Bambi: The Reckoning – FrightFest 2025 Movie Review
First Reaction – Bambi: The Reckoning is the best public domain horror to date.
Director: Dan Allen
Writer: Felix Salten, Rhys Warrington (Screenplay)
Cast
- Roxanne McKee (Game of Thrones)
- Samira Mighty (Beauty and the Beast)
- Nicola Wright
- Tom Mulheron (The Lost City of Z)
- Russell Geoffrey Banks (Pernicious)
Plot: After a mother and son get in a car wreck, they soon become hunted by Bambi, a mutated grief-stricken deer on a deadly rampage seeking revenge for the death of his mother.
Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Bambi: The Reckoning starts when Xana (McKee) and her son Benji (Mulheron) are involved in a car accident. They are attacked by a bloodthirsty mutated deer on a deadly rampage. Once Xana and Benji make it to the family home, they must run from the deer who refuses to stop for anything.
Elsewhere, hunters have been preparing for the threat and look to stop the attack. However, the deer turns out to be far deadlier than they were expecting.
Verdict on Bambi: The Reckoning
Recap
The movie follows a dysfunational family meeting up in the secluded family home. However, they clash with a bloodthirsty deer who is targeting any humans it sees. It becomes a race to escape before the deer gets its revenge on humans.
Best Parts
The darker twists of childhood movies are entertaining, even if this one could have easily been a horror without that branding. It has a twisted story that could work in any media, as it shows humans doing what they want and pay the consequences. We get brutal attacks, with some being more comical than expected. It has good performances and memorable kills, which always makes a horror movie stand out. This is easily one of the standouts from this modern free domain horror era.
Worst Parts
The family members are sometimes a little bit too annoying, but in a way they only add to the traditional horror element.
Final Thoughts – Bambi: The Reckoning is brutal horror and the best of the public domain ones yet.
