Peter Pan is the latest childhood character to get a horror spin from the folks at Jagged Edge Productions. First it was Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pinocchio, Bambi, and others are still to come. But right now the focus is on Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, which is far and away the most terrifying entry in the Twisted Childhood Universe to-date.
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From writer/director Scott Chambers (one of the producers of the franchise), Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare shares more in common with Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone than the Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey films. It follows a disturbed man with fantasies of a world that offers eternal childhood. In order to save young children from the evils of our reality, Peter abducts them and takes them to his “Neverland.”
The darker, much more grounded approach to the classic character doesn’t seem like much of a stretch for those familiar with the story of Peter Pan. That includes Chambers, who always saw Peter’s tale as an inherently disturbing one.
“When you look at the original material, is a guy literally if you just look at the bones that he’s sneaking into bedrooms of children who are asleep and lowers them out of their window and takes them to Neverland. So to me already that was creepy,” Chambers told ComicBook in an exclusive interview ahead of Neverland Nightmare’s debut. “And I wanted to bring a lot of those elements that we all know and love into this and just literally tell it for what it is.”
Chambers went on to address why he went as dark as he did with this Peter Pan story, and the roots of the character’s disturbing appearance in the film.
“When we’re doing these introductory films, they’re obviously going to be the leads of the Poohniverse. And that’s why we’ve given them time before the beginning of the film happens. And then the ones that you’re not as familiar with, because we haven’t made their standalone films, they’ll kind of more appear in it,” Chambers explained.
“I wanted it to be kind of like he’s always wearing a mask,” he continued. “So in the opening of the film, he’s wearing this makeup I wanted to set it at a circus. I wanted him not to talk. Let’s do a monocle. It’d be quite cool. It’s creepy, but it’s also quite cool. So wearing that makeup is kind of a mask to let people in because, for example, the first victim that he goes to, he’s wearing all that.
“And the idea is to kind of give himself some wildness to him from the kids. They’re like, ‘I recognize you.’ It’s kind of like some celebrity to him. It’s like you were the guy that performed, and they instantly trust him because everyone was cheering for him and all that. So he’s purposely put himself in this job role at that circus.”
[RELATED: These Disney Characters Will Be the Villains of the Poohniverse]
The idea of the mask becomes more literal just minutes into Neverland Nightmare, after an early event (that we won’t spoil) leaves Peter needing an actual mask to cover up his face. That mask extended to the entirety of how Peter presents himself to children, even changing his vocal tone to sound less intimidating.
“With what happens to him in the opening, it ends up leaving him horribly disfigured. And from then on, he has to wear a literal mask because any child seeing him is going to get scared,” Chambers said. “So I got I wanted to find out, like a mask. That kind of look like a small smiling child again because he feels like he is a child.
“And then I wanted more. And the actor that played Peter Pan to try and mimic a child’s voice when he has that mask on, because I want it to be like he genuinely believes he’s a child.”
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare will play in theaters from January 13th through January 15th.
