Movies
Bryan Fuller Explains Why Gateway Horror Movie ‘Dust Bunny’ is Rated “R”
“Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller’s utterly charming feature directorial debut, Dust Bunny, earned an “R” rating from the MPAA last month, a surprising move considering its youthful lead and wholesome gateway horror leanings.
The sweet, whimsical tale of a girl who hires a hitman to solve her pesky monster-under-the-bed problem is fairly bloodless, though it’s not without violence.
Yet, Fuller’s debut was rated “R“ for “some violence“ ahead of its release on December 12.
The filmmaker, whose debut film was just nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, explained why Dust Bunny’s style of violence provoked the MPAA when speaking with The Horror Queers podcast ahead of the film’s release.
“This is an R-rated film. We were stunned, too. The MPAA is notorious about being really hard on independent movies and a little more lax on studio films,“ Fuller says.” There are lawsuits against the MPAA from independent studios over how much stricter they are with independents than they are over studio fare. I mean, M3GAN murdered children and ripped their ears off and slaughtered somebody with a paper cutter, and that was PG-13.”
Sophie Sloan as Aurora in Roadside Attractions’ Dust Bunny
It wasn’t something as severe as an ear-ripping that landed the “R“ rating, but another non-lethal bodily injury.
“[Dust Bunny has] no nudity. There’s no foul language. You know, it’s a conversation with the MPAA. We got an R rating. They said what put us over the edge was the non-lethal toothbrush injury.”
“I thought we were making a movie for the whole family, and I definitely wanted it to be a gateway experience where 10-year-olds would see this movie and say, ‘Yes, give me more.‘ That was certainly my experience seeing The Wizard of Oz and having my appetite whetted. And then, seeing Alien when I was 9 years old and seeing Black Christmas when I was seven, and those types of things that I loved. I wasn’t traumatized by them. I was just excited to see people survive their stories.”
“So there’s something about the strangeness of the MPAA with independent movies, and I thought this was a family film, and so many people who have seen it feel like it’s a family film. I hope it’s a lot of kids’ first R-rated movie that they get to see and experience. I would tell adults, ‘ Look, if you’re on the fence, see it first, and you’ll see that it’s a really fun, rompy movie about a child, who is wonderful in the film and a great heroine and protagonist, that can be aspirational for other children her age in the story.‘”
I can attest that it does deliver on a wonderful, heartwarming gateway horror experience. I wrote in my review out of TIFF, “Dust Bunny, guided by Fuller’s strong and distinct vision, easily stacks up against many of the formative gateway horror films of yesteryear. So much so that it feels all but destined for cult classic status.”
You can hear the full chat with Fuller on the upcoming Dust Bunny episode of The Horror Queers’ podcast, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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