ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with horror legend Robert Englund about his latest slasher movie. Englund plays the role of Cricket in Pinocchio Unstrung, the latest entry in the Twisted Childhood Universe that started with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. Pinocchio Unstrung will be released in theaters by Viva Pictures on July 24, 2026.
“A chilling reimagining of the familiar fable, Pinocchio Unstrung unfolds inside an elite London prep school. Influenced by a sinister Cricket (Robert Englund) and created by Geppetto (Richard Brake), Pinocchio launches a violent crusade to carve himself into a real boy like his brother James, one piece at a time,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Robert, congrats on Pinocchio Unstrung. I thought this was a really fun film. Your version of Cricket is really fun because you’re like the devil on Pinocchio’s shoulder, getting this naive wooden doll that’s come alive to do some really ghastly things. What did you like most about that dynamic in the film and getting to play off this kid that doesn’t really know any better?
Robert Englund: Well, Tyler, you just nailed it right on the head. I actually used the image—it might have been from some old Warner Bros. cartoon or something—but the image of the devil on his shoulder. You know, the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other, the conscience whispering in his ear and manipulating him.
That was literally an image I held in my head. I kind of mixed it up a little bit with the old, wonderful, brilliant character actor Edward G. Robinson and the kind of needling, whiny delivery he sometimes used. He was famous for Little Caesar, Double Indemnity, and one of my favorite Orson Welles films, The Stranger. He had that kind of nasal, prodding, almost urban, needling vocal sound.
Then I maybe sprinkled it with a little bit of Don Rickles, the insult comedian. I worried about falling into my muscle memory and doing the Freddy laugh. I didn’t want that. I wanted to come up with Cricket’s own laugh and make it a little higher, a little more hysterical, as if you could see a little bit into Cricket’s psychosis.
Once those few elements come together for you as an actor, then you can just have fun. Of course, with voiceover work you’re also responding to rhythms and cadences. In my case, I never worked with the other actors, so you’re never quite sure of the rhythm they’ve done before you or after you on a line, or if you need to set them up for a rhythm or set them up to step on your line, whatever is required by the director.
That’s always a challenge because you’re working a bit in a vacuum. But once you nail down an image or something that supports or manifests itself in the personality of the voice, you’re pretty well on your way.
With me, it was just what you said. It was the devil on Pinocchio’s shoulder. I remembered that trope from old cartoons, and I imagined Cricket right in Pinocchio’s ear, really boring into his head. Of course, Cricket’s an insect, and that’s another level of symbolism. There are all these stories about certain insects entering certain orifices while we sleep. That’s nasty stuff, but one of the things I was thinking of was Cricket almost putting his whole head into Pinocchio’s ear canal.
I love hearing you talk about craft. You obviously take acting so seriously, and you really think about character.
Tyler Treese: One of the other things I loved about this film was the kills. They’re so fun because Pinocchio is trying to collect parts to become a real boy. One of my favorite moments is when he’s trying to gain a penis, sees a woman showering, and says, “She cut her penis off. What the hell?” You also get some wonderful one-liners in this movie. What did you like most about the sense of humor that Pinocchio Unstrung has?
Robert Englund: Well, you have to have that. Here’s why. If it’s just gore, violence, and action, pretty soon the audience, instead of laughing with you, starts laughing at you because they’re so keyed up emotionally and cathartically by the action, violence, or pace.
You have to relieve that pressure, and humor does that. Then you can set the audience up again. You kind of get them back to net zero, and you can start building on them again for another sequence.
I was so happy to have jokes and great profanity. I knew my buddy Richard Brake was playing Geppetto, and I’m such a fan of Richard. While I was doing Cricket, I was binging Mayor of Kingstown. Richard Brake was the guest-star villain in the season I was watching with Jeremy Renner, and he was superb. In fact, he has one of the best death scenes I’ve seen in years at the end of that season. Spoiler alert.
I knew Richard would be great. I know Richard’s face, I’ve worked with Richard, and we’re buds. I knew he was going to do something special, so I had to match Richard in a vocal performance to what his great face and presence bring. Richard has elements of Christopher Lee and John Carradine in his facial structure, and I knew that would look great in the film. I had to come up with a vocal equivalent to match where I knew Richard would probably be going.
Tyler Treese: There’s a fun mid-credits scene to this film, and there are crossovers planned in the future. Are you looking forward to doing more in this twisted childhood universe?
Robert Englund: It’s weird. Back when the Nightmare films began, I’d go to Europe and do a lot of intellectual interviews with the press in Spain, France, the UK, and Italy. We’d talk about the cautionary tale, the ballad, the dark poem, and even the fairy tale that Nightmare on Elm Street is.
We all knew this from the work of Bruno Bettelheim, and if you take a psychology class, you have to read Carl Jung. What was fun for me was already being aware from those college classes and from discussions with those really smart journalists in Europe of the dark fairy tale and the dark Brothers Grimm.
My God, Hansel and Gretel is about parents who are poverty-stricken during a famine. The kids don’t behave, so they kick them out to punish them. They’re lost in the dark forest. If you’re starving, what’s the first symptom? You begin to hallucinate. What do they hallucinate? A house made of food. That stuff is dark.
Rumpelstiltskin is nasty and dark too. That’s one they should do. I think Rumpelstiltskin should be the next one because you could really go to the boards with that.
Tyler Treese: It was just revealed that Paramount is working on a new Nightmare on Elm Street. We’ve seen them try to revive it before. Are you glad it’s coming back? More people are going to revisit the classics, and your character work was always so phenomenal in those movies.
Robert Englund: Well, I keep hearing all kinds of things. I’ve heard about an animated project, and I’ve heard other ideas. They’re all great ideas. The rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street are very complicated, and they have to solve that first.
I hope they don’t remake Part 1 again. I think we’ve had enough of that. We did a good one for no money, and they did one back in 2009. I think maybe they should start with Part 3 because it’s my understanding that if you really added up all the dimes and nickels, Dream Warriors is actually the most successful and most popular film in the franchise. It came out several years after the first one, so A Nightmare on Elm Street and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 have a head start in terms of earnings.
Dream Warriors has that great “Previously on A Nightmare on Elm Street” opening where it’s all summed up, and then you have the original cast. I think that might be an interesting way to get into any kind of revival of the franchise.
Tyler Treese: I like that idea. You mentioned an animated one. Would you like to voice Freddy if they do an animated version?
Robert Englund: Yeah, that would be fun. I sure would. That’s easy for me. I’m an old dog now. I can start and end stunts, but I can’t do them and repeat them anymore. I can’t snap my head from every different angle.
Tyler Treese: Last time I spoke with you, you said you were ready for Freddy vs. Viagra.
Robert Englund: Yeah, Freddy vs. Viagra. Freddy vs. the massage parlor. That’s what I need.
Thanks to Robert Englund for taking the time to talk about Pinocchio Unstrung.
