Movies
[Review] First Thoughts on ‘Rabbit Horror 3D’ Straight From Japan!
We’ve got a special treat for you guys courtesy of our Japanese correspondent, Michael Lovan, who writes in with the first ever review of Rabbit Horror 3D, the latest genre film from Ju-On director Takashi Shimizu.
You’ll find his review inside, while below you can enjoy a pretty fun new TV Spot that’s been airing on Japanese TV.
Starring Mitsushima Hikari, Kagawa Teruyuki, Omori Nao, and Ogawa Tamaki Rabbit Horror 3D is inspired by “Alice in Wonderland,” as the story mainly focuses on a stuffed rabbit from an alternate world. Just to give an outline of the movie, it tells the story of Mitsushima’s brother, who is sent to an alternate world after receiving the rabbit. To retrieve her brother, Mitsushima’s character will unravel the secret behind the animal.
A six-foot tall rabbit prances forward to destination unknown; a boy closely chases behind, mesmerized at how the raindrops around them have suddenly frozen mid-air. They reach a door with only darkness on the other side. The Disney-esque music fades while the boy hesitates. It’s only after the rabbit pushes him into the darkness that Rabbit Horror 3D‘s trajectory is clear: to remind us of the inescapable dread when good dreams turn into nightmares.
This scene left me breathless. It resonated familiarity in a way that horror films rarely, if ever, do. Watching this scene, I felt a strange sense of elation, reminded of how dreams can turn your biggest fears into your comforted allies. For a moment there, I wanted to be inside the film with the boy. Considering that there isn’t a single moment in director Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On films where I can say the same, I think it’s safe to say that Rabbit Horror is his fascinating, if flawed, attempt to branch out.
The story begins with the compassionate murdering of an ill rabbit by Daigo, the aforementioned boy (Takeru Shibuya). Clearly troubled and disturbed by the bullying of his peers (“Rabbit murderer!” they taunt), he spends all his time with Kiriko (Hikari Mitsushima), his mute librarian half-sister. Kiriko takes on the responsibility to raise her little brother, as their father (Teruyuki Kagawa) isolates himself in his study working on pop-up books. Things in the film are relatively grounded in reality until a stuffed rabbit floats out of a 3D movie and into Daigo’s hands. Then, yeah, things get pretty nuts.
Across the board, the performances are solid, though Kagawa is definitely underused. Mitsushima in particular is effective in a number of scenes involving her attempts to communicate with a notepad. Why she hasn’t learned sign language I’m not sure, but it makes for some great tension when she’s trying to convince her father that she and her brother have seen…
Well, I’ll tell you this much: there’s a nod to Ju-On in this film that may be enough to convince some viewers that this is the same universe. You’ll know when you see it.
Some will definitely find the film slow or confusing. And there are some events in the last third of the film that will test any audience’s suspension of disbelief. The dreams are completely acceptable on their own, but once it’s established that the film is venturing completely out of the ethereal, Kiriko’s ability to get from A to B doesn’t feel as organic as dream sequences.
For a while, it seemed Rabbit Horror was going to be the long lost film of my youth – a truly fantastic Boogeyman movie about something innocent-turned-sinister and vice versa. It doesn’t go this route in any way whatsoever, but I still found the film highly enjoyable. While it lacks in frights, I felt it compensated more than enough with its moody atmosphere and the (maybe they are maybe they aren’t) dream sequences. The cinematography by Chris Doyle (“Duplings” in Three… Extremes) is great and his 3D (totally unnecessary save for the awesome titles and the movie theater scene) was well-lit.
In Japan, the film is being marketed as a riff on Alice in Wonderland. But cast aside the rabbit and a scene that was possibly inspired by “Through the Looking-Glass,” I felt it really has more in common with the earliest books of the “Goosebumps” series – in the best sense. I always had an idea of where the story was going, but going from A to B was unpredictable, and I was never sure if the book was going to end happy or tragically. As for Rabbit Horror‘s ending, I’m not sure if it’s right; the events feel inevitable, an extra twist that caps it all off feels a bit unfair to one of the characters. But is it a “Goosebumps” kind of ending? Hell yeah it is.
The nostalgic nightmarish feelings that Rabbit Horror 3D brought me to while I was watching it are more than enough to recommend it. You know that feeling in a nightmare when you see something terrifying at a distance, and it keeps getting closer, and closer, and closer? Yeah. That happens in this movie. And for the first time since I was a child, I had that nightmare again.
3.5/5 Skulls
The holiday weekend means a light week for new horror releases, but it does bring the return of Dark Castle Entertainment to select theaters. It’s being joined by 6 new horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 29, 2026 – July 3, 2026!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
You wished for it. The highest-grossing horror movie of the year (so far), Curry Barker’s Obsession, arrived on Digital on June 30.
In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”), Inde Navarette (“Superman & Lois”), Cooper Tomlinson (“That’s a Bad Idea,” Milk & Serial), Megan Lawless (The Death That Awaits), and Emmy Award-nominee Andy Richter (“Conan,” Elf) star.
Based on a story by director James Kondelik (Behind The Walls) and a screenplay by Canadian writer Victor Rose, survival thriller Pitfall headed home to Digital on June 30. Family is murder in this Cineverse release.
In Pitfall, a young man becomes separated from his friends in the woods and plunges into a ten-foot pit lined with spikes, impaling his leg and leaving him helpless. As reality sinks in and his situation grows dire, he realizes the fall wasn’t an accident.
The film stars Richard Harmon (Final Destination: Bloodlines), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), and UFC champion Randy Couture (The Expendables) as the ruthless killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Marshall Williams (The Ice Road), Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), and Matt Hamilton (Murder for Sale) also star.
The Amityville IP leans into Jaws with Amityville Shark House, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday too, as it released on Digital June 30.
Will Collazo Jr. (Amityville Thanksgiving) and Shawn C. Phillips (Amityville Karen) co-direct from a script they wrote with Julie Anne Prescott.
In the movie, after discovering an ominous shark idol hidden beneath the decaying floorboards, Richard unknowingly awakens an ancient and savage force. As the entity begins to merge with him, a quiet coastal town descends into blood-soaked chaos.
With each victim claimed, the monstrous predator grows stronger, fueling a cult’s belief that their dark god has been reborn. Now, the race is on to stop the carnage before evil consumes everything in its path.
Phillips and Prescott also star alongside Tasha Tacosa, Maritza Brikisak, Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), Adam Marino, and Carl Solomon.
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD as of June 30 is Jacked, directed by John Fucile from a script he co-wrote with Simon Fraser.
The synopsis: “Set in the summer of 1987, JACKED follows two small-town teenagers whose day at the lake turns into a fight for survival after their car breaks down and they encounter a violent stalker.”
Marla Jean Robison, Tom Koch, Anthony Cipriani, Wynn Reichert, Kam Perez and Bella Marie star.
Get ready to work up a killer sweat and maybe spill some blood with Slashercise, a workout meets slasher hybrid that arrived exclusively on Bloodstream on July 1.
Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), the retro-styled feature follows “a masked killer known only as Meathead as he stalks the fitness clubs of Los Angeles, turning workout sessions into blood-soaked nightmares. As the city’s top trainers are picked off one by one, a group of determined fitness fanatics must fight back before they become the next bodies on the mat.”
Vanessa Decker (Stiletto), John Bloom (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills), Sarah French (Blind), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Sarah Nicklin (V/H/S/Halloween), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Jared Rivet (The Once and Future Smash), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) star.
After a record-breaking box office run, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ feature debut is heading back to theaters with bonus footage. AMC Theatres is unleashing Backrooms: Everything Must Go Editiontoday, July 3.
In the film written by Will Soodik, the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsvestar.
AMC describes this release as a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons. Expect 16 minutes of bonus footage, with the new version clocking in at 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm and Dark Castle Entertainment are back with Lockbox, in select theaters July 3. It adapts Soren Narnia‘s Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop” by Emmy-winning playwright Justin Yoffe.
In Lockbox, “Seeking peace after her mother’s death, Ellen retreats to a rural town and takes in her severely traumatized cousin Winthrop. Their fragile domestic balance shatters when an erratic neighbor warns that Winthrop is dangerous. As strange phenomena escalate, Ellen must put everything on the line to defend Winthrop from a dangerous otherworldly entity determined to track him down.”
Lou Taylor Pucci (Touch Me, Evil Dead), Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, The Fall of the House of Usher) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Backrooms) star.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by Lockbox.
Be careful who you let in. Carla Gugino and Lou Taylor Pucci star in Lockbox, only in select theaters this Friday. Get tickets.
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