BUNNY THE KILLER THING

THE SETUP

This is a review for the brand new Finnish, Horror/Comedy film “Bunny The Killer Thing”, Directed by Joonas Makkonen and bought to us by Monster Pictures. Bunny The Killer Thing is about a group of young adults both Finnish and English, who get stuck at a cabin where they’re attacked by a creature that’s half rabbit and half human and sporting over sized genitalia. The film stars Hiski Hamalainen, Enni Ojutkangas, Veera Vilo, Jari Manninen, Katja Jaskari and Matti Kiviniemi as “Bunny the Killer Thing”. I’m guessing that before I go on I’ve already lost a bunch of you who are thinking “Half human, half rabbit, I’m out!”. If that was your reaction you’ve probably made a wise choice but those of you who are still with me should be in for an entertaining read. Now those who know me know I’ve seen every ridiculous film out there (okay well maybe not all of them) but my fair share. I’ve seen a vast array of killer things killing things. Backpacks turning on people in “Attack Of The Killer Backpacks” a micro-budget Argentinian film, to Sushi coming alive and hunting people in “Dead Sushi” not to mention “Atomic Brain Invasion”, “Witches Brew”, “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives” haha, the list goes on and trust me it does go on. I was hoping to see yet another crazy idea outdo all those other crazy ideas, I’m always looking for someone to up the ante with these kinds of films. Well… Bunny The Killer Thing gave me something I’m just not sure what it was.

THE GOOD

I’m a sucker for the Splatter style, Horror/Comedy flicks Europeans have become so adept at making. There really is no crossing the line or a filter when it comes to some of their crazy ideas, Makkonen’s approach in this obscure telling is no different. Let’s talk about this ridiculous villain/creature for one moment. Bunny the Killer Thing is a half rabbit/half human wielding an absurdly large and humorous member, now if that isn’t funny on its own what is would be the fact that it’s clearly a guy in a rabbit suit with a dildo or prosthetic penis attached to it… I mean who thinks of this stuff haha? Apparently Europeans do… In all seriousness though if nothing else its original, Right? Immediately you can see Joonas’s film has a great production value, especially taking into account the modest budget. The opening sequence showcases a gorgeous snow-covered, Scandinavian landscape with a charming little cabin at the centre of it. The entire film is pretty well shot. There’s a few sequences that employ some nice gentle tracking shots and others that are well conceived with a Steadicam.

The audio levels are nice and clear and the introductory score over the credits and opening seems larger than life. It feels a little reminiscent of music in the “Final Destination” franchise, it was a pleasant surprise given the difference in tone between the two films. Although some of the lighting isn’t perfect there’s a couple of scenes that make use of some effective natural lighting peaking through windows and inside of cars. The cast are made up of an eclectic group of people most of whom do a decent job in their roles. I mean it’s a silly movie so naturally some of the acting feels that way too. Enni and Veera made for some lovely eye candy and each shared a sizable amount of screen time. The special effects were the main thing that got me interested in Bunny The Killer Thing. I love the splatter approach that’s best used in Tommy Wirkola’s “Dead Snow”, one of my all time favorite Horror films, so I was looking forward to what this group would be able to do. In the first few minutes of the film there’s a practical head explosion which looks gnarly. Although following that there’s a bit of a lull in the action/ kill sequences, there’s an impressive leg rip and plenty of biting and pulling of genitalia toward the end of the film.

THE BAD

The first thing that jumped out at me (other than the heavily wooded Rabbit of course) was some of the incorrect subtitle translation. Half the movie was in Finnish/Swedish and the other half was in English but the subtitles were slightly off and on several occasions they were positioned right in the middle of the screen blocking the scene. They should always be at the bottom of the frame. Even though most of the camera work is solid some of the framing is questionable. It’s either being slightly adjusted in the middle of the shot or it’s just far too close to the actors faces. Personally I prefer wider shots than anything else, unless it’s a really intimate conversation there’s no need to be in that close. The films overall pacing is odd. Several chunks of the film are hurriedly edited, where a scene could go on a few frames longer it doesn’t but by the same token the running time is made longer by other scenes that wear out their welcome all to quickly. From the first time we catch a glimpse of the CG and green screen it’s quite obvious that it was intended to be hokey. The explosion doesn’t look that bad but the car spiraling out of control down the hill and some of the internal shots when characters are driving looked fairly mediocre.

The main issue I found with Bunny The Killer thing was getting behind the extremely thin plot and lack of motive. We don’t even get a proper transformation sequence of the bunny. We see the mysterious serum injected (which I can only imagine is Rabbit sperm) into the man who ends up becoming the bunny but no gradual process. Ordinarily I wouldn’t take issue with missing content if this had the quality of entertainment that the aforementioned “Dead Snow” did but it doesn’t. The core setting is basically just a party revolving around getting wasted and engaging in prepubescent sex, something that doesn’t really pull me into a film. I can’t really relate to those situations I think I just matured quicker than most and I need some sort of plot. The situation is just one facet of the film but even the characters had no arc. They were just the one-dimensional stereotypes. Now like I said that would have been fine if this was an all out splatter fest but it’s not, instead it plods along with an interesting scene here or there but nothing memorable. The dialogue is pretty juvenile and offers little in the way of humor and you don’t ever learn anything of any substance about this mixed bag of oddball characters. The story jumps from scene to scene quite suddenly and without ending a characters movements and doesn’t often return to them for several minutes. There’s plenty of awkward silences that feel exactly that, awkward but not funny. There’s an overly lengthy and boring sequence in the bathroom between Sarah (played by Ojutkangas) and the Tim character (I think it was him?), it wasn’t funny nor was it sexual, it was just a waste of 10 minutes of screen time.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised when I say I don’t really know what to make of Joonas Makkonen’s, Bunny The Killer Thing but I don’t. It’s a slick-looking film with a high production value and some great cinematography (probably the last thing you’d expect from a film with this subject matter) but alas. There’s a nice score, a bizarre and downright nonsensical creature at the core of it and some gnarly albeit brief, practical blood splatter throughout. I didn’t watch the original short film from 2011 which is included on the Dvd but I can’t help thinking this was probably an idea better suited to that format. It’s a film that promises a lot but doesn’t manage to deliver. It’s marketed as a pretty sick and gross film and although the premise is pretty “out there”t, it never feels that sexual or violent in graphic nature. The characters were plain, the continuity was choppy and the gore didn’t flow consistently enough to quench my thirst. On top of that, the couple of stupid cops that supplied the comedic relief didn’t get anywhere near the amount of screen time they should have, Dead Snow this is not. I didn’t have the highest expectations for this one it was definitely a gamble and unfortunately I lost. If your Comedy isn’t great and your Horror isn’t either, I’m not sure what you’re left with.

My rating for “Bunny The Killer Thing” is 4.5/10