As horror takes on a new life in Hollywood, the demand for more NC-17 shock-gore has increased (thanks a lot, Terrifier), and the genre of spooky live-action movies for kids (a la Return to Oz, The Watcher in the Woods, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire) has dwindled. The older I get, the more I become nostalgic for being spooked in that plugging-in-a-night-light-and-hiding-under-the-covers kind of way. Lucky for me, Bryan Fuller's Dust Bunny, which marks the cult TV creator's feature film debut, not only satisfies that nostalgia, but manages to feel like a warm hug and a therapy session all at the same time.
It's the perfect premise for a child-friendly horror film: a little girl hires a hitman to kill the monster under her bed. What makes it even more perfect is that the hitman in question is none other than Mads Mikkelsen, aka Hannibal Lecter himself. It works whether or not you're familiar with his work: tall, intimidating man with a serious mug and an even lower voice (all of which made for the perfect traits for his version of the iconic cannibal doctor in Fuller's short-lived but enormously beloved NBC series) sitting across the kitchen table from a doe-eyed, eight-year-old girl. The contrast is what keeps the film moving: tiny, exasperated Aurora, and utterly unconvinced Mads (who has no name in the film other than Resident 5B). Aurora, despite being our hero, is just as mysterious as the neighbor she tries to hire.
