Sound has always been such a crucial part of creating a successful horror film. Whether a perfectly timed musical sting or the carefully orchestrated sounds of a head being bashed in, sound makes or breaks a horror film’s impact. But in his feature film debut, Rabbit Trap, Bryn Chainey takes it a step further to craft sound into an all-consuming deity, one that conjures the fae and hypnotizes the living. Chainey uses sound to create a unique take on folk horror, one that doesn’t just burn into smoldering embers but bursts into majestic flames.
It’s 1976, and experimental musical artist Daphne Davenport (Rosy McEwen) has recently moved to a remote British village with her husband Darcy (Dev Patel). Here, she hopes to finish her latest album and stun the world with her new sound. Every day, Darcy wanders the moors, recording sounds of the natural world for Daphne to integrate into her soundscapes. Then, he decides to record the strange sounds emanating from a fairy circle, or a circle of mushrooms. As you would expect, Daphne decides to use it in her music, which causes the power to go out. We love foreshadowing.
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The next day, a strange child (Jade Croot) appears in their front yard. They never offer a name, but simply seem like a lonely kid looking for a friend. Daphne and Darcy take the bait, and slowly, this child starts to consume their every waking moment, driving a wedge between the couple and revealing deep, long-hidden secrets.
It’s rather obvious where Rabbit Trap is going once the unnamed figure on the moor is introduced, but Chainey ensures that the film is still a wild ride, making up for some of the story’s obvious beats with third-act visuals that feel like something out of a fairytale. Certain plot beats feel shoehorned in to make a vague statement about trauma that, while I’m sure is well-meaning, feel like cheap grabs at being perceived as a more serious film. But, at the end of the day, this is a fantastical horror film about letting the wrong one in.
This haunted trio delivers incredible performances, with McEwen making Daphne both insufferable and softly maternal at the same time. She records Darcy’s night terrors without his consent and is constantly bulldozing over others to make her music. She’s almost giddy at the idea of inviting the wrong one into their home. But Croot truly steals the show as the mysterious child who infects the Davenport household like a creeping mold. Looking almost too much like Barry Keoghan in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, Croot’s unsettlingly neutral facial expressions and cryptic, haunted delivery of their dialogue imbue Rabbit Trap with a deep sense of dread almost immediately.
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Then, there’s the secret fourth character, one that permeates every scene, every moment, even when it feels like the world has fallen totally silent. For a movie like Rabbit Trap, it’s no surprise that sound becomes a character, one that shapes not only the audience’s emotional reactions, but the characters’, as well. Here, sound is mythical, magical, philosophical, and even erotic. It’s present without having a physical form, making sound, here, become more than just what we hear; it becomes a cosmic deity of sorta, surrounding us at all times since the beginning of time. Chainey is able to make the concept of sound an ancient horror rather than simply a sensory experience.
I tuned into the Rabbit Trap frequency and rode the vibe from beginning to bizarre end. Rabbit Trap never opts for the quiet obscurity of most folk horror, and it’s incredibly refreshing in an era of slow burns that, more often than not, fizzle out into nothing. Here, Chainey ensures Rabbit Trap bends reality and delivers something hazy, dream-like, and deeply menacing, while still feeling familiar by adopting the typical 1970s horror aesthetic. It’s darkly whimsical folk horror that chills you to the bone.
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