In “Dust Bunny” a monster manifests itself. Right at the beginning, the film captivates you with a long tracking shot that follows the path of some pieces of dust swirling through the air. They float through a child's room before forming a small, rabbit-like shape on the floor. The famous monster under the bed, one of THE childhood fears of all, looks harmless at first, but it soon turns out to be extremely dangerous. “Dust Bunny” gradually reveals in all its glory which hairy, voracious creature is actually up to mischief there.
Bryan Fuller presents his first full-length feature film. In the past, the American became famous primarily for his work on various series, for which he was responsible in various positions. Above all, of course, his bloody thriller format “Hannibal”. Fans of this series have reason to be happy here, because “Dust Bunny” also marks a “Hannibal” reunion. Bryan Fuller has once again worked with his favorite cannibal Mads Mikkelsen (“Therapy for Vikings”) in one of the main roles.
For his little neighbor, Mads Mikkelsen is retraining from a contract killer to a monster hunter…
Little Aurora (Sophie Sloan) has a problem: the monster in her bedroom simply cannot be tamed and is demanding victims. Aurora is convinced that the hungry creature devoured her foster parents during the night – again! In desperation and as a last resort, the girl turns to a mysterious, taciturn neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen), who apparently works as a contract killer at night and is now supposed to kill the monster for her…
A crazy mix of genres
“Dust Bunny” is one of those films that is immediately placed into a vast web of cross-references and borrowings. Immediately after its premiere in the Midnight Madness section at the Toronto festival, it was compared to “Léon – The Professional”, “The Fabulous World of Amélie”, “John Wick”, Wes Anderson, Roald Dahl, Henry Selick and a few more. Each of these references makes sense when you watch “Dust Bunny.” In fact, the film seems like a wildly thrown together best-of the most diverse motifs and stylistic devices of the aforementioned pioneers and references. That in itself wouldn't be bad. Ultimately, genre cinema per se is based on familiar formulas and narrative patterns that are continually revisited and adapted or deliberately thwarted.
The next step – and this is where things get bumpy in “Dust Bunny” – would be to develop your own, interesting DNA from the classic and well-known. It doesn't matter which models were actually used for the production (or were simply imposed on the film by critics afterwards). However, Bryan Fuller's script and directing work are weak mainly because they remain extremely indecisive until the end. “Dust Bunny” sits between all stools in terms of tone and narrative: for an adult, genre film-savvy audience, it mainly contains nostalgic recollections and memories of their own childhood horrors. However, for younger viewers, whom the film apparently primarily aims to appeal to, it may be almost too dark and violent. Especially when you look at the action-packed last act, in which a toothbrush is brutally misused.
In addition to Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian also gets involved in the bloody goings-on between monsters and killers.
If you don't want to dwell on issues of youth protection and a target group, the film doesn't offer much in terms of content. “Dust Bunny” is particularly convincing in the dynamic between little Aurora and her new protection officer, who is suddenly forced into the role of surrogate father. The parallels to “Léon – The Professional” are always obvious here.
The only problem is: Fuller mainly constructs a story about reconciliation with one's own fears and the horror that can develop in a child's personality. This is meant to be empathetic, but is spelled out too sweetly and one-dimensionally. The film narrows itself down to a metaphorical cliché, particularly with its ending.
Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver summit
What remains are the little confrontations in between. And at least for such moments you can be grateful to Bryan Fuller: “Dust Bunny” gives the audience a summit meeting between Mads Mikkelsen and the former “Alien” icon Sigourney Weaver. Both even get a halo over their heads in their first meeting via a game of perspectives.
When they both meet in the demimonde of gangsters and killers and ultimately become involved in the monster trauma of Aurora, the two Hollywood stars know how to embody both the small discussions and verbal poison darts as well as the crude to trashy action interludes with their usual class. After all, you don't see Sigourney Weaver firing on all cylinders with repurposed high heels!
Crazy fantasy images
In general, the grotesque visual ideas are the great strength of this fantasy-horror-action hybrid, with which it can just about make up for its half-baked script. Shoes as firearms are just one example of this. Plants on wallpaper come to life as illusions. Rooms are transformed into fantastic parallel worlds using colorful lights and Aurora rows through the corridor on an artificial animal figure like on a boat. Just don't touch the ground, otherwise the monster will come!
Perhaps with such impressions the cinema already unconsciously reflects new viewing habits of an AI culture that suddenly forms strange, bright fusions from disparate elements. The shimmering, flowing impression of some images and scenes sometimes approaches a hallucinating, psychedelic character, which again has its very own, crazy aesthetic appeal.
Conclusion: The feature film debut of “Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller impresses with colorful visual effects and amusing acting by Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver. In the end, this genre mix about a monster in the children's room remains tonally too indecisive and narratively too pale to make a lasting impression.