Bunnyman Vengeance is a 2017 slasher horror film written, produced and directed by Carl Lindbergh, that will make its theatrical debut later this month in the UK. In the third and final entry into the series we find Bunnyman and his family running a haunted house attraction. Death and mayhem eventually ensue as they turn on one another to fulfill their blood lust.
The Good:
The movie stars Omari Washington, Michael Shaun Sandy and Pucci Tres. Every character has a name, but they are the only ones whose character’s names you would know before the credits role. Omari also gives the movie’s best performance. I think that he has some talent that could land him roles in larger movies, as we see him move from a caring brother to raving psychotic and back. Michael does a good job playing angry all the time, even though we have no idea why he is always mad. Pucci doesn’t get to give a very nuanced performance because he is playing a role with some fairly series mental disabilities, who spends most of his time being bossed around by one of his brothers.
After Omari’s performance, the highlight for me is in a scene when Bunnyman and his family attack a group of campers. The scene itself isn’t that amazing, outside of Bunnyman’s ability to kill with one throw of seemingly any object, be it knife, pole or tire. What stood out for me in that moment was the Peter Scartabello score. It was obviously heavily inspired by the Jason Voorhees theme from Friday the 13th, but it was different enough to still be interesting and not get them sued.
One visual choice I did like was during the flashback scenes. The film quality and size seemed to represent older 8mm film footage. It was like we were watching the past on someone’s old home videos, which at one point you actually are seeing that, but I liked the style all the same.
The Bad:
Outside of the three things listed above I don’t think there is another good quality to this movie. It feels too long but tells a very simple story that could have been done in 45 minutes not 90. The special effects are not good, on average, and that is because the CGI is awful. After one character gets their head bashed in, it looks like they stuck a sticker on top of the “film” to give the appearance that his head was a
bloody pulp. It was hard to tell if all the time allotted for CGI went into one scene or if they actually had a good practical effect when another character is impaled.
The kills are random, generic, and serve no real purpose, other than giving Bunnyman something to do. At one point I thought they had a fine idea of killing some teenagers to use their bodies as props in the haunted house, but the haunted house just acted as a way to lure in more victims. If my idea of their motivation had been right, I would have liked this movie more. It would have been more reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 where they killed people for the meat in the chili they sold to their customers.
In the middle of the movie it takes a detour into the worse music video I have ever seen. Part of it looks like what would have been played on an early season of Beavis and Butthead, but much worse. If I wasn’t going to write this review, this is the part in my viewing of the movie where I would change the channel.
Recommendable or Not:
No, I cannot recommend that anyone who was not a fan of the first two movies come anywhere near this one. The movie’s visuals are okay, except when they are going for a weird effect. The sound quality was fine, but overall the film is long and boring. You won’t laugh or be scared if you watch this movie. You will just struggle to stay awake, like I did. I hope some of the actors get more parts, because I think they are capable of quality work, but that is the only reason I am glad I watched this movie.
by James Lindorf
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