BUNNYMAN: GRINDHOUSE EDITION (2019): A FILM GUTTER REVIEW

Dir. Carl Lindbergh, 89 mins​

Grindhouse is, for me, a subgenre that can be distinctly hit or miss. Sometimes it nails the bizarreness, violence and dark humour just right, and other times it can feel corny, cheesy and overplayed. I certainly couldn’t call myself a huge fan of the field, but I’m always willing to approach things with an open mind - practically a prerequisite if you have any interest in reviewing extreme horror - and that was how I came to Bunnyman. It’s a movie I’d heard of, one of those titles that tend to stick with you after you’ve heard it, and I figured it was about time I got round to watching it. But of course this isn’t the original, oh no -- this is last year’s fresh re-edit, a sort of director’s cut to bring out the more grindhouse elements, including never before seen footage.

I’ll say up front - I’ve not seen that original take, so I won’t be comparing the two versions here. If you’re curious about the 2011 version, you’ll just have to check it out for yourself.

So, Bunnyman: Grindhouse Edition is the tale of a group of young adults off on a trip to… somewhere (they may have said, but the detail is lost on me now). As they drive through the desert they are attacked and rammed into by a truck, which forces them off the road and totals their car. Not good news, but there’s much worse yet to come, because from the truck emerges Bunnyman, a twisted serial killer created by a tortured childhood (as introduced to us in a gritty if slightly clumsy prologue).

And -- let’s not put too fine a point on it -- from there begins about every slasher movie you’ve ever seen. Lost in the landscape and desperate, the group turns on each other, unsuccessfully seeks to get help from disturbed locals, and basically drops like ninepins throughout the movie’s running time. The characters are broadly drawn, and are the fairly typical motley crew of jock guys and their girlfriends/would-be girlfriends. As such, it’s hard to be that invested in their travails throughout the movie. The Bunnyman concept is interesting, although could maybe have been explored more -- it’s actually a fairly familiar urban legend in parts of the US, but the movie doesn’t really bring that in or play with that particular concept.

Honestly much of the above I wouldn’t have minded that much, but there were two frustrating things. Firstly there was a sense of rather playing for time -- not just with intermissions and adverts (not hugely uncommon in grindhouse) but also overlong shots of characters doing simple things like walking and many scenes sort of pausing for a few seconds mid-action. It might not sound that egregious, but there’s a lot of it and it feels really unnecessary. There were also moments in the film that I think were meant to be funny but made no sense, in particular a scene where the characters’ speech is suddenly dubbed over in a thick Eastern European accent. Why? Maybe it’s been done elsewhere, but it was certainly lost on me.

The other thing that was a bit underwhelming was that the movie never really built on some of its best stuff -- the set-up on Bunnyman in the first five minutes is all we get, and I could have lived with plenty more psychology on the character. Throw in some interesting… erm… family dynamics at the end of the movie that are also rather squandered, and there is a lingering sense this could have been something rather more than it was.

RATING: 4/10. I feel like I’ve warmed a bit more to this movie since initially watching it, as there were elements I liked, but overall I just felt as though it tried too hard to present itself as a slice of grindhouse rather than it feeling natural. It just felt a bit showy and obnoxious on the whole. With that said, there are some fun and interesting scenes, and this certainly wouldn’t be the worst slasher movie you’re liable to see. I feel like there is a better movie in here itching to get out -- maybe it was the original, or the sequel Bunnyman Vengeance?

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