Dev Patel is a British actor who got his breakthrough through Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Dev Patel in Rabbit Trap back again with his latest horror fable after making his directorial debut, Monkey Man (2024), which received an 89 percent critics’ score.
While K-Pop Demon Hunters is based on a Korean concept that music can be used to fight the demons, Dev Patel in Rabbit Trap tells something opposite. Here’s how.
Plot details of Rabbit Trap (2025)
The first trailer of Rabbit Trap dropped a few days ago, and we can see the story focusing on a married couple, Darcy (played by Dev Patel) and his wife, Daphne (Rosy McEwen).
They move to a remote wilderness in Wales to pursue their goals in quiet surroundings for their music career. They are also trying for a baby, but after their several failed attempts, they aim to look for peace in a quiet place.
The film is set in 1976, and Darcy is a sound engineer, and Daphne is an experimental musician. Darcy accidentally captures weird sounds that are not meant to be listened to.
Afterwards, they find a teenage child (Jade Croot) leading them to their home, entering into an ominous realm of terrifying happenings that begin to blur the line between reality and myth.
Watch the trailer here:
Director’s vision for the film
The debut director, Bryn Chainey, capitalized on folklore horror, which has become popular in the horror genre lately. Movies like The Wicker Man (1973) and Midsommar (2019) are perfect examples.
While talking to Variety, Chainey told that he was mesmerized by Welsh folklore with the fairies and goblins. He said,
“Rabbit Trap really grew out of the process of me trying to try to figure out what it is that I’m afraid of, what it is that I need to heal.” [Source]
He explained that Rabbit Trap initially started out as a short film named “Moritz and the Woodewose” in 2012. He was interested in dark fairy tales and Celtic mythology.
Years later, he re-watched the short film and realized that he was mad and developed it into a “cry for help or a confession.” It was based on his feelings towards the world, and he wanted to dig deeper into the very notion.
That is how Rabbit Trap came into existence, which is a mix of his own childhood memories of his dad and the books he read to him. The books were about fairies, goblins, and trolls. The psychological truth of these stories, fused with Welsh superstition and folk tales, took shape in the story’s idea for Rabbit Trap.
What makes Dev Patel in Rabbit Trap so unsettling?
Dev Patel has never appeared in a horror movie before, and I think this is the most unsettling thing about Rabbit Trap. While this is expected to be his brooding and internalized performance, where silence will be used as power to express emotions.
His previous films showed more emotionally expressive roles. His voice and dialogues were more evident, while Rabbit Trap will be asking more of slow-burning dread, mature and better-evolved acting, just with facial expressions.
For example, Slumdog Millionaire showed his high-intensity acting with great energy and emotional openness. On the contrary, acting in horror movies involves giving reactions to imagined threats and empty screens, mostly green screens.
Patel’s acting in Rabbit Trap will also involve his horrified reactions to off-camera noises, although the film is all about acoustic fears and their subtle cues. It will certainly require Patel’s conveyance of terror or paranoia without visual references, embedded in strong imagination and internal emotional control.
This will be something new for Patel, as horror demands sustained and heightened emotional states of fear, which could be both physically and mentally draining. Unlike other emotional movies that he has been in, horror asks the actors to stay on the edge.
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When is Rabbit Trap (2025) releasing?
Rabbit Trap (2025) initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired for distribution by Magnolia Pictures. Now, it is releasing in theaters on September 12, 2025.
Genre: Folk horror, suspense, mystery, thriller
Cast: Dev Patel, Rosy McEwen, Jade Croot
Director: Bryn Chainey
Writer: Bryn Chainey
Producers: Lawrence Inglee, Daniel Noah, Elijah Wood, Elisa Lleras, Alex Ashworth, Sean Marley, Adrian Politowski, Martin Metz
Release date: September 12, 2025
Movie runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
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Passionate Entertainment Writer | Trusted Pop Culture Voice
Madiha Ali is an experienced entertainment writer with over five years of expertise in covering movies, TV shows, celebrity news, and pop culture. Her bylines appear on trusted platforms like Screen Anarchy, High on Films, Ary News, The Express Tribune, Tea and Banter, Show Snob, CelebFeedz, Snapfeedz, Daily Planet Media, The Irish Insider, and Movie Insiderz.
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When she’s not writing, she’s fully immersed in the world of entertainment—watching new releases, revisiting classics, exploring behind-the-scenes content, or reading books that fuel her creativity. Her passion for storytelling drives her work and helps her stay connected to what matters most in the industry.
Madiha believes great stories start conversations, challenge perspectives, and stay with us long after the credits roll. Through her writing, she continues to share those stories with clarity, depth, and heart.
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