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Young Nina (Sanae Loutsis) has just lost her parents in a car accident, so
she's put in care of her aunt Erma (Joy Yaholkovsky), who really is in no
position to take care of a kid, especially one she doesn't even know since
she has fallen out with her sister ages ago. Basically, Erma is
unemployed, loves to party, isn't really adverse to drug use, is behind in
her rent, and is hardly able to take care of herself. And since she's in
constant need of money, she has accepted a job from Ash (Earl Gray), local
bad guy, doing a few drug runs. What she doesn't know is that Ash is also
into human trafficking, and he has set his eyes on Nina, someone he knows
local torture and snuff movie producer the Belgian (Paul Sobrie) might pay
top Dollar for - and even if it sickens him what the Belgian does, Ash
isn't one to shy away from heaps of money ...
Being on her own most of the time because Erma tends to be out or
sleeping it off most of the time, Nina wanders the woods surrounding the
town, living in her fantasy world where she's the daughter of the Rabbit
King - but in the woods she makes many a vile discovery, culminating in
her running into a trio of young wannabe Satanists (Lillybeth
Held, Bailey Smart-Zimmerman, Caleb Ryden) who want to make her the
centerpiece of a blood sacrifice. And this is when the Rabbit King saves
her, killing the Satanists. The Rabbit King is actually an escaped and
highly dangerous lunatic, Milton (Jonathan Holbrook), who has killed his
way through the neighbourhood and actually found the rabbit mask she
dropped earlier rather by chance, to don it to his outfit - but it's
enough to have her believe she's the actual Rabbit King, and her
admiration in turn finds a soft spot with him. Soon she takes him home
with her, and gives him abode in a neighbouring treehouse, and in return
he takes care of her much better than Erma, who's presently on a drug run
through half the country, ever could - even if that means killing the
occasional friend of Nina's. It's really when the greedy landlord (Dave
Shecter), Ash and his goons, and the police come all in quick succession
that things come to a head ...
Now this is quite an unusual movie: In a way it's a slasher blended
with Beauty
and the Beast motives, wrapped in crime drama and peppered
with twisted small town Americana - and the outcome is like nothing you've
ever seen, a sick modern day fairy tale (sick in a good way) that's
certainly not for the squeamish. There are two things that really make
this film though, for one, is that it's very successful in creating its
own "world" with its own rules, and on the other that there is
no clear distinction between good and evil, and while many of the
"good guys" are deeply fallible, the not so good guys are at
least relatable, and Milton, the baddest of them all, is in a way also a
tragic and misunderstood hero. And of course, an atmospheric directorial
effort and a strong cast really help to bring this story to life.
Well worth a watch for sure.
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