The Bunny Game

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.

Seriously?? I am getting tired of movies that just go for the shock value. If you have seen one torture-porn movie you have seen all and if this label applies to any movie then to "Bunny Game". The whole "Human Centipede" thing was already hard to grasp. At least it was kind of funny and in the 2nd part had some artsy shots and a disturbing villain.

"Bunny Game" has about 1/10th the plot of HC, also goes for an artsy black and white look but just comes across like the art school project of a disturbed S+M Freak. The plot goes like this: Street Hoker down on luck and high on coke gets abducted by a truck driver and then tortured and degraded for days in the desert until she breaks down.

Thats it!! The whole editing reminds a lot of Michael Hanekes Movies with endless still scenes of nothing happening and hinting to a deeper meaning that simply doesn't exist here. Its broken up by fades to black and some hectic edited collages of impressions to which some of the ugliest Black Metal Punk imaginable is played.

The whole "hooker on a descent to hell" thing reminds a lot of the equally art school style movie "Slaughtered Vomit Dolls" but even that movie had more plot and some creative gore to it. "Bunny Games" basically just shocks you with hardcore S+M play and rape and where clearly the "Slaughtered Vomit Dolls" Director had a sick fetish for vomiting this one puts his S+M fetish on film in the least entertaining way imaginable. Even the below average playing time seems like an eternity. If you are turned on by branding, shaving, choking and asphyxiation have a go. If you are looking for a decent horror movie or the next "Martyrs" you are way into the wrong alley here.

The whole movie is pretty much trash disguised as art for those who still think that making a movie in black/white is some kind of higher art form. To end on a positive note... the acting of both leads was pretty good although I guess they were doing what they do off-screen anyway.If the branding and blowjob scenes are real the actors sure are just as messed up as the roles they are playing.

Oh, and by the way... if you wonder what the "bunny game" is... its walking through the desert with pig and bunny masks and screaming like lunatics. So have a go next time you are in a desert.

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

Despite having little dialogue and no back story, i found myself sympathising with the title character pretty quickly. This could be due to Rodleen Getsic's charisma and style, there's no doubt to the fact that she is excellent in this film. Her performance is aided (at least in part) by the chaotic drug-fueled style in which the director has filmed it, which really bring you into the psyche of the young woman we are following. The first 10 minutes of this film truly are a work of art, simply put.

That being said, this movie has a major downfall. It's just too long. there is not enough content to stretch this into a feature length film. Half of the time you're waiting for something to happen while a scene goes in circles with no real aim. I counted about 10 minutes where the trucker is just playing with the bunny girls unconscious body.

Then there's long drawn out portions where literally nothing happens, the aim was probably to build atmosphere, but all it does is bore. Even at the end we're left with 3 or 4 minutes view of an empty road with static playing on the radio inside the truck.

When you consider all this wasted time and the fact that the film only comes in at 70-something minutes, you'll probably agree this would have worked so much better as a short film. In fact if re-cut to 30 minutes, it coud be quite a poignant, evocative film.

There is definitely a lot of promise for those involved in the making of this film, so i'll be keeping an eye out for Adam Rehmeier's later pictures. And overall i would recommend you give this a watch.