It sounds like we need to elevate this horror movie a lot more.
We start seeing voices on a transmission, as if “Rabbit Trap” was supposed to be a Sci-Fi survival thriller. It’s more in the psychological horror genre, and it isn’t as thought-provoking as it sounds.
The time and place is Cymru, 1976, and we meet a musician couple-Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne Davenport (Rosy McEwen)-who relocate from London to there. He is a sound engineer, while she is an experimental musician, and he begins recording sounds from the wind, water dripping in pots, and clanging, but he also begins to record something otherworldly. Even Daphne is perplexed about that.
Now, this sounds great, and it seems like the kind of movie where they would be in grave danger if they learned about the aliens in “A Quiet Place.” So, we could have something to see and listen to at the same time. But “Rabbit Trap” is too cynical to delve deep into the genre and too noisy for us to stay and watch.
The noise begins when Darcy and Daphne are visited by a child (Jade Croot), who wanders around their place thanks to the music and specializes in setting up rabbit traps. At least I think she’s a child, because she looks more like an adult (after all Croot is 26 years old). She seems like a sweet, sensitive type, whom this couple would gladly welcome to their home for a visit. But then, ever since she introduces them to what he calls a “fairy circle,” she seems to be involved with whatever otherworldly noise they’ve been hearing, and she starts acting like a compulsive brat. She even starts treating Daphne like she’s his new mother (“Do I get a kiss goodnight?,” he asks). And when neither they nor the audience know the kid’s name, he screams: “NAME ME! NAME ME! NAME ME!”
I think this kid would have a lot in common with the Kathryn Hunter old lady in “The Front Room,” because they both act like spoiled brats, and both that movie and “Rabbit Trap” are crappy horror movies. I do not review horror movies to watch people acting in such a manner. It was one thing for Mia Goth to play an evil young woman (“Pearl”) and an evil old woman (“X), but their behaviors are quite another.
“Rabbit Trap” looks and sounds great, but it doesn’t act great. Patel and McEwen both do what they can, but I think the film would have been better off without the kid. Dave Franco and Alison Brie did fine on their own in “Together,” which also involves a cave and some magic water. At least I think that’s what Darcy found himself with, and it’s not very valid.
“Rabbit Trap” also likes to be involved with Welsh folklore, but I’m not feeling anything magical or dark. The house does look like nature has taken over later in the film, but all we get is the engineer and kid having a slurping montage. It’s more annoying than haunting, and if this movie is based on folklore, then I haven’t gotten anything from it.
The sound design and editing is great, and a horror movie about sounds should be haunting. I can image how Gaspar Noe would handle the sounds, after seeing “Enter the Void.” But I can’t really imagine anyone relating to “Rabbit Trap” or enjoying the kid. I still don’t think she’s a kid at this point, and it’s not just because she’s involved with the fairy circle.
In Select Theaters This Friday
