Dust Bunny

Movie Name: Dust Bunny
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Bryan Fuller 
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Sophie Sloan, Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian, Sheila Atim, Rebecca Henderson, Line Kruse, Caspar Phillipson, Armond Willis, Rea Milla, Tibor Szauervein, Sute Zhao, Tao Jia, Hisham Omer
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
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Synopsis and Review

"Dust Bunny" is the feature directorial debut for celebrated writer/producer Bryan Fuller, who has created iconic tv shows in the past including "Wonderfalls", "Dead Like Me", "Pushing Daisies", and more recently "Hannibal". The film had its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2025 where it was greeted with solid reviews. The narrative follows the story of Aurora, an 8 year old girl who lives with her foster parents in NY. One night she follows her neighbor from unit 5B to Chinatown, where she witnesses him killing what appears to be an immense dragon (but in reality he kills an entire gang who is hidden under the guise of a dragon dance puppet). Aurora is terrified of the place where she lives, since as she explains to her foster parents, there is an enormous monster underneath her bed (and floor). They don't believe her until one night she hears immense rubble in the place, and the following day her parents are gone and their bedroom is torn to pieces. She decides to hire her neighbor to help her get rid of the monster, and with that in mind she steals the donation tray of the nearest church. When she recounts her story and her purpose to her neighbor, he believes that her parents were mistakenly killed by people trying to kill him. He informs his handler Laverne of the matter. Laverne advises him to get rid of Aurora. That evening two assassins arrive at Aurora's apartment, and while the neighbor tackles one of them, the other mysteriously disappears.

The stylistic world of Bryan Fuller is an immensely enjoyable one. One aspect that has been very evident across all the creative endeavors he has originated, is how thoroughly detailed, and stylistically dazzling they all are. "Dust Bunny" is an interesting film that at first glance may be a marriage of Luc Besson's "The Professional/Leon", with Juan Antonio Bayona's "A Monster Calls", but it eventually goes in the direction and tone that is very much coherent with everything that Bryan Fuller has created thus far. His heroes (and anti-heroes) are always characters who inhabit fairly conventional realities, ones that can tilt to the horrifying and violent, but they always have the ability to view the world in their own special way. They're not outcasts by any means, they live just enough outside of the conventional, and they have a special ability which enables them to see beyond what is typical and commonplace. They're outsiders who can blend in, but still very much special in their own manner, characters who carve their own path no matter the situation in which they find themselves in. Such is the case with Aurora, her neighbor, and even Laverne. It's a universe that is always colorful, with characters that are at times under-developed, but never conventional nor pretentious. "Dust Bunny" which starts with a dose of surreality and as it progresses thrives on it, is a film that may seem like a child-like narrative of a young girl living with fear, but it evolves into something quite different, a narrative about thriving, making connections, and controlling her own destiny. The cast is superb, with Mads Mikkelsen, Sophie Sloan, and the always great Sigourney Weaver all creating indelible characters. The production team is equally fantastic, particularly Isabella Summers' score, Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's cinematography, Jeremy Reed's production design, and Olivier Beriot and Catherine Leterrier's costumes. It's a film that deserves to find a bigger audience, and one that reveals Bryan Fuller's solid ability to work on a bigger canvas. 

Black Phone 2

Movie Name: Black Phone 2
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Scott Derrickson 
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demian Bechir, Jeremy Davies, Miguel Mora, Arianna Rivas, Maev Beaty, Graham Abbey, James Ransone, Anna Lore, Simon Webster, Shepherd Munroe, Chase B. Robertson, Dexter Bolduc, Jazlyn Wong-lee, Julien Norman, Jacob Moran
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

Following the success of "Black Phone", co-writer/producer/director Scott Derrickson has returned with a sequel which further establishes the mystique of the main villain, while also clarifying some key points of the past of some of the characters (coincidentally 2025 also saw the release of his Apple produced film, "The Gorge", which featured Anya Taylor-Joy, Miles Teller, and Sigourney Weaver). The narrative takes place in 1982, four years after the events of the first film. Finney is now 17 and is in high school, still experiencing issues relating to others, but protecting those who are bullied. His sister Gwen starts having dreams where she witnesses murders that have happened in a lake camp in 1957. Gwen and Finney's mother also had similar dreams, since she too had similar abilities to Gwen. Gwen convinces Finney and Ernesto, the latter the brother of one of the boys who got killed by the Grabber, to travel to that camp to investigate further. They get stuck at the camp due to a harsh snow storm. The camp is run by Armando and his niece Mustang, alongside two employees Kenneth and Barbara. Finney receives a phone call on the camp's dead payphone from the Grabber. He is intent on seeking revenge and starts doing so by attacking Gwen in her dreams. Everyone in the camp realizes they have to find the bodies from the additional victims of the Grabber, in order for him to lose his powers over the dream world. They realize the bodies are beneath the frozen lake. Armando, Hope (Finney and Gwen's mother), and the Grabber, all knew each other at the camp when they were younger. As it turns out, Hope's death wasn't a suicide after all. Finney and Gwen decide to fight back.

The first "Black Phone" was an interesting ghost story that managed to capture the spirit of the 1970s rather colorfully, even if the characters that populated that story had very little substance. This sequel, once again succeeds in establishing the mood and recreating the time period (kudos to the production design team), but as the nods to Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" become more pronounced (the killer that attacks you in your dreams, that can lead to lethal consequences), the characters and what makes them more unique falls to the wayside. The film's creative team is more concerned about tone and setting a mood, more so than bringing these characters to life, beyond the bare minimum of what would be passable for them to register as individuals (they let the costumes do much of that work for them, namely with the character named Mustang). Finney spends most of the film answering supernatural calls, whereas Gwen is perpetually falling asleep and either being targeted by the Grabber or witnessing past killings perpetrated by him. The film is not without its good points: Demian Bechir's Armando brings some humanity and intensity to an underwritten role, Ethan Hawke has fun playing a different version of Freddy Kruger, and placing the action in an isolated campground brings to mind all the horror films of the early 1980s (and this is a worthy homage). The cast is solid, led by Ethan Hawke and Demian Bechir, while Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw don't really do much with their characters. The production team is top notch, including Atticus Derrickson's score, Par M. Ekberg's cinematography, and Patti Podesta's production design. Ultimately it's a watchable film, but also one that is slight and unmemorable.