Dust Bunny (2025)
Sometimes there really are monsters under your bed.
Saw a trailer and read a pitch, and this seemed like it was going to be a fun movie. Yeah, sure, I could do all manner of movies - heck, I now have three back-logged movies that I own waiting to be watched, and another one that I’m surprised to see I haven’t done a review on (even though I know I’ve already done it for movie night at some point). Still, lets get something that looks like it should have some laughs, maybe some scares, and perhaps even some action! Grab the duster and hide under your blankets, tonight we watch Dust Bunny,.
An odd twist to this one - you’ll spend a good chunk of the movie with the possibility of this all being some kind of whacked out fever dream - so don’t go holding anything against me if in describing the story I seem like I’m off base - we are going with how the movie presents it. A kiddo wakes from a nightmare as a adorable little dust bunny under her bead seems to T-1000 together from various dust and fur floating around the room. She yells at her worried parents responding to her scream to get off the floor, as the monster under the bed will eat them. Of course the parent’s see nothing but dust, so have her go back to bed as they do the same - instead she sleeps out on the balcony and wishes on a star for a solution to her problem. After doing so who should she see but one of her neighbors? She follows him the next night and witnesses him do battle and kill a dragon (that’s actually a bunch of people, but from the rooftop it sure looks like an actual shadow dragon and totally not a bunch of killers in a Chinese dragon costume. That night, the beast returns and successfully eats her parents, leaving her to form a plan, rob a church, and try and hire this mysterious neighbor to kill the monster under her bed.
The actors, including our young one, do great here. I mean, don’t get me twisted when I say it feels a bit like the movie is playing things up in the camp factor - I do legitimately feel like folks are doing exactly what’s wanted out of them by the writing and director here. Still, I can’t help but feel Sigourney’s character chewing at the very walls of the movie in all of her scenes, and the amount of times things can flip between goofy and serious is more than enough to refill your popcorn bucket. Our main man plays things pretty straight and it comes off quite well like a reasonable person, and our lead kid manages to both pull off charming and that level of insistence that we’d like to think only a kid could pull of when it comes to something like proclaiming a monster ate their parents. It’s all a balancing act of weird and straight though, so depending on your tolerance to the more comedic and goofy side of things might influence how well you appreciate what the actors are doing.
Characters are there. I don’t know if I would really say there’s any major progression for them in this, but I supposed you could argue that if nothing else there is a bit of relationship that forms between our two leads in that Leon: The Professional kind of way (although this one is pretty well void of any kind of perceivable romance undertones to it). I don’t really feel like there’s any real person becoming better going on here - although there are some changes in there as far as realizations and stuff, so maybe I’m just not noticing it as much because I’m a bit distracted by the rest of the movie. Our lead is the kind of quiet mysterious hitman character (one that’s not exactly unheard of Mads playing), and our kid is surprisingly full of surface-level backstory the movie gives us over time that could lead to the thinking folks having a great time with expositing all the stuff the movie is trying to say (whether it is or not is really up to the movie crew). The side characters also get to have a little bit of fun on screen, but I wouldn’t say they are particularly in depth or important really, outside perhaps the monster that keeps eating everyone.
Alley showdown
What I think I love most about this movie is just how colorful it manages to be. It really rails home that sense of a kid’s state of mind, making scary things exceptionally dark and twisted but the happier stuff vividly colored and bright. It makes for a pleasant watch, constantly giving your eyes something to enjoy or be impressed with. With that being said however, I will say that it does feel like there was a lot of fish eye going on with the lens in plenty of moments. If you are used to looking at footage from something like a GoPro, you’ll probably see what I mean immediately when the effect feels more prevalent. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I assume it’s largely intended to give it an extra layer of “is this all in the kids head or not” that we kind of play with for a good chunk of the beginning of the movie - but it’s there either way.
Effects work is also quite well done. It does feel like there’s a good bit of green screen stuff going on at times - and I’m not sure just what to pin it down with that makes it feel that way. Maybe it’s because of that fish eye effect, or just the way things look composited in the scene, or the heavy layer of smoke or flashy colors going on. It’s not something that bothers me too much, I’ll notice this kind of stuff all the time but it never really takes me out of the movie in regards to enjoyment - the fact I’m always aware of the fact I’m watching a movie does that by itself. There’s pretty much nothing as far as far as gore in the movie - which might surprise you considering the rating is R. I guess it must come largely from people shooting at each other and a giant monster rabbit bloodlessly eating people. I mean, the body count is probably above 20 and there is reference to cutting a person up - but I honestly don’t even really recall blood outside of perhaps a few gunshots on a guy - but even then I don’t really remember the blood, i just remember him getting shot so it could have been a Power Rangers situation for all I can remember.
Audio is good. I mean, the ABBA comes out of nowhere, but beyond that most the music is nice little background filler or emotional enhancer stuff you would normally find in a movie. Line deliveries are well done, even if I feel like things can get a bit cheesy or wild at times. Jokes are going to be hit or miss as always, but I feel like a bunch of the situational stuff towards the end will probably land with most folks. Sure, I feel the girl’s wanting to help out with the body in the one scene comedic and adorable - but I could see where some might be looking at me strangely for admitting such. For the thinking folks, there’s a lot in there. I’ll hit you with a quick surface level sweep - like some comments about what a real monster is, the whole “kid’s mind” and reality, and some family relations - but that’s me just getting largely distracted by the wild stuff going on in the movie coupled with my normal MO of not really caring to think too hard on the deeper stuff.
Oh sure, they are always adorable before you feed them before midnight or something.
I thought this movie was a hoot. I spent a good chunk of the movie wondering whether or not the movie was going to play it’s monster straight or pull a rug and make it all a “in the kids head” situation. The effects work - although not always super convincing as being something that’s not an effect - is well done, and there’s plenty of variety in moments for color and mood. It’s shot well, although at times there’s an odd call or feel to things that isn’t super noticeable or movie-breaking, but there none the less. It’s a pretty enjoyable movie, and I had a few chuckles and overall a good time.