The Bunny Game

Adam Rehmeier's The Bunny Game is one intense and disturbing film.

It features a fearless performance from Rodleen Getsic, who portrays a junkie Los Angeles prostitute who is abducted by a crazed trucker, dragged out to the desert and tortured for three days.

Here's the catch though, everything you see on screen is real. There are no stunts. No fake prosthetics. Rodleen underwent tremendous personal prep to take on this role, transforming her body, fasting for forty+ days prior to shooting. She takes a real brand, and some very real beatings. None of these people are actors.

The Bunny Game is minimalist, but extremely daring, cathartic, and a spiritual cleansing by fire.

At the moment the BBFC hasn't classified/certified the film, but it should go without saying that this will get a Cert 18. Not sure what cuts might be made to the film, if any. It does open on a very graphic and painful scene of fellatio, which makes this a prime target for British censors.

The Bunny Game will get an early 2012 release date

In the meantime, see the trailer from youtube.com

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US horror by Adam Rehmeier. See IMDb .

The film has just been banned by the BBFC for:

• UK 2011 Trinity DVD

The BBFC explained in a press release:

The BBFC has rejected the sexually violent DVD The Bunny Game . The film follows a female prostitute who hitches a lift with a truck driver. The truck driver kidnaps the woman, restrains and forcibly strips her, and proceeds to physically and sexually abuse and humiliate her. The abuse of the kidnapped woman takes up the greater part of the film.

The Board's Guidelines state A strict policy on sexual violence and rape is applied. Content which might eroticise or endorse sexual violence may require cuts at any classification level. This is more likely with video works than film because of the potential for replaying scenes out of context. Any association of sex with non-consensual restraint, pain or humiliation may be cut . The principal focus of The Bunny Game is the unremitting sexual and physical abuse of a helpless woman, as well as the sadistic and sexual pleasure the man derives from this. The emphasis on the woman's nudity tends to eroticise what is shown, while aspects of the work such as the lack of explanation of the events depicted, and the stylistic treatment, may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man's callousness and the pleasure he takes in the woman's pain and humiliation.

David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said:

It is the Board's carefully considered view that to issue a certificate to this work, even if confined to adults, would be inconsistent with the Board's Guidelines, would risk potential harm within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and would accordingly be unacceptable to the public.

The Board considered whether its concerns could be dealt with through cuts. However, the pervasiveness of the abuse makes it very difficult to deal with The Bunny Game by means of cuts. If the company would like to attempt to cut this work in order to submit it in a reduced form, they are entitled to do so, but the Board can offer no assurances that such re-editing would be successful.

The decision to reject The Bunny Game was taken by the Director, David Cooke and the Presidential Team of Sir Quentin Thomas, Alison Hastings and Gerard Lemos.

The decision means that the film cannot be legally supplied anywhere in the UK.

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US horror by Adam Rehmeier. See IMDb .

The film has just been banned by the BBFC for:

• UK 2011 Trinity DVD

The distributors, Trinity X have now issued their comments on the ban in a press release:

Trinity X saddened by BBFC decision to ban The Bunny Game

Trinity X, the recently formed DVD genre distribution arm of UK-based film distributor Trinity, described the BBFC's decision to ban The Bunny Game as disappointing, worrying and sad .

Mark Sandell, co-director of Trinity, who acquired the film during Cannes this year, went on to say:

We knew the film was challenging and confrontational, but also felt, as a independent filmmaker, Adam Rehmeir (the director), had a highly original filmic eye and had elicited powerful performances from the cast. We did imagine that the BBFC might ask for cuts but an outright ban gives the film a twisted notoriety that, quite frankly, it doesn't warrant .

Adam Rehmeier, the director commented : Rodleen and I didn't make 'The Bunny Game' to glamorise prostitution. It is far from an erotic film. It is a modern cautionary tale grounded in reality.

Trinity is currently considering its options

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US kidnap film by Adam Rehmeier. See IMDb .

The BBFC ban on The Bunny Game has ended the chance of a release in the UK, but it looks as if Brits will be able to import the film from a choice of other countries.

German has now picked up the film for distribution via Illusion Unlimited, and the film will be distributed in Scandinavia by Njuta.

There are hopes that a US distributor can be revealed in the next week.

Brutal as hell have interviewed Adam Rehmeier on the progress of his BBFC banned film, The Bunny Game

Brutal as hell: Can you tell me your reaction to the BBFC decision to ban your film outright?

Adam Rehmeier: I think the BBFC decision to ban the film is quite harsh. Of course, they will let remakes of films like I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left pass uncut. Hollywood remakes, nonetheless, that capitalize on the notoriety of rape and revenge of the original films and do absolutely nothing to further the genre.

I guess unremitting rape and callous behavior is okay with the BBFC as long as the victim exacts revenge on the tormentor, which, in reality, is never the case. The Bunny Game is a journey through several days in the life of a prostitute and is grounded in reality. It is grim and, as with most abductions, the ending is far from happy.

The BBFC seems to think that we are eroticising the torture in the film, encouraging the viewer to join in on the abductor's pleasure. Did they even watch the film? Out of all the screenings we have had in the past year, not a single person has ever expressed that same thought.

...Read the full interview

Adam Rehmeier's The Bunny Game , banned in the UK, will hit the US in July from new distributor Autonomy. This will be their first release.

Screen Daily reported that Derek Curl, David Gregory and Lewis Tice's new distributor aims to release uncompromising cinema on a worldwide scale and will handle four films this year, starting with Adam Rehmeier's torture porn. Autonomy president Curl said:

The Bunny Game is the last word on the torture-porn sub-genre. I was shocked by its audacity and the raw honesty that it depicted, making me question our collective enjoyment of extreme violence in cinema. At Autonomy Pictures we are not afraid to release such a film, which will undoubtedly inspire heated reaction, because it will allow audiences to make up their own minds.

Autonomy Pictures has presented the first of four teaser posters for the upcoming US release of Adam Rehmeier's relentless horror film The Bunny Game , along with the trailer and first hi-res imagery.

The film was recently banned in England but will see an Uncut, Uncensored North America limited theatrical (in states that will permit it) and DVD/Blu-ray release in July.

See the trailer from player.vimeo.com

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US crime horror by Adam Rehmeier
With Rodleen Getsic, Norwood Fisher and Gregg Gilmore. See IMDb

US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:

• US 2012 Autonomy R0 Blu-ray via UK Amazon and at US Amazon just released on 31st July 2012
• US 2012 Autonomy R0 DVD at US Amazon just released on 31st July 2012

The region encoding is unconfirmed. Reliable reviewers have listed it as region free but Amazon, who are sloppy about these things, have listed it as A/1.

Banned in the UK

UK: Banned by the BBFC for:

• UK 2011 Trinity DVD

The BBFC explained the ban in a press release:

The BBFC has rejected the sexually violent DVD The Bunny Game . The film follows a female prostitute who hitches a lift with a truck driver. The truck driver kidnaps the woman, restrains and forcibly strips her, and proceeds to physically and sexually abuse and humiliate her. The abuse of the kidnapped woman takes up the greater part of the film.

David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said:

It is the Board's carefully considered view that to issue a certificate to this work, even if confined to adults, would be inconsistent with the Board's Guidelines, would risk potential harm within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and would accordingly be unacceptable to the public.

Promotional Material

Banned in the UK and partially inspired by a real-life experience of star Rodleen Getsic, THE BUNNY GAME is an unflinching descent into torment and madness. Junkie hooker Sylvia Grey (Gestic in a brave, award-winning performance) turns the wrong trick in demented trucker JR (Jeff Renfro). After knocking her out cold and taking her to a desolate place where no one can hear her cries, JR subjects Sylvia to a series of increasingly twisted, sadistic games . But will she survive the ultimate test when she wakes up with her head sealed in a white leather bunny mask? Adam Rehmeier directs with a fearless eye, pushing the boundaries of on-screen mayhem to the extreme. Controversy has surrounded THE BUNNY GAME since it premiered to festival audiences around the world by delivering a terrifying experience that once seen is impossible to forget.

Special features:

• Audio commentary with director Adam Rehmeier and Rodleen Getsic

• Caretaking the Monster making-of featurette

• Trailer and alternate trailer

Actresses are asked to do some arduous things in horror films, like running through the woods topless or shrieking until there's no shriek left.

But Rodleen Getsic, who endured unspeakable acts while shooting the film The Bunny Game , is no mere scream queen. Ms. Getsic, 37, plays a prostitute abducted by a crazed truck driver (Jeff Renfro), who drugs and strips her and chains her inside his rig. For the rest of the film's 76-minute running time he sexually assaults her; slaps and spits on her; shaves her head; and drags her, in a grotesque rabbit-shaped hood that gives the film its title, on a leash through the desert. There are other indignities as well, but in the film's most brutal scene the actress is actually branded on her back. Shooting digitally in black and white in an aggressively shaky style, the camera unflinchingly captures it all, while an assaultive metal soundtrack underscores Ms. Getsic's screams.

...Read the full article

US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:

• US 2012 Autonomy R0 Blu-ray via UK Amazon and at US Amazon
• US 2012 Autonomy R0 DVD at US Amazon