News

September is packed with big screen hauntings and fresh nightmares on TV, and the calendar is tight. Across theaters and streaming you get nine movies opening in the U.S. and three shows rolling out new episodes, specials, or full season drops, all landing between September 3 and September 26.

Below you will find every title with exact U.S. dates, where to watch, key creative teams, and clear plot setups. Use it to plan your watchlist and to keep premieres straight during a very busy month.

‘Wednesday’ (2022– ) MGM Television

Part 2 of season 2 arrives on Netflix on September 3. Production moved to Ireland for this season with work at Ashford Studios and locations around County Wicklow,...

The most wonderful time of the year has finally arrived: Halloween season is officially here! And that means it’s also time for Bloody Disgusting’s 2025 Fall Horror Preview, presented by Spirit Halloween!

The telltale signs are everywhere, from the weather to the return of haunted attractions, pumpkin spice-flavored treats, and beyond. Then, of course, there’s all the horror. This Halloween season brings an overwhelming slate of horror releases packed into September and October to ensure maximum fright for the holiest of horror holidays. The horror doesn’t stop there, either; we’re looking beyond Halloween and into the rest of 2025.

It’s no surprise that this year offers...

The spooky season is once again upon us and there is still plenty of horror left for us to watch as this year wraps up. So genre fans can start planning what they’re going to see over the next few months, we have put together a Fall 2025 Horror Movie Preview, which can be seen below. Sure, it starts a little earlier than the official beginning of fall, but bear with us. And, of course, there will be more titles announced and more release dates revealed as time goes on, and we’ll update this article when that happens. For now, here’s what we have:

The Toxic Avenger – Theatrical,...

Audiences' most-anticipated horror movies of the next two months have been revealed. 2025 horror movies have already found a great deal of commercial success, including the sequels 28 Years Later and Final Destination Bloodlines, which are the No. 13 and No. 18 highest-grossing movies worldwide at the time of writing.

Other titles that have found box office success in 2025 include Sinners, The Monkey, and Until Dawn. Most recently, Weapons has zoomed past the $150 million milestone worldwide before the end of the second full week of its theatrical run.

Fandango has now shared the results of their survey of more than 2,000 ticketbuyers, revealing the most anticipated horror movies set to debut between September 1 and October 31 in 2025. No.

Manchester’s genre showcase Grimmfest has unveiled its complete programme for 2025, confirming twenty-one new features across four days at the Odeon Great Northern. Running from 9 to 12 October, the festival will host an extensive slate of world, international, European, UK and Northern premieres, alongside appearances from high-profile actors including Dev Patel, Jeremy Piven, Pixie Lott, Aneurin Barnard, Jon Heder, Tim McInnerny, Rosy McEwen, Richard Roxburgh, Shawnee Smith, Torry Hanson and Thomas Lennon.

World premieres form the backbone of the event. Among them is Past Life, directed by Grimmfest co-founders Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones, a Manchester-made psychological thriller about regression therapy and unresolved crimes from the 1980s. Tom Botchii follows his earlier feature Artik with Syphon, a violent cat-and-mouse revenge story about a hacker who finds himself hunted. Manu Herrera offers Lily’s Ritual, a supernatural tale of witchcraft and demonic vengeance, while Tim Connery’s anthology feature The Driftless delivers...

Exclusive: The world premiere of Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones’s Past Life will open the UK’s horror festival Grimmfest,which runs October 9-12 in Manchester.

Jeremy Piven, singer Pixie Lott, Aneurin Barnard and Tim McInnerny starPast Life, a tale ofrepressed memory, regression therapy and a series of unsolved murders from the 80s. Directors Halligan and Richardson-Jones are also the directors of Grimmfest.

Further world premieres include Tom Botchii’s Syphon,about a computer hacker who learns a hard lesson; Manu Herrera’s 80s horror homage Lily’s Ritual; and Tim Connery’s TheDriftless,an anthology inspired by Midwest mythologies.

Grimmfest, Manchester’s International Festival of Fantastic Film, is delighted to announce the full feature film line-up for 2025!

The festival returns to the Odeon Great Northern in Manchester from October 9 to October 12 to showcase the very best in new genre cinema. It’s going to be four fear-filled days, with 21 brand new feature films and more World and International premieres than ever before. Lucky Grimmfest attendees will be some of the first people in the world to see many of our 2025 lineup, which includes four World Premieres, seven International Premieres, two European Premieres, four UK Premieres, and four Northern UK Premieres.

Grimmfest directors Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones will be opening this year’s festival with the World Premiere of their new ‘Made in Manchester’ thriller Past Life. Jeremy Piven stars alongside Pixie Lott, Aneurin Barnard, and Tim McInnerny in a twisted tale of repressed memory, regression therapy, and a...

Dev Patel's next big project, Rabbit Trap, recently released its first official trailer, offering our first look at the directorial debut of Bryn Chainey, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. Patel was most recently busy writing, producing, and making his own directorial debut with the movie Monkey Man in 2024, which received positive reviews upon its release. Now, Patel is solely on acting duty for Rabbit Trap, a film whose synopsis teases an ethereal audiovisual trip that also brings horrors and thrills through the intricate use of sound and suspense.

Rabbit Trap first premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival as part of the Midnight section of programming, and was acquired for distribution by Magnolia Pictures and handled by Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of the independent film company. The movie was also produced by Spectrevision, a film production company founded by actor Elijah Wood. After a select few...

Dev Patel is returning to our screens with another atmospheric fantasy movie, Rabbit Trap, starring alongside Rosy McEwen. Originally breaking out in Hollywood with the Best Picture-winning Slumdog Millionaire, Patel has reinvented himself in recent years with the action thriller Monkey Man and philosophical fantasy adventure The Green Knight.

McEwen is comparatively unknown, her most notable credits being an episode of Black Mirror and a National Theatre production of Othello (as Desdemona). Rabbit Trap's only other major star is Jade Croot as "The Child" who brings the two leads to an impasse. The mysterious fantasy premise and chilling atmosphere will likely appeal to fans of The Green Knight, one of Dev Patel's best movies.

Now, Magnolia Pictures has released the trailer for Rabbit Trap. The upcoming folk horror movie follows married couple Darcy and Daphne Davenport, musicians who retreat to a cottage in rural Wales to finish their new album,...

Dev Patel stars in a new psychological horror film called Rabbit Trap, which marks the full-length feature debut of writer and director Bryn Chainey. The movie also features Rosy McEwen and is produced by Bankside Films in collaboration with SpectreVision.

Set in 1973, Rabbit Trap follows a married couple whose lives take a dark turn after they move to an isolated cabin in Wales. According to the official synopsis, when they accidentally disturb a Tylwyth Teg fairy ring, a mysterious child appears with what seems like bad intentions.

Listen.

Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen star in Rabbit Trap, in theaters September 12. #RabbitTrap pic.twitter.com/EKRn8qqtci

— Magnolia Pictures (@MagnoliaPics) August 14, 2025

The trailer shows Dev Patel, known for Slumdog Millionaire and Monkey Man, and Rosy McEwen, who starred in Blue Jean and Apartment 7A, playing Darcy and Daphne Davenport. The synopsis describes them as a couple who are “freshly decamped from...

Dev Patel is set to star in a chilling new psychological horror called Rabbit Trap, which is the first full-length feature from director Bryn Chainey. The film also features Rosy McEwen and is produced by Bankside Films in collaboration with Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s SpectreVision, according to official sources.

Set in 1973, Rabbit Trap follows a married couple who move to an isolated cabin in Wales. The story takes a dark turn when they accidentally disturb a fairy ring linked to the Tylwyth Teg, a mysterious Welsh folklore. Shortly after, a strange child appears at their door, seemingly with dangerous intentions.

Listen.

Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen star in Rabbit Trap, in theaters September 12. #RabbitTrap pic.twitter.com/EKRn8qqtci

— Magnolia Pictures (@MagnoliaPics) August 14, 2025

The recently released trailer gives a first look at Dev Patel as Darcy Davenport and Rosy McEwen as his wife, Daphne. The couple has left...

Sound design is a vital part of film, but one that sometimes goes unrecognized. After all, the best soundscapes are those that set the mood without becoming a noticeable distraction. Personally, I’m fascinated by the things we hear, how they affect us, and the movies that look to explore the mysteries of those invisible waves in the air that we call sound. Based on the eerie new trailer for Writer/director Bryn Chainey’s debut feature, Rabbit Trap, the film appears to do exactly that.

Read the full synopsis below:

Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne (Rosy McEwen) Davenport are freshly decamped from London and taking up residence in an isolated cottage deep in the Welsh countryside in search of creative renewal and acoustic inspiration. When the couple set about exploring their new environs, recording instruments in tow, Darcy stumbles upon a “faerie circle” that emits a strange, unidentifiable frequency...

If last year's chilling Doctor Who episode '73 Yards' taught us anything, it's this: don't mess with fairy circles. It's a lesson that Daphne (Rosy McEwen) and Darcy (Dev Patel), the married musicians at the centre of first-time feature filmmaker Bryn Chainey's upcoming folk horror Rabbit Trap, probably wish they'd learnt before heading to rural Wales to work on their latest album. As we soon see in the first trailer for Chainey's 70s set movie, tylwyth teg — or fairy folk, to the non-Welsh speaking among us — don't take too kindly to having their peace disturbed, and finding the right sound for their avant garde new record is about to become the least of Daphne and Darcy's worries. Check it out below;

A little bit Starve Acre, a little bit In The Earth, and just a smidge Berberian Sound Studio, Chainey's movie looks to be pulling from all the right influences,...

"With your eyes, you enter the world. With your ears, the world enters you..." Magnolia Pics has revealed the first official trailer for the mysterious folk horror movie Rabbit Trap, filmed out in the countryside in England. This premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to mixed reviews – it's good, but not exactly one of the best discoveries of 2025. An intriguing tale of fairy circles and nature's secrets and mysterious whispers. Married couple Daphne & Darcy Davenport are musicians who moved from London to a cottage in rural Wales to complete their new album in solitude. By accident they record a mystical sound never heard before and gradually disconnect from reality...

Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire, Monkey Man, and The Green Knight leads the cast of Rabbit Trap, the latest horror film from Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s production company SpectreVision, and while production wrapped two years ago, we thankfully don’t have much longer to wait to see it. Rabbit Trap is set to reach theatres on September 12, courtesy of Magnet Releasing, and with that date right around the corner, a trailer has dropped online. You can check it out in the embed above.

JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to watch this movie at Sundance earlier this year and gave it a 7/10 review that can be read Here.

This film marks the feature directorial debut of Bryn Chainey and has the following synopsis: Set in 1973, Rabbit Trap charts the story of married musicians Daphne and Darcy Davenport, who have relocated from London to an isolated cabin...

Dev Patel is stuck in a twisted folk horror nightmare with the arrival of the official trailer for Bryn Chainey’s directorial debut, Rabbit Trap. After throwing punches last year in Monkey Man and galloping into the medieval world of The Green Knight in 2021, this seems like the perfect next step for the Academy Award-nominated actor, who will be joined in the Welsh horror flick by Rosy McEwen (Apartment 7A) and Jade Croot (The Serpent Queen). Set for a cinematic arrival on September 12, Rabbit Trap promises audiences that they’ll embark on a confusing journey alongside the story’s protagonists as they attempt to hold onto their sanity.

The trailer introduces viewers to Darcy (Patel) and Daphne (McEwen), a couple who have moved to the remote wilderness in Wales in order for the latter to better pursue her music career. Seeking some peace, quiet, and new inspiration from the surrounding woods,...

The Man In My Basement Trailer Released: "In the African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, New York, Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) is out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home. A knock on the door from a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), brings a bizarre and lucrative proposition; rent his dusty stand-up basement out for the summer and receive enough money to clear his debts for good. Once Charles accepts, he finds himself led down a terrifying path that confronts his family’s ghosts and locks the men in a terrifying puzzle, at the heart of it race, the source of their traumas and the root of all evil."

Directed By: Nadia Latif Screenplay By: Walter Mosley & Nadia Latif Cast: Corey Hawkins, Willem Dafoe, Anna Diop, Jonathan Ajayi, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr., Pamela Nomvete, Tamara Lawrance Producers: Diane Houslin p.g.a,...

With your eyes, you enter the world. With your ears, the world enters you.

Magnet Releasing has acquired Rabbit Trap, setting a September 12 theatrical release for the psychological folk horror film.

Let the fairies in with the trailer below. You may want to wear headphones to get the full effect.

When a musician and her husband move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.

Dev Patel (The Green Knight), Rosy McEwen (“The Alienist”), and Jade Croot (“The Serpent Queen”) star.

Writer-director Bryn Chainey makes his feature debut on the film, which premiered in the Midnight section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. SpectreVision produces.

“It’s a quiet miracle that this film exists: an earthy, sound-driven psychological thriller that takes its cues from Celtic folklore and bends genre expectations,...

Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel made his directorial debut with Monkey Man in 2024, and it became one of the best action films of the year. After the success of his action film, Patel turned his focus to horror with the psychological horror Rabbit Trap.

Before going back to directing with the upcoming action film The Peasant, the actor helped another up-and-coming director, Bryn Chainey, who is making his feature directorial debut with the new horror. Rabbit Trap is a dark folk horror, with Chainey writing and directing, and featuring Patel, Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean), and Jade Croot (The Witcher). Ahead of the film's official theatrical release on Sept. 12, Rabbit Trap debuted its eerie trailer.

Rabbit Trap's official logline reads, "Darcy (Patel) and Daphne (McEwen) Davenport are freshly decamped from London and taking up residence in an isolated cottage deep in the Welsh countryside in search of creative renewal and acoustic inspiration.

Ahead of the summer, we were thrilled to host the first-ever Collider Exclusive Preview event, sharing early looks, trailers, insights, and more from some of the year's most exciting films. Nearly 30 movies were included as part of the week-long series, including massive blockbusters like James Gunn's Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth, alongside smaller, more underrated titles like the Bryce Dallas Howard-led Deep Cover. It was a massive success, and now, the site is prepared to go bigger and do it all over again. In preparation for a fall schedule packed with new movies, Collider is previewing over 40 movies this time around, from rom-coms to horror and action-packed projects. Reveals will happen regularly throughout the coming week, and you'll want to stay glued here for it all.

For this season's batch of films, we've managed to snag dozens more exclusive images offering insight into what the titles are all about,...

Last year, Oscar nominee Dev Patel made his directorial debut with Monkey Man, a frantic and brutal martial arts epic that was showered with praise and showed he has more tools in his repertoire than just acting. Before he goes back behind the camera for his next film, The Peasant, however, he's heading out to the woods to help with what will be another creator's first theatrical feature. Patel is starring in the new British psychological horror Rabbit Trap from promising young director Bryn Chainey, which uses sound against its viewers to create an unsettling atmosphere in the remote woods of 1973 Wales. As part of Collider's Exclusive Preview event for upcoming movies, we're excited to share a new image that teases the secrets of the film, placing the Slumdog Millionaire star in what appears to be a dank cave with a strange structure he uncovered.

Rabbit Trap is both written and directed by Chainey,...

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week we’re talking to Rosie Fellner, who recently produced The Uninvited, a dark comedy starring Walton Goggins, Elizabeth Reaser, Pedro Pascal, Rufus Sewell and Lois Smith. The British producer talks about her career as a multihyphenate and why she’s passionate about supporting first-time filmmakers through her new shingle Rosebud Pictures.

Rosie Fellner loves a puzzle. “I love putting things together – I’m a doer and like the puzzle of putting financing together for projects I’m passionate about,” the UK native tells Deadline.

So, for Fellner, who began her career as an actor on cult British comedy TV series The Fast Show before taking roles in Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip, The Face of an Angel and, more recently,...

Exclusive: SpectreVision, the genre-focused production company led by Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, and Lawrence Inglee, on Monday announced the launch of SpectreVision Artists, a management arm headed by Antonio D’Intino and Christina Campagnola.

The intention behind the new division is to extend the company’s ethos of supporting creators who think outside the box. SpectreVision’s client roster will include directors such as Brendan Bellomo, DGA Award winner for the recently Oscar-nominated documentary The Porcelain War; Bryn Chainey, whose feature debut Rabbit Trap, starring Dev Patel, just premiered at Sundance; Sean Price Williams, the veteran Dp whose directorial debut The Sweet East premiered at Cannes in 2023; Alex Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, the creatives behind Save Yourselves! and the upcoming Wicker; Rod Blackhurst; Jodi Wille; Carolina Markowicz; Keith Thomas; Rachel Wolther (The French Italian...

Great news, Dev Patel fans—A24 just acquired the rights to his upcoming thriller movie, The Peasant, which he will direct and star in. To get you all pumped up, the new project is described as a blend of Braveheart and John Wick with a touch of King Arthur vibes because of its medieval setting.

Patel’s new movie first gained attention after it was featured on 2023 Black List, which basically highlighted several unproduced screenplays for that year. Since the actor’s takeover, it has gone through a significant development: from the initial plan of an Italian backdrop to a reimagined feudal version of India.

Dev Patel and A24 gear up for the upcoming revenge thriller The Peasant

Dev Patel expands his portfolio as he ventures into another bold and creative project which he hopes to turn into a massive franchise. Deadline reported that the deal closed in on $30 million.

Dev Patel’s second outing as director following Monkey Man, The Peasant, has officially been picked up by A24 for worldwide distribution in a deal that reports are pegging around $30 million.

The Peasant was part of the 2023 Black List, the annual survey of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. Said screenplay is by both Patel and Will Dunn, who wrote the story and script for the final episode of Ms. Marvel. It seems as if the success of Monkey Man – which easily made back its budget and received wide acclaim – helped get it off of that list and into production. The Peasant is produced by Thunder Road Pictures.

As for plot details, the Black List had the following blurb for The Peasant: “In the 14th Century, a lone shepherd rages against a company of mercenary knights after they ransack his peaceful peasant community, proving that he is more than he seems.

Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel is on his way to solidifying himself as an action hero. After starring in 2024’s Monkey Man, Patel’s next feature, the revenge action-thriller The Peasant, has been acquired by A24 the day before the Cannes market, per Deadline.

The deal was a competitive one that closed in the range of $30 million in a Cannes market low on action movies this year. The Peasant will be up for sale in international markets in the near future. Patel will not only star in The Peasant, but also co-wrote the script for the film with Will Dunn (Ms. Marvel), and will direct the movie.

The project is described as having elements of Braveheartand John Wick, and a King Arthur feel to it. The film is expected to shoot later this year, and there are rumors that The Peasant could become its own franchise. This isn’t the first...

Exclusive: Dev Patel’s revenge action-thriller The Peasant has been snapped up by A24 in a splashy deal on the eve of the Cannes market.

We understand the pact closed in the $30M range last night after a competitive situation. It’s a Cannes market low on buzzy action movies and this one has a unique premise and strong elements so was taken off the table by A24. It will be on sale for international territories going forward.

The 2023 Black List project is being described as having shades of Braveheart and John Wick as well as notes of King Arthur. After being updated by Patel, the script combines medieval knights with feudal India. Set in the 1300s, it centers on a shepherd who embarks on a rage-fueled campaign against a group of mercenary knights who ransacked his community, revealing himself to be more than he seems.

John Wick outfit Thunder Road...

Dev Patel continues to reinvent himself as an action star after his directorial debut with Monkey Man. In Monkey Man, Patel showed off his new prowess with a buff bod and fighting skills to get revenge on the corrupt Indian politician who slaughtered his village. And it seems as that film was not a one-and-done for Patel’s new direction. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the star will write, direct, and lead The Peasant, an unconventional period action thriller from Fifth Season Productions and Thunder Road Pictures.

The project reunites Patel with Thunder Road Productions, which produced Monkey Man. Per THR, the thriller is set “in the 1300s, it centers on a shepherd who embarks on a rage-fueled campaign against a group of mercenary knights who ransacked his community, revealing himself to be more than he seems.” It was also “being described as having shades of Braveheart and John Wick...

Dev Patel is continuing to establish his triple threat filmmaking skills, coming on board to write, direct and star in The Peasant, a unique period action thriller from Fifth Season and Thunder Road Pictures. Patel will also produce via his Minor Realm production shingle.

The project reunites Patel with Thunder Road, which produced Monkey Man, his feature directorial debut, which he also co-wrote and in which he starred.

An adrenalized revenge thriller, the project is being described as having shades of Braveheart and John Wick as well as notes of King Arthur as it mashes up medieval knights with feudal India.

Set in the 1300s, it centers on a shepherd who embarks on a rage-fueled campaign against a group of mercenary knights who ransacked his community, revealing himself to be more than he seems.

Fifth Season, which is financing the feature as well as producing it, initially developed the project with Will Dunn,...

There are several moments in Rabbit Trap when the boundaries between sound and space, dream and reality, begin to fray. Sound is not merely an element of the film’s atmosphere — it is its driving force, the unseen terror pressing in on the psyche of its characters. Bryn Chainey’s debut feature is a folk horror film, an erotic thriller, and an experimental meditation on the relationship between perception, memory, and fear. At its core, Rabbit Trap explores the eerie interplay between human connection, artistic obsession, and nature’s ability to resist control.

'Rabbit Trap' Is a Sonic Descent Into the Uncanny

Your Ratingclose10 stars9 stars8 stars7 stars6 stars5 stars4 stars3 stars2 stars1 starRate Now0/10

Your comment has not been saved

Rabbit TrapHorrorMysteryThriller4/5Release DateJanuary 24, 2025Runtime97 MinutesDirectorBryn ChaineyWritersBryn ChaineyProducersDaniel Noah, Elijah Wood, Adrian Politowski, Lawrence Inglee, Nadia Khamlichi, Dev Patel, Elisa Lleras, Martin Metz, Alex Ashworth, Sean Marley,...

The sustained snowfall in Berlin reflected a cool but steady first half of EFM 2025, defined largely by a shortfall in must-have big packages.

Amid reduced buyer presence, particularly from Asia, and with many buyers leaving on Sunday, the EFM has mostly been used by sellers to round off sales on pre-existing slates.

One big talking point is whether the new Berlinale and EFM leadership can bring back bigger sales titles and craft a heavyweight festival selection extending into the second week to lure back attendees who fly to London for the Baftas mid-festival.

Festival director Tricia Tuttle’s first programme...

The sustained snowfall in Berlin reflected a cool but steady first half of EFM 2025, defined largely by a shortfall in must-have big packages.

Amid reduced buyer presence, particularly from Asia, and with many buyers leaving on Sunday, the EFM has mostly been used by sellers to round off sales on pre-existing slates.

One big talking point is whether the new Berlinale and EFM leadership can bring back bigger sales titles and craft a heavyweight festival selection extending into the second week to lure back attendees who fly to London for the Baftas mid-festival.

Festival director Tricia Tuttle’s first programme...

As the 2025 Ee BAFTA Film Awards got underway on Sunday in London, a slew of stars hit the red carpet. The guest list includes a number of performers nominated this year, including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Demi Moore, Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Isabella Rossellini, Mikey Madison, Ralph Fiennes, Denis Villeneuve, Colman Domingo, Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Strong, Sebastian Stan, Saoirse Ronan, Sean Baker, Marianna Jean-Baptiste, Guy Pearce, Hugh Grant and plenty more.

“Conclave” leads the pack of 2025 BAFTA Film Awards nominees with 12 nods, one more than “Emilia Pérez.” “The Brutalist,” meanwhile, received nine nominations, including best film, director (Brady Corbet) and actor (Adrien Brody), followed by seven each for “Anora,” “Dune: Part Two” and “Wicked.” Of those three, only “Anora” made the cut for best film and director (Sean Baker). Coralie Fargeat landed the last spot in the director category, for “The Substance.” She, like Baker and Corbet,...

It’s always thrilling when a horror film explores the power and possibility of sound. Much modern horror is too quiet, missing the opportunity to create an immersive soundscape that fully transports viewers into its world. Writer-director Bryn Chainey’s debut feature Rabbit Trap tells a wholly immersive horror story, using its soundscape to send viewers through time and space, this world and the next.

Darcy Davenport (Dev Patel) just moved into a Welsh country home with his wife Daphne (Rosy McEwen), an experimental artist who incorporates natural sound into her music. It’s 1976, and music is dreamy and psychedelic, recorded on a variety of analog equipment. They work together, recording and producing in their home, far from other people. They’re a happy couple but Darcy has trauma from his childhood that troubles him at night, giving him terrors in his sleep. One night Daphne records one of them and plays it for him.

Deep into Rabbit Trap, the directorial debut of Bryn Chainey, a character mentions that “with your eyes you enter the world. With your ears, the world enters you.” While sound has always been essential to horror, it has rarely felt as especially oppressive and overwhelming as it does throughout Rabbit Trap, with Chainey aiming to unsettle the audience more aurally than visually. It’s an ingenious idea, one of many that Rabbit Trap has that doesn’t entirely work as well as one would hope. But while many films could crumble under that, Rabbit Trap feels more like a promising introduction to Chainey, rather than a film defined by its flawed and untapped potential.

Bryn Chainey’s “Rabbit Trap,” starring Dev Patel, Rosy McEwen, and Jade Croot, is a three-hander folk horror deeply rooted in Welsh lore and the precarious balance between humans and the natural world. It concerns a couple (Patel and McEwen) living in a remote cottage who suddenly have a strange child (Croot) burrowing into their lives after they disturb a Tylwyth Teg fairy ring.

“You might try to bury something, but something, it’ll grow,” Chainey said of the traumas lurking at the fringes of the new Midnight section thriller. “I grew up loving the illustrations of Brian Froud. He’s the guy that designed ‘The Dark Crystal’ and ‘Labyrinth,’ and he wrote these amazing books about fairies and goblins and pixies, all the folklore of the Celtic part of the U.K.”

“For me as a kid, these things were real, they were just an extension of nature,” Chainey continued.

The Midnight strand at the Sundance Film Festival has come into its own in the last few years, showcasing films that push the increasingly conservative boundaries of genre. One of this year’s offerings — the U.K.-shot Rabbit Trap, written and directed by Bryn Chainey — did that a little too successfully for some. Drawing on ancient folklore, fables and myths, Chainey’s film was branded a ‘folk horror’, a promise the film could not live up to.

Though it is certainly disturbing at times, Rabbit Trap is hard to describe and even harder to put a category to, which is appropriate since the whole film is trying to talk about things that cannot be put into words. It stars Dev Patel as Darcy, who works as a sound engineer for his wife Daphne (Rosy McEwan), who makes experimental music at their home in a remote Welsh cottage. The year...

What's the difference between folk horror and cosmic horror? Those two particular subgenres of horror films are a bit of a conundrum — they have arguably the oldest roots of all forms of horror, but they're relatively new when it comes to their definitions. In layman's terms, cosmic horror tends to refer to the type of fear elicited by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, the idea that there are natural, ancient, and eternal forces on Earth and in the universe that are beyond human comprehension. Folk horror typically involves mythology, folklore, and religions that are specific to a certain region or culture. You can see from those loose definitions how one could easily be confused for the other, as well as how both are complimentary enough to co-exist in the same film. Several recent cosmic horror films (like Ben Wheatley's "In the Earth") have elements of folk horror, and some...

Park City – Oh, this movie is gonna be a thing. The directorial debut of writer Alex Russell, “Lurker” is the sort of film that lingers with you for days. Especially if you’ve spent even a week working tangentially in the entertainment industry. Although that reference suggests this tale has limited appeal which isn’t the case whatsoever.

Read More: “Rabbit Trap” Review: Dev Patel records spirits in a sound design masterwork [Sundance]

A world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, “Lurker” starts off innocently enough.

Continue reading ‘Lurker’ Review: Alex Russell Masterfully Dissects The Fanatic In Pop Star Fandom [Sundance] at The Playlist.

At Sunday night’s premiere of “Together,” a body-horror film starring real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, the Eccles Theatre erupted with shrieks, nervous laughter and cries of “Oh, shit!” Sundance audiences couldn’t get enough of the gory madness unfolding on-screen, and word quickly spread that “Together,” with its twisty look at relationships and gross-out set-pieces, had all the elements of an indie breakout. Studios and streamers, including A24 and Neon, started circling the film, trying to one-up each other in a feverish effort to land the buzzy project. The festival was already well underway, but it finally seemed like old times.

Before Covid upended things, leaving the indie film business that Sundance showcases struggling to regain its footing, the festival routinely hosted fierce bidding wars of the kind “Together” inspired. But with ticket sales in a rut, entertainment companies have been hesitant to hand out big...

Horror films aren’t exactly known for their subtlety, but The Thing With Feathers has no subtlety in sight. On paper, The Thing With Feathers does seem like the type of film that could be an ambitious swing and a miss, but thanks to confident direction by Dylan Southern and a phenomenal leading turn by Benedict Cumberbatch, it’s easy to overlook some of the film’s narrative simplicities.

The Thing With Feathers Review

Based on the novel by Max Porter, The Thing With Feathers follows a grieving widower who is struggling to raise his two sons as a single father when his grief begins to manifest itself in physical ways. Tonally, the film offers a combination of family drama and psychological horror, and it manages to strike this balance in a way that is compelling and challenging.

Related Rabbit Trap Sundance Review — Even Dev Patel Can’t Save This...

When it comes to festival midnight films, sometimes it’s best to go in blind and with a lack of anticipation. Rabbit Trap, the directorial debut of Bryn Chieny, stars Dev Patel (Monkey Man) and is produced by Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), which was enough of a hook for this writer. Unfortunately, even with minimal expectations, Rabbit Trap was massively disappointing.

Rabbit Trap Review

Rabbit Trap follows a married musician couple who move to a remote cabin in Wales, where they record a mysterious (and perhaps mystical) sound and meet a strange child who may be harboring a dark secret. Considering that spooky sounds and mysticism are two of the most eerie things there are, this film should work, but it just completely falls apart.

Related By Design Sundance Review — A Bizarre and Utterly Unique Feminist Genre Picture

The concept behind Rabbit Trap is pretty fascinating. It’s...

The feeling of watching the film Rabbit Trap is one that is comparable perhaps only to the first time you hear your favorite song through a pair of actually good headphones. What was once a familiar old friend, is now something new, something different. Where once only silence was heard, now new frequencies and new sonic pathways open up from places that always dwelled under the surface, yet until now had never been accessible to you. Yes, this film is quite a bit like that.

Rabbit Trap is the story of Daphne (Rosy McEwan), an analog synth obsessed avant-garde musician, and her husband, Darcy (Dev Patel), a introverted sound designer who spends his days lugging his audio equipment into the forest to record the sounds of nature at work. Seeking to immerse themselves in both their art and their relationship, the couple decides to sequester themselves in a scaredy populated forest home in Wales.

Align, the Los Angeles-based financier and production company launched by Adrian Politowski and Nadia Khamlichi in 2019, has closed its second fund, Take Two, to pump $120m worth of financing into international feature film and TV drama over the next four years.

The company, which provides bridge loans, and cash flows presales and tax credits as well as offering gap financing, is involved in three features premiering in Sundance this week: Sophie Hyde’s Jimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow; Bryn Chainey’s Rabbit Trap starring Dev Patel; and Dylan Southern’s The Thing With Feathers starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which...

A brand new British folk horror creation has revealed itself at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Rabbit Trap is the feature directorial debut of up-and-coming British-Australian filmmaker Bryn Chainey, who both wrote and directed this film. Yet another extremely personal project based on his own worst fears and experiences, like many filmmakers trying to work through them by making a film about them. Rabbit Trap is set in 1976 and follows a young married couple who live out in the wilderness in rural England in a little cabin. While living out there alone, trying to make unique music and record natural sounds, they end up encountering some strange supernatural forces. This sends them into a tizzy as they attempt to make sense of what is going on – and it gets especially weird when a mysterious kid randomly shows up and works his/her way into their life. There are some intriguing ideas...

The Sundance Film Festival has begun and journalists, actors, directors, writers, agents, producers and film buffs have taken over the once-sleepy town of Park City, Utah for Hollywood’s premiere indie showcase. Together, they hop from screening to screening in hopes of witnessing the next big breakout hit. Some of this year’s most anticipated films include “Bunnylovr” from first-time director Katarina Zhu, “The Thing with Feathers” starring Benedict Cumberbatch and the Dev Patel thriller “Rabbit Trap.”

Between all the glitzy premieres, the Variety Studio presented by Audible remains a destination for actors and filmmakers alike. Stars such as Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, John Lithgow and Carey Mulligan all stopped by to discuss their new projects and snap a picture in the portrait studio. Check out the photos from this year’s Sundance Studio and see which stars stopped by.

Plot: A married couple (Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen) living in an isolated home in the Welsh countryside encounter a mysterious child (Jade Croot), whose sudden, intense devotion to them suggests something sinister is afoot.

Review: Rabbit Trap is another entry into Sundance’s much-celebrated midnight section, a programme which has given us such horror gems as The Babadook, Hereditary, Talk To Me, and last year’s I Saw the TV Glow. Rabbit Trap, which comes from Elijah Wood’s Spectrevision label, is impeccably crafted and acted, but despite its programmed section, it doesn’t seem particularly interested in being a horror film. Instead, it’s more cerebral fare deeply rooted in Welsh folklore.

In it, Rosy McEwen plays Daphne, an experimental musician who composes atonal music using sounds recorded in nature by her audiophile husband, Darcy (Dev Patel). Set in 1976, they poor over their vintage audio equipment to put...

“With your eyes, you enter the world. With your ears, the world enters you,” an ethereal voice begins, followed by a sonic sensory assault that trips the power in an isolated Welsh countryside cottage. The aural and visual interpretation of sound in the introduction of writer/director Bryn Chainey’s feature debut, Rabbit Trap, signals an innovative new take on Celtic folk horror ahead. Instead, sound becomes less and less of a focal point as Chainey leans into cryptic Fae folklore and oblique storytelling.

The couple responsible for the opening’s cottage-shaking sensory assault is married couple Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne (Rose McEwen). The pair recently purchased the home to further their creative pursuits. Darcy is a sound recordist who spends his days roaming the countryside collecting nature audio with his boom mic. Daphne then uses his recordings to create her niche style of music. But in opening themselves...

Bryn Chainey’s Rabbit Trap explores 1976, a time of social transformation, where Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne (Rosy McEwen) seek refuge in a secluded Welsh farmhouse, becoming entangled with local myths and their internal conflicts. The Welsh landscape—misted moors and silent woodlands—emerges as a living entity, pregnant with untold stories and oppressive quiet.

This narrative transcends a simple rural retreat, creating a charged environment where human experiences intersect with elemental energies. The year’s economic tension and cultural shifts echo the characters’ struggle to connect with primal experiences.

Darcy’s sound recordings and Daphne’s experimental music reveal their attempts to understand surrounding wilderness, yet ultimately highlight their growing disconnection. The deteriorating farmhouse speaks to their fractured relationship, serving as a physical manifestation of emotional disintegration.

Sound and Music: The Heart of the Film

Bryn Chainey’s film Rabbit Trap weaves sound into the narrative fabric, transforming it...

Park City – Often, but not always, you need to tip your cap to a filmmaker willing to push boundaries with their debut feature film. Frankly, as a director, you never know if you’re gonna get that chance (or budget) again. Taking risks is a roll of the dice. You don’t always win. Such is the case with writer and director Bryn Chainey, who, after almost 20 years of making short films, collaborates with sound designer Graham Reznick and composer Lucrecia Dalt for “Rabbit Trap,” a fantastical thriller that is, first and foremost, a cinematic audio masterwork.

Continue reading ‘Rabbit Trap’ Review: Dev Patel Records Spirits In A Sound Design Masterwork [Sundance] at The Playlist.