Scary Movies XIII: Rabbit Trap

Daphne Davenport was on pace to become another Laurie Anderson or Naim June Paik. She describes her concrete-adjacent electronic-distorted found music as “influential” rather than popular. Unfortunately, true fame will probably elude her, because she is a character in a horror film. She hoped to discover some inspiring natural sounds with her recording engineer husband Darcy, but they also find a sinister wild child in director-screenwriter Bryn Chainey’s Rabbit Trap, produced by SpectreVision, which screens tonight as part of Scary Movies XIII.

Daphne is the “artiste” and Darcy is her enabler. He spends hours doing the legwork, roaming the Welsh moors, making field recordings of squishy-squashy natural noises, which she samples into her industrial soundscapes. It is a reclusive life, but apparently, they needed to get away from the London scene. They are also clearly carrying a lot of baggage that they never discuss, but it comes to a boil when the kid shows up.

Even the Da-Da’s notice how cagily their visitor remains nameless. However, the wild child brims with knowledge regarding the local animals and flora. The strange youngster even seems to have a special connection to the rabbits, especially the dead ones. Indeed, the nature child should remind Nat Kind Cole fans that “Nature Boy” is actually an extremely creepy song. Yet, despite this squirreliness, Daphne forges an unhealthy attachment to “the child,” which encourages not-so-subtle attempts to undermine her marriage.

Soon, Darcy starts freaking out over their little stalker’s behavior. He also passes out and loses time after ill-advisedly walking into a fairy circle. Admittedly, the little weirdo warned him not to do it, but he did so anyway, losing time and consciousness as a result.

In some ways, Rabbit Trap is like an Enys Men, flavored with an extract of Blow Out, which makes it ten times more grounded. The folk horror runs heavy in these parts. The atmosphere is thick and it has amazingly clear audio fidelity. The grungy 1970s period details are also highly evocative. Frankly, this is a world you wouldn’t want to visit, but it definitely sounds massively eerie.

To his credit, Dev Patel truly disappears into the film, giving a remarkable naturalistic performance. If you walked into a screening cold, with no foreknowledge, you probably wouldn’t think anyone famous appears in Rabbit Trap, which is a credit to him. Rosy McEwen is convincingly neurotic and temperamental as Daphne, further reinforcing our sympathy for Darcy. However, Jade Croot is a little too creepy and way too off-putting to believably charm Daphne.

This film could only work to the extent that it does because of some extraordinary sound design, sound editing, foley artistry. Yet, the sound team will likely be overlooked for awards consideration, in favor of films with big explosions. Yet, you can hear their talent in scene after scene. In fact, you could very well leave with a headache, but that’s all part of the intense viewing experience. Highly recommended for fans of folk horror and experimental music, Rabbit Trap screens tonight (8/16), as part of Scary Movies XIII.