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Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare

2025 film by Scott Chambers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare
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Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare is a 2025 British independent horror film written and directed by Scott Chambers. It is the third installment in The Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU), and serves as a horror retelling of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. The film stars Megan Placito as Wendy Darling and Martin Portlock as the title character, with Kit Green, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Teresa Banham, Olumide Olorunfemi, Campbell Wallace, and Nicholas Woodeson in supporting roles. It follows Wendy as she embarks on a quest to find her younger brother Michael, who has been abducted by Peter Pan and Tinker Bell to be taken to Neverland.

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First announced in November 2022 as a Peter Pan-based horror film, the film was subsequently revealed to be set in the TCU shared continuity. The cast was announced between January and June 2024, with Banham reprising her role from Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024) as Mary Darling.

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare was released theatrically in the United States on 13 January 2025, and in the United Kingdom on 24 February. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $1.6 million worldwide.

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Plot

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Fifteen years ago, Peter Pan worked at a fantasy-themed circus where he performs as a mime for many children. After a show that night, Peter attempts to abduct thirteen-year-old James Hook in his house. James' mother, Roxanne, fights Peter and mutilates his face, but is overpowered and murdered while Peter abducts James.

In the present day, Wendy Darling lives in a complex family dynamic with her younger brothers, John and Michael, and their mother, Mary, who works as a hypnotherapist at the nearby town of Ashdown.[a] On Michael's birthday, Wendy gives him a ride to school and promises to pick him up later. However, she gets distracted while talking to her boyfriend, and does not notice that Michael leaves on his bike.

Michael rides through the woods and Peter eventually abducts him. The Darling family receives a phone call from Peter, who informs them that he will take Michael to "Neverland". The next day, Peter slaughters a bus full of children. Simultaneously, Wendy, her best friend, Tiger Lily, and Lily's brother, Joey, drive to Ashdown, where they visit Steven, whose transgender child, Timmy, was abducted by Peter years ago.

Wendy stays the night with Lily's family, but Peter arrives to abduct Joey; he kills Lily and her parents in the process while Wendy follows him. Meanwhile, Michael meets Timmy, now going as "Tinker Bell", who believes everything Peter has told her over the years due to the drug abuse Peter subjected her to and is convinced that the children Peter kills are actually going to the fictional "Neverland".

After following Peter to an abandoned manor, where he is holding Michael and Joey hostage, Wendy breaks into it to save him. Peter becomes aware of Wendy's presence as she finds Michael. The siblings are separated when Peter attacks them, and Wendy hides in the basement. She finds Joey alive in a closed coffin and helps him to escape through a window. Wendy also discovers James, now heavily mutilated and chained, with a hook for a hand.

Tinker Bell betrays Peter after Wendy reveals that Steven misses her. In response, Peter brutally kills Tinker Bell and engages in a fight with Wendy, in which he bites off two of her fingers. Michael appears and bludgeons Peter in the face until James emerges from the basement, hooks a critically injured Peter in the shoulder, and drags him away as revenge for his mother's death.

One year later, Michael celebrates his birthday with Wendy, John, and Mary. Wendy receives a phone call and hears the same music that was heard in Peter's original call.

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Cast

Additionally, Eddy MacKenzie, who portrayed Piglet in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, appears as Lee, a party storekeeper who is murdered by Peter. Charlotte Jackson, who previously appeared as one of Christopher Robin's colleagues in the same film, appears as Wendy's employer.

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Production

In November 2022 the film was announced to be in development for ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions, with Rhys Frake-Waterfield producing.[5] The film was written and directed by Scott Chambers.[6] In February 2023, the producers revealed that it would be set in the same continuity as Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) and its sequel.[7]

By January 2024, Martin Portlock, Megan Placito, Kit Green, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, and Charity Kase were cast as Peter Pan, Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell, Michael Darling, and Captain James Hook, respectively.[8] By June 2024, Nicholas Woodeson, Kierston Wareing, Teresa Banham, Olumide Olorunfemi, and Campbell Wallace were added to the cast.[9] Banham reprised her role from Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 as Christopher Robin's hypnotherapist Mary Darling.[10] Principal photography began on 9 May 2024 in London,[11][8][12] which Chambers confirmed via his social media.[13]

The film was produced by Jagged Edge Productions in association with ITN Studios for a budget of £250,000–£310,000.[2]

Release

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare was theatrically released in the United States by Iconic Events Releasing on 13 January 2025, and in the United Kingdom by Altitude Film Distribution on 24 February.[14][15]

Home media

The film was released digitally on Amazon Prime in the United States on 13 May 2025.[16]

Reception

Box office

Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare grossed $1.6 million in the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Bulgaria, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Russia.[3][4]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Continuing the trend of schlocky puerile remakes, Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare guts a beloved character for low-brow horror that never manages to take flight."[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[18]

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Sequel

In January 2025, director Scott Chambers announced plans for a sequel, acknowledging that the film needs to perform well at the box office before the project can be officially green-lit. He also stated that although the original film presents Neverland as a drug-induced hallucination by Peter Pan, the sequel will reveal that Neverland is a real place.[19]

Notes

  1. As depicted in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024).

References

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