A child, a hitman, and a monster under the bed: Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny is a subtle horror fairy tale.
Bryan Fuller has shaped storytelling on television like few others. With series such as Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, and Dead Like Me, he created worlds where beauty and horror are inseparably intertwined.
Now Fuller takes the leap to the big screen while staying true to his style. Dust Bunny is not a typical horror film, but a dark fairytale that draws its tension from quiet moments, skewed perspectives, and a childlike logic.
When Imagination Becomes Reality
At the center of the story is eight-year-old Aurora (Sophie Sloan), who is convinced that a monster lives under her bed. To her, this creature is so real that she believes her foster parents have already fallen victim to it. Aurora seeks help from her neighbor, a taciturn hitman played by Mads Mikkelsen, who supposedly kills “real” monsters. At first, he considers Aurora’s story a projection or a tragic misunderstanding. But the deeper he delves into her world, the clearer it becomes: some fears cannot simply be explained away.
Fuller stages this encounter between child and killer with the stylized touch his fans have admired for years. The everyday continually slips into the surreal: narrow New York backstreets glow in vivid colors, wallpaper seems to swallow figures, and food becomes a silent provocation. A cute, rabbit-shaped dumpling begins to move when bitten, and an innocent-looking sandwich, from the wrong angle, resembles layered strips of flesh. These are brief, almost casual images and that is precisely what makes them so striking.
Fairytale Characters, Real Threats
The characters also follow a fairytale logic. Many have no real names, instead going by labels like “Conspicuously Inconspicuous Man” or “Intimidating Woman.” From Aurora’s perspective, the adult world appears distorted and threatening, like a series of shadows whose true form is never fully revealed. Yet the nameless monster under her bed feels more dangerous than anything else.
The dynamic between Aurora and Mikkelsen’s hitman is particularly strong. While the actor is often cast as a cold-blooded antagonist, here he reveals a surprisingly vulnerable side. His character is weary, isolated, and inwardly broken. Aurora becomes his moral mirror sometimes it even seems as if she is the adult in this unusual relationship. This balance of warmth and unease gives Dust Bunny its emotional depth.
Horror That Gets Under Your Skin
Despite its R-rating, the film largely avoids explicit violence. Instead, it evokes classic Grimm fairytales: dark, poetic, and subtly unsettling. Dust Bunny speaks to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider and to those who understand that some monsters only have power if we give it to them.
In the U.S., Dust Bunny has already been playing since December 2025 in a deliberately limited release. Is this a film for you? Will you be seeing it or have you already seen it? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.