Director: Chuck Morrongiello
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Bugs the Bunny Killer
Genre: Creature Feature Slasher
Plot:
After her husband's death, a woman tries to recuperate at a remote cabin in the woods and tries to heal, but when she finds herself being stalked by a half-man, half-rabbit creature, she must escape into the woods to get away from the relentless creature pursuing her.
Review:
Overall, this was a serviceable and rather fun cheesy creature feature. One of the better features within this one is the way it generates a bit more intrigue and suspense than expected with the type of presentation given here. The main starting point of this one is working with the kind of backstory on her relationship with her husband before his death, which makes her trip out to the cabin a necessary step in the recovery process. This sets this up rather nicely, as we get some sympathy for her while also getting a worthwhile enough starting point for the situation. These initial scenes of her trying to get a sense of normality in her life before getting interrupted by the appearance of the giant killer rabbit-person and what happens to her over the course of the film as everything that takes place from the initial encounter through the chases in the woods carry an emotional impact due to the connection we’ve gotten from her in this first half.
That sets about the series of fun and genuinely cheesy encounters with the killer rabbit, which are generally well-handled and far better than expected. The first big encounter where it attacks her friend on the road coming up to visit starts off with some impressive visuals as the creature standing in the road blocking her is a chilling enough sight before the ambush in the car and eventual stalking as she tries to get away. A later scene involving the creature attacking her in the woods while walking the dog is quite chilling, while a later disrupted escape attempt is a great protracted sequence, much like the chase through the house that ends up with her in the woods as part of her escape. With this, setting up a strong final half where her escape into the woods, trying to get away, brings about some solid survival horror aspects, in addition to the chilling stalking that takes place, adds quite a lot to the film with a more serious approach than expected, as all of these factors combine for some enjoyable elements.
There are some minor issues with this one that hold it back. Among its biggest drawbacks is a series of frustrating mismatches in intelligence that are designed more to keep the film going than anything else. The inherent stupidity of the random strangers that are designed more to allow the grunting, screeching killer rabbit to sneak up on people in surprise ambushes flies in the face of how it treats her in their encounters. When she gets attacked, the means of ensuring the battle will continue get quite aggravating when she gets the upperhand only to try running away, especially when it keeps happening as the quantity of attacks is a lot more than expected for what’s been presented as a vicious, unyielding killer. As well, there’s also the egregiously obvious low-budget origins on display, which, in the right mindset, do make for someone to be turned off by the cheesiness of the situation and the cheap gore and effects, but otherwise, these are really all that hold this down.
Overview: ***.5/5
An enjoyably fun and cheesy genre effort, there’s a lot more to this one than expected, which manages to hold it up over some obvious issues that do hold it back slightly. Those with an appreciation for this kind of low-budget feature or who are curious about it will have the most to like, while most others out there should heed caution.
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