Get ready to ruin some more childhood memories. Exclusive to IndieWire, Untouchables Entertainment has just dropped a new teaser for “The Dark Domain: Mickey-vs-Winnie.” The low-budget horror flick is expected from Emmy-nominated choreographer-turned-filmmaker Glenn Douglas Packard sometime in 2026. The new footage includes a debut glimpse of Dark Winnie (Givanni Gotay), a feral version of the cartoon bear made famous by author A.A. Milne and his beloved books set in the Hundred Acre Wood — better known here as Hell Forest.
In the next chapter for “The Dark Domain,” Packard’s rapidly expanding storytelling universe introduces Pooh as ferocious, enormous, and covered in black(!) blood. That’s a lot of teddy to take in at the start, but the actor who plays Pooh, Gotay, is smart enough to wield the baked-in chaos of a public-domain horror set like a psychological shield. Effectively keeping Pooh’s presence larger-than-life while still maintaining the self-awareness needed to keep Gotay from steering too goofy, the “Mickey-vs-Winnie” star helps Packard commit to the best and push the IP trend deeper into the film fringes with a nightmare that’s gorier, grimier, and still full of glee.
Actress Fayna Sanchez, recently seen in “Abraham’s Boys” and “House of Ashes,” co-stars as Clare. She’s just a woman trying and, by the looks of the brutal teaser, failing to keep her friends alive in a gnarled maze that’s ensnared their childhood trauma to manifest more adult memories sure to last for a lifetime. Drawn by a force they don’t understand, this cast makes nostalgia look seriously nasty.
“They’re turning what we love into nightmares,” says Clare… newly aware… of the bear. Playful yet menacing, Packard punches energy into his latest teaser, effectively conveying the feel of a production that leaned hard into physical intensity without dropping its dark comedic buzz.
“We even brought in a body-piercing suspension artist,” Packard said in a press release. That detail that lands somewhere between dedication to the craft and an OSHA violation in the making — but to butcher a phrase, you catch more flies using unbridled depravity than honey.
“As a director, I was committed to creating the most authentic and intense atmosphere possible,” the filmmaker continued. “It was an intense experience for the cast, a few even vomited. When it was all said and done, we knew we’d done more than just pay homage to public domain horror, we elevated it. We gave horror fans exactly what they’ve been craving from this sub-genre.”
Dark Winnie and Dark Mickey endeavor to stand out in an increasingly crowded space as dueling monsters. Per Packar, they were respectively envisioned as “Jason Voorhees [leveling] up into the Predator” and “Pennywise meets Freddy Krueger.” (Hey, look! A win for that needlessly controversial IGN article about “The Running Man,” also born this week.)
Billed as the first-ever public-domain crossover, “Mickey-vs-Winnie” promises a devilish fight between its titular mousy manipulator and growling quadruped hungry for destruction. Coming on the heels of Dan Trachtenberg’s “Predator: Badlands,” that’s one small step for Disney — one giant agonizing limb-from-limb ripping for mankind.
Watch the new teaser exclusive to IndieWire below.