Rabbit Trap is a strange film, one filled with plenty of potential, but it ends up squandering that a bit. Just like the potential of the film, the characters in the film have plenty of potential of their own. It follows the married couple Daphne and Darcy Davenport. They’re musicians who have just moved from the hustle and bustle of London to a cottage in Wales to escape and try to complete their new album. Darcy stumbles upon a sound that has magical qualities and brings on a child that gives the couple far more than they bargained for. It stars Dev Patel as Darcy, Rosy McEwen as Daphne, and Jade Croot as The Child. It comes from writer/director Bryn Chainey and is very ambitious but brings with it some issues.

The movie feels like it wants to lean into the horror aspect of the story, and when it gets there it pulls back. There’s something horrifying here, but it never goes full bore into it. There’s an underlying story of an artist accomplishing their art through insurmountable circumstances and other dealings with childhood trauma mixed in, particularly with Darcy. Without further ado, let’s get into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Rabbit Trap.

The Good Of Rabbit Trap

I’ll start off with what I liked about the film. It’s beautifully shot. The vistas, the forests, the caves, the landscapes, everything, is stunning to look at. The sound design and soundtrack (minus Daphne’s music) is also magnificent. Darcy loves recording the sounds of nature around him and we get that pumped into our theater. The sound in the film is as much of a character as everyone else. It’s not often that’s pulled off really well, but in Rabbit Trap, it is. Dev Patel is also great as Darcy, he’s obviously torn between what his life is with Daphne. And when you add The Child into the equation, his push/pull dynamic gets stretched even further.

When the movie is verging into horror or at least feeling like it’s going to be frightening, there’s a lot to like. That beauty stretches into horror and back into something touching at the end of the film. The effects at the end look great and the ending will definitely make you think.

There was a portion of Rabbit Trap somewhere before the halfway point where you can see that things might not be as they seem, and I felt like I was going to really enjoy it, but from there, it kind of sputters out.

The Bad And Ugly Of Rabbit Trap

All of that beauty and promise gets lost with the script. The film meanders as it gets in the middle, losing itself under the weight of all its folklore. It even introduces new elements at the end that end up confusing more than anything else. There’s ambiguity and then there’s the feeling that Rabbit Trap gives you. There’s a barrier to understanding everything that goes past the point of “leaving it up to the audience”. Maybe it’s me not knowing all the Welsh folklore out there, but it felt like a lot to try to understand as an audience member.

Overall, Rabbit Trap felt like a frustrating experience because there was something here, but instead it ended up as a confusing bit of intrigue. As it goes on, the film only gets more confusing and obscures what audiences are meant to take away from it. Is it about the childhood trauma? Is it about the codependency of Daphne and Darcy? It gets lost in the details that could have made for a more enjoyable experience.

It’s a stunning movie visually and Chainey shows off that he’s got the chops, but the script here ends up as ineffective and breaks under its own weight.

Rabbit Trap releases in theaters on September 12th, 2025.

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