I’ve been sitting on my screener of Bunny the Killer Thing for just about a month because I had some serious doubts as to the quality of picture I was going to see. The name alone made me have post-traumatic thoughts remembering all the cheesy horror films I’ve seen featuring giant animals attacking people, whether they were on SyFy Channel or independently produced. And, not only is Bunny the Killer Thing a creature-feature, but it’s also a horror-comedy; which made it a puzzle made out of four very big pieces. Going with the puzzle theme, you’re either guaranteed to succeed or you’re guaranteed to fail. Read my review of this film below to find out how it went.
Bunny the Killer Thing is written and directed by Joonas Makkonen with producer Miika J. Norvanto. Cast members include Hiski Hamalainen, Enni Ojutkangas, Veera W. Vilo, Jari Manninen, Katja Jaskari, Roope Olenius, Olli Saarenpaa, Vincent Tsang, Orwi Manny Ameh, Marcus Massey, Gareth Lawrence, Matti Kiviniemi, Maria Kunnari, Erno Michelsson and Marko Moilanen. The film was shot in Finland and contains beautiful scenery as highlighted by cinematographer Tero Saikkonen.
The film’s website summarizes the plot as: “A group of seven young adults are heading out to have a fun weekend at a cabin in the dark woods of Finland. By chance, three foreign men end up at the same cabin and they are hiding a sinister secret. The party weekend at the cabin becomes a game of life and death when suddenly a weird creature attacks from the forest and terrorizes all of the guests.”
The film opens with a beautiful, snowy cabin as two lovers arrive for a musing weekend away. It’s very eye catching and innocent enough, but as a viewer we are thrown the first curve ball in a series of “what the fuck moments” when the couple is quickly dispatched by three men, one who resembles the killer from Cry_Wolf. The male in the former lovers duo is taken to a secret lab by mad scientist wannabees and everyone either has their shirt open or is completely shirtless. Should I be shirtless to watch this film? Because I don’t mind that. It seems that the scientists are actually the ultimate furries (if you don’t know what that term is, then this is not the movie for you) and they create the first ever were-bunny… Bunny the Killer Thing! And he has two goals, to kill and to mate like bunnies.
From there we meet the canon fodder who will undoubtedly get torn apart by the were-bunny: a group of friends, a clothing designer, people broken down on the side of the road, and other people who just kind of show up. I’m happy to say it’s a pretty big gathering, which means that there’s going to be a lot of blood coating the fresh, white snow and a lot of good action; although I’m not too positive at any point who the main characters are supposed to be. This, of course, is easily excusable because Bunny the Killer Thing was never made to be a serious horror flick that you need to pay attention to. If I recall correctly, it was created as a comedic, pornish homage to the man-in-suit creature-features of the 80’s. It delivers on that account…and with a little extra pizzazz! Combining horror & comedy with science fiction & monster attack could not have been an easy task, but the team of professionals who put this baby together pulled it off expertly. I’m highly impressed.
When I look at the demographic, though, Bunny the Killer Thing is kind of limited. I would most recommend it to males, especially males between the ages of 13 and 25. It’s got all of your typical American Pie-esque camp and gross out humor, meaning it’s chalk full of boobs, jerking off, sexual innuendos, cursing and slang, farts and cheap gags. Even the slow “because we’re not that proper in the stunt department” action sequences gave this movie a somewhat humorous vibe and, again, I can excuse this flaw entirely for the sake of keeping the atmosphere alive. And there’s a couple great gore scenes for the hounds. Bunny the Killer Thing is actually quite polished and looks like it was made with a huge budget, but at the end of the day it’s about a were-bunny mercilessly slapping people with his 2.5 foot long penis and eating people’s private parts. You can’t expect every department to be Oscar winning!
I think what people will like the most about Bunny the Killer Thing is the shock value and the before-mentioned series of events that you won’t see coming. There is some seriously fucked up shit to behold here, and a lot of adequate laughs, too. I do have to say that Bunny the Killer Thing has one of the weirdest, most depraved, most out there endings of all time… and for that, well, I salute you! Well done! Final Score: 8 out of 10.
