Rabbit Trap

Judging purely by scale, Rabbit Trap could have been made during the depths of the COVID pandemic. Set on an isolated Welsh hillside that gives way to a dense and disorienting forest pushes thoughts of the wider world out of your mind. The cast consists of just four people, one of whom is relegated to the dream-realm and is rarely glimpsed in full; he's credited as simply The Shadow (Nicholas Sampson), after all. To further cut them off from society, the story unfolds in 1973, rendering their lack of phone very plausible, while also adding to the ever expanding list of films made in the smartphone era that find some way to pull them from their subjects' hands.

Not that it would have mattered much. Darcy and Daphne Davenport (Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen) just moved here, and there's nary a mention of another soul nearby. So who exactly would they have been able to ask about the strange sounds coming from the woods? That seclusion makes it especially odd when an unnamed child (Jade Croot) appears in the long grass, staring at their house, seemingly bored and craving companionship. He becomes obsessed with the couple, rapping on their door early in the morning, refusing to leave by citing Darcy's invitation to "Come by any time." The child's presence isn't made any more comforting by Croot's striking resemblance to a young Barry Keoghan, complete with glassy, gray-green eyes that make your blood run cold as his casual gaze pierces deep into your soul.

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.