The Bunny Game

Most people don't just happen upon a film like The Bunny Game—they seek it out, spurred on by on its notoriety, eager to discover if it is as anywhere near as shocking as its reputation suggests; if, like me, you hunted this one down after reading that it had been refused a certificate by the BBFC, then the chances are you've already seen much worse, for plenty of harsher films exist, and will only be disappointed by what you see here.

An early scene of unsimulated oral sex and the realistic use of a branding iron just about qualify as controversial, but other than that there's very little here that really warrants the fuss and attention; it certainly wasn't the sex and violence that made the film hard for me to endure, but rather the manner in which it was all presented. The avant-garde approach and choppy editing make this film look like the product of a pretentious art school student exploiting shock tactics to make a name for himself.

And like most art school films, it's very boring: there are moments that seem to drag on forever with virtually nothing happening at all; other scenes flash by in a whirlwind of epilepsy-inducing imagery and a cacophony of discordant 'music'. When a film that sets out to disturb has me either dropping off to sleep out of disinterest, or wanting to turn off out of sheer irritation, then I have to consider it a complete failure.

Unbelievable. I can't believe what I just watched. My mind is numb and I in all honesty can say I am 100 percent floored at the blunt nature of this film. I have seen a lot of disturbing and sick stuff when it comes to cinema but this powerhouse is shocking. It holds nothing back. This black and white filmed picture of depravity takes the viewer into a darkness that is so reality based that the one viewing it feels the process taking place on film as if it's real.

The sexual nature and the aspect of torture come together in a stark slap in the face. Bunny is a prostitute. Day to day she seeks out men for money to support her drug habit and to keep herself fed. One trick after another seems to be more violent then the next. Soon she is picked up by a trucker named Hog and then all hell breaks loose as Bunny is stuck in true unrelenting madness and horror through torture of some the most heinous ordeals.

The trucker has a little playground of handcuffs and a camera and chains in the back of his truck and Bunny is his next plaything. I have to commend and mention the acting or at least the ordeal that Rodleen Gestic went through who plays Bunny. She is a golden performer. The torture and humiliation even though it's a movie would have to be hard to go through. This is like a snuff film of torture, sexual torture.

This is not for everyone. Hell it's not for most, but with that said if you truly want to see something disturbingly remarkable then you have to see this, this is a one of a kind dark picture. If you go into this wanting a thick dialogue and a character study of cinema then you won't get it, for this is one sex act after another and one torture shot after another.

The camera work is flooring, the cinematography is mind altering in the art house indie department of film making. It's like life unfolding before your eyes, a slow trip into insanity. A balls to the wall smack in the face that leaves the viewer bleeding from their eyes.

Presented in beautiful B&W, Adam Rehmeier's The Bunny Game features breathtaking imagery, creative editing and outrageous performances by lead actors Getsic and Renfro as The Bunny and Hog. Very few low budget endeavors that cross my desk these days look this good or feature actors so thoroughly convincing. Though the film features very little dialog, it's not at all difficult to understand what's transpiring so long as you pay close attention.

I was greatly impressed with this film on a technical level and there's no doubt in my mind that Rehmeier will have a bright future in filmmaking. That said, I did have a few issues with the film that I would like to mention, the first being that this film, like Lucifer Valentine's gag-inducing Vomit Gore Trilogy, may have had a story behind it but what you actually see ends up feeling more like an experimental BDSM slave training video for Masters. I think that's why I had such a hard time losing myself within the film. To those unfamiliar with BDSM Master/Slave relationships, much of the "atrocities" you see playing out in The Bunny Game are pretty commonplace activities, including head-shaving and erotic asphyxiation.

If experimental cinema with all of its exaggerated noise, nauseating camera effects, avant garde lighting, rapid-fire edits, slow-motion sequences and monotonous scoring is your forte, I can't help but think this film was made for you because I just can't see the average horror or exploitation fan looking for a few chills deriving much replay value from it. In my opinion it's an impressive piece of Artsploitation certainly worth checking out, if you're into this kind of cinema, but be sure to do so before purchasing.

This movie is quite infamous and there was a buzz about it. I read that it will bring out a reaction to those who watch it, but I never read what this was about. And it starts off pretty "strong" with a visceral and very explicit oral sex scene. You can see male genitalia (since prosthetics have gone quite some way, I'm not sure if it's a real one or a plastic one) and our female protagonist doing her "job". She is at a low point and while we won't get her backstory (maybe it would have been nice so we know whom we are supposed to care for), we see more of her degrading life in general.

And I'm not saying degrading because of the way she earns her money, but of the way she lets others treat her. It's one thing to earn money on the street and another to not really have a purpose anymore other than surviving. So when the "games" begin, it almost feels like there was no other way for her to fall even more, to suffer more. But the movie teaches us different. Empathy alone should inform us that this is wrong. And in no way should that entertain you. It's a movie for sure, but even so this is not a movie that should bring out joy.

It's one thing to find it interesting, how low some human beings can go or to see human depths of ugliness. Torture even if pretended is no fun - and for sure it's not a game if at least one participant is unwilling. I'm not even sure I can rate the acting in this ... the black and white photography is "nice" (not what is shown, if I have to stress that out again) ... other than that not much positive to find here

Normally I don't do reviews, but in this case I felt obliged to, as all of the earlier reviews seemed biased. Many people seem to like the artsy-fartsy black/white movie stuff, perhaps even more so in the avant-garde horror genre – I'm definitely not one of them, though. For me, this was nothing more than 76 minutes of "Yeah, that's already been done – in color!" and a quite dull experience. It didn't grab my attention anywhere close to what A Serbian Film or Martyrs did. I'm not talking just graphically here, either – I'm talking about the whole feel of the movie, including the music and the storyline. In all honesty, it wasn't even much of a story to begin with. It's just boring all the way from start to end. I'm aware that most other reviews praise The Bunny Game for "taking it to the next level" and being a 10/10 kind of ground- breaking movie, but I honestly just can't understand why and none of the reviews have even bothered trying to explain their reasoning behind such statements, except maybe the fact that the torture and humiliation in this movie is supposed to be real (which I can't and won't even try to deny) but that does not automatically make it a good film – it just makes it closer to being a snuff film. We're heading there...