Critic Reviews

For a story that is old enough to be public domain, Pinocchio: Unstrung is, at its core, a timely revisionist take on the vigilante genre.

Pinocchio Unstrung balances gore and whimsy, delivering on everything the Twisted Childhood Universe should be — no lie.

Pinocchio: Unstrung is never especially frightening, and even its jump scares are oddly muffled, but it is abundantly gross and grisly in all the ways a cheap-and-cheerful slasher should be.

It’s a nasty piece of work. Cheerfully nasty, in fact, as it goes for black comedy laughs by bumping off characters in grisly drop-a-dumbbell-on-your-face scenarios. But it’s not-so-nice nasty as well, by being smirking and unpleasant; the kind of film that makes a joke out of the overweight kid puffing on an inhaler.