Movie Review: Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare (2025)
Synopsis: While riding his bike home from school, Michael Darling is kidnapped by a psychopath calling himself Peter Pan, who has a history of abducting young boys and, with the help of his heroin-addicted partner, Tinkerbell, murders them so they can go to Neverland. It's up to Michael's sister, Wendy, to save the day.
Who's in it? The movie stars Martin Portlock, Megan Placito, Kit Green, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney and Campbell Wallace.
Review: My wife and I came across Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare on Peacock a couple days ago and decided to watch it last night. The film turned out to be nothing like what I was expecting, or even like the description. As a result of that, I'm still a bit undecided about what I think about it.
The idea of Peter Pan (Portlock) being both an adult and a child abductor/murderer was an intriguing one. It was a modern and realistic take on a classic story that had good mix of horror and suspense, especially since Peter was a bit unpredictable when it came to his violent rages. At the same time, I was left guessing about whether Peter was the real Peter Pan or just a guy who thought he was (I'm assuming the latter, but the movie was a bit vague on that point).
The violence in this movie is something that kept me on the edge of my seat. Some of the scenes were gruesome (I would not recommend eating while watching it, like we were) and that, in turn, established Peter as a force to be feared. Oh, and the fact he drove around in a van that pretty much advertised him as a child abductor was a nice touch too. It was a daring addition that tells you quite a bit about the man behind the wheel.
I was undecided about Wendy (Placito) as the main protagonist. There were moments when she was a major badass but just as many where she hid and cried rather than try to help when one of her friends was being brutally murdered. It wasn't as though Peter was an unstoppable menace. He was 100 percent human and could be hurt, so there was no excuse for the latter.
Another thing that left me scratching my head a bit was the way the movie seemingly attempted to add an LGBTQIA+ underlying theme, especially when it came to Tinkerbell (Green), but in a way that made me wonder if the film was supposed to be supportive or was pushing it from more of a phobic point of view. It was also unclear if Peter was specifically targeting people based on that or if it was just a coincidence.
Final Opinion: It's an intriguing concept and the movie did prove to be entertaining. However, it also left me with a lot of questions, especially about some of the messages it seemed to be trying to share, that probably could have been corrected with slightly better editing. In other words, it's an intriguing take on the Peter Pan legend but fell a bit short of being memorable.
My Grade: C+
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Here are some other reviews of other horror movies based on beloved childhood characters:
Movie Review: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
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