Rhys Frake-Waterfield (born 1991 or 1992) is an English filmmaker who became known for his 2023 independent horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and its 2024 sequel. It was the first theatrical film of his career, as well as the first for his company Jagged Edge Productions.
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Early life
Frake-Waterfield is from Essex, where he also studied at the University of Essex.
Career
In 2021, Frake-Waterfield left his corporate strategy job at EDF Energy to create low-budget horror films, all released direct-to-video. After entering the film industry, he produced 36 feature films in two years. Though Frake-Waterfield started out as a visual effects artist, over time, he got into directing. The first film he directed was The Area 51 Incident, following a group of survivors at Area 51 who take shelter underground following an incident involving aliens emerging from a wormhole.
On 1 January 2022, the 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh book entered the public domain in the United States. Shortly after this, Jagged Edge Productions announced a Winnie-the-Pooh-based slasher film called Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, with Frake-Waterfield serving as the director, writer, and co-producer with Scott Jeffrey. Though the film was originally intended for a direct-to-video release in October 2022, it developed an increased popularity on the internet which eventually led to the film receiving a theatrical release. There was much controversy among both the general public and Winnie-the-Pooh fans, with Frake-Waterfield claiming that he and the other members on the film's production received death threats and petitions calling for the film to be cancelled, but the film was released in cinemas in the United States on 15 February 2023, receiving very poor reviews. The film made over US$7.7 million on a budget reported to be less than US$50,000. Afterwards, Frake-Waterfield created a sequel with a budget five times greater, along with a cinematic universe called The Twisted Childhood Universe with horror films based on Bambi, a Life in the Woods, Peter Pan and The Adventures of Pinocchio. He has also expressed interest in making films about Thor, as well as copyrighted franchises such as Teletubbies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls in the future.
Frake-Waterfield is also the owner of Dark Abyss Productions, where he writes, directs and produces films under the name Tyler James (with Scott Jeffrey). Films he has directed under this banner include The Loch Ness Horror, Sky Monster, Dinosaur Prison, Deadly Waters and Monsternado. Films he has produced under this banner include Three Blind Mice, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Snake Hotel, Alien Invasion, Return of Punch and Judy, and Medusa's Venom.
