🐇Rabbit Trap (2025) – Dev Patel’s Haunting Descent into Welsh Folklore | Cast, Plot, Release Date, Review & Where to Watch

Release Date: Rabbit Trap arrives in U.S. theaters on September 12, 2025, following its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2025.

The eerie psychological horror marks the feature debut of Bryn Chainey, weaving together fractured love, folk horror, and the terrifying beauty of Welsh mythology. With Dev Patel and Rosy McEwen leading the cast, this is not just a ghost story — it’s a descent into sound, paranoia, and the dark forces that lurk in the woods.

🎬 The Story – When Music Awakens the Ancient

Set in 1973, married musicians Darcy (Dev Patel) and Daphne (Rosy McEwen) escape to the Welsh countryside, seeking inspiration for their new record. While capturing audio samples, Darcy accidentally records a sound that has never been heard by human ears.

The discovery revitalizes Daphne’s creativity but stirs something older, stranger, and infinitely more dangerous.

As their music seeps into the forest, a child appears on their doorstep — innocent at first glance, but carrying with them a darkness tied to the Tylwyth Teg, the mystical fairy folk of Welsh legend. Soon, paranoia, jealousy, and obsession infect the couple’s fragile sanctuary.

As Daphne whispers at one point: “It’s not the song that’s haunting us. It’s what’s listening back.”

👥 Cast & Crew

• Dev Patel as Darcy Davenport

• Rosy McEwen as Daphne Davenport

• Jade Croot as the Child

Directed & Written by: Bryn ChaineyProducers: Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, Lawrence Inglee, Elisa Lleras, Alex Ashworth, Sean MarleyMusic: Lucrecia DaltCinematography: Andreas JohannessenEdited by: Brett W. BachmanProduction: Bankside Films, SpectreVision, Mad as Birds, AlignDistributed by: Magnolia Pictures

🎥 Review – A Folk Horror That Burrows Under the Skin

Early festival reviews paint Rabbit Trap as a slow-burn psychological horror in the vein of The Witch and Saint Maud, but with its own sonic identity.

• Atmosphere: Chainey’s direction builds an oppressive sense of dread, with the Welsh landscapes rendered as both breathtaking and suffocating.

• Sound Design: Central to the film, the soundscape becomes a character in itself, blurring the boundary between music and malevolence.

• Performances: Dev Patel brings a raw, unraveling intensity to Darcy, while Rosy McEwen balances fragility and artistic fire as Daphne. Critics highlight their chemistry as both magnetic and increasingly fractured.

• Themes: The film explores obsession, creative decay, and folklore’s grip on human imagination.

it as “a haunting fairy tale disguised as marital drama,” while festival-goers at Sundance praised its “mythic horror steeped in sound.”

📅 Release & Runtime

• Sundance Premiere: January 24, 2025

• U.S. Theatrical Release: September 12, 2025

• Runtime: 97 minutes

• Language: English

Box office so far: $31,359 from limited early screenings, but wider release numbers are expected to climb after September.

🌑 Final Thoughts

Rabbit Trap isn’t about jump scares — it’s about what happens when art opens doors best left closed. Bryn Chainey crafts a tale where folklore bleeds into reality, where sound summons the uncanny, and where love itself becomes a battleground.

As one ominous line from the film reminds us: “The forest doesn’t forget the songs we sing to it.”

If you crave a horror film that is as mythic as it is modern, Rabbit Trap may just be the cinematic descent you’ve been waiting for.