be making its way to screen at FrightFest 2023 as part of this year's Glasgow Film Festival.

From March 9 to 11, the UK’s favourite horror fantasy event returns to the renowned festival for an 18th year.

This year’s daring line-up embraces the latest genre discoveries from around the world, spanning nine countries with an eclectic mix of world, international and UK premieres.

Glasgow Times: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey comes to FrightFestWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey comes to FrightFest (Image: Glasgow Film Festival)

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, January 18 at noon.

Festival co-director Alan Jones said: “FrightFest is one of the most potent forces on the horror, science fiction and extreme thriller landscape, a reputation that has firmly placed it in the Top 10 Essential Fantasy Festivals List.

"We aim to stay ahead of the chiller curve, returning to the incomparable Glasgow Film Festival with a shiver and shudder showcase of epic proportions."

Glasgow Times: Mother Superior stars Isabella Händler, Inga Maux, Jochen Nickel.Mother Superior stars Isabella Händler, Inga Maux, Jochen Nickel. (Image: Glasgow Film Festival)

Dubbed “the Woodstock of Gore” by director Guillermo Del Toro, FrightFest was set up in 2000 and has grown in size and stature since its cult roots at the Prince Charles Cinema.

Today it is internationally renowned for discovering exciting and original horror fantasy genre films and for supporting the talent behind them, helping to launch the careers of directors such as Simon Rumley, Neil Marshall, Christopher Smith, Eli Roth, Gareth Edwards and Simon Hunter.

Over the years the festival directors, Greg Day, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy and Ian Rattray, have developed FrightFest into a brand leader for horror film, expanding its footprint in the UK by hosting special events throughout the year and joining forces with the Glasgow Film Festival, where they run an established three-day event.

FrightFest kicks off with two special screenings on Thursday, March 9, opening in grand Gallic style with the UK premiere of Smoking Causes Coughing, a quirky, absurdist comedy sci-fi fantasy from visionary director Quentin Dupieux, whose film Rubber caused a 2010 GFF FrightFest sensation. This is followed by the UK premiere of SISU, a pulverizing, nerve-shredding and spectacularly gory WW2 action epic by Finnish director Jalmari Helander of Rare Exports fame.

Enter the haunted ‘Devil’s Manor’ as FrightFest’s traditional two-day event kicks off on Friday, March 10 with the International premiere of #chadgetstheaxe, Travis Bible’s found footage comedy horror. Then we travel into an ancient mythological world for the UK premiere of Irati, a dark Spanish epic adventure from Errementari director Paul Urkijo Alijo, based on the graphic novel by JL Landa and J Munoz.

Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s makes his director's debut with slasher parody Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Pooh and Piglet are not happy and in this UK premiere, prepare for a journey into Hundred Acre Wood as you’ve never seen it before. The Friday evening climaxes with the UK Premiere of Pensive, director Jonas Trukanas’ inventively gripping horror ride into the prom night from hell.

The full Glasgow Film Festival launch is on Wednesday, January 25. 

It is firmly established as a key event in the UK's cultural calendar. Launched in 2005, GFF has grown greatly in significance and is now a key launching pad for films and one of the top film festivals in the UK. 

GFF was named the Big Screen Event of the Year at Screen International’s Big Screen Awards in November 2022 for achieving a record high of 73% audience capacity at its first in-person edition post-Covid.

Previous GFF guests include Richard Gere, Alan Rickman, John C Reilly, Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Richard Dreyfuss, Karen Gillan, Jessie Buckley and Sir Michael Palin.