Dan Allen has never shied away from blending heart and horror. An award-winning director, writer, and editor from the UK, Allen brings a unique emotional depth to genre filmmaking—one forged by a lifelong fascination with storytelling and an early brush with adversity. From making experimental shorts on a LEGO webcam at age nine to winning “Best Young Filmmaker” during cancer treatment in his teens, his creative path has always been fueled by resilience and imagination.
Best known for his breakout feature Unhinged and his viral #3MinuteHorror series—which amassed over two million views and was picked up by Crypt TV—Allen’s work thrives on tension and thematic weight. That sensibility is on full display in his latest feature, Bambi: The Reckoning, the newest entry in the Twisted Childhood Universe.
Teaming up with Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios, Allen directs this gruesome reimagining of the classic woodland tale. The film finds Bambi transformed into a grief-stricken, mutated predator after witnessing the death of his mother and being exposed to environmental pollution. What follows is a brutal and sometimes absurd game of survival, as a mother and son become the targets of his wrath.
Though packed with gore and creature-feature thrills, Bambi: The Reckoning is far from mindless horror. Allen’s direction brings unexpected touches of melancholy and tragedy to the narrative, drawing on his own background in emotionally charged storytelling. His influences—ranging from Jurassic Park to psychological horror—are evident in the film’s striking visuals, tense pacing, and meticulous sound design.
Working within the larger Twisted Childhood Universe presented both an opportunity and a challenge: how to rework beloved characters while delivering the kind of horror fans expect. Allen navigates this balancing act with a mix of practical and digital effects, dark humor, and unsettling atmosphere. The result is a film that’s as bizarre as it is bold—equal parts creature feature and cautionary fable.
With Bambi: The Reckoning, Allen adds his distinct voice to one of horror’s strangest subgenres, once again proving that no childhood memory is safe—and that sometimes, the scariest stories are the ones we think we already know. Bambi: The Reckoning bounds into theaters July 25th.
Jessie Hobson