Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Dust Bunny,” a macabre midnight movie—but for kids—now playing in theatres, a ten-year-old (Sophie Sloan) hires her hit man neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster she believes ate her foster family.

CAST: Mads Mikkelsen, Sophie Sloan, Sheila Atim, David Dastmalchian, Sigourney Weaver. Directed by Bryan Fuller.

REVIEW: “Dust Bunny” trusts that kids don’t have to be molly coddled, that they can handle some darker themes, particularly when they are presented with a great deal of offbeat humor.

The feature film debut of television showrunner Bryan Fuller, of “Pushing Daisies” and “Hannibal” fame, sees ten-year-old Aurora’s (Sophie Sloan) convinced there is a monster under her bed when it emerges and eats her foster parents.

“I’m wicked. It knows I’m wicked,” she says. “It ate my family because it knows I don’t deserve one.”

Ever resourceful, the youngster turns to the enigmatic man (Mads Mikkelsen) next door she believes is an assassin. Offering to pay him with money she stole from her church donation basket, she asks him to kill the beast.

“What makes you think I kill monsters?” he asks. “You seem like you’ve killed a lot of things,” she replies.

Trouble is, he thinks the monster is the result of Aurora’s overactive imagination. He’s convinced he was the target, and an assassin killed thew little girl’s folks by mistake.

Edgy and dark, “Dust Bunny” is the kind of children’s fairy tale you’d expect from the showrunner of “The Silence of the Lambs” spin-off “Hannibal.”  Dr. Suess this ain’t. Imagine a mix of “Léon: The Professional” and “Goosebumps” and you’ll get the idea.

With a whimsical style reminiscent of “Delicatessen” and “Amélie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet by way of Tim Burton, Bryan Fuller infuses the story with maximalist, eye-catching design—like a taxidermy chicken lamp with a lightbulb protruding out of its rear and Sigourney Weaver’s high-heel pistols—and the fruits of Aurora’s anxieties and imagination. She protects herself from the sting of losing her family through fantasy, creating a world where a monster becomes a proxy for her pain.

That emotional undercurrent, plus the odd couple relationship between Aurora and the hitman, grounds the fantasy in relatable reality. Sloan and Mikkelsen have great chemistry, she’s all exuberance, he’s stoic but as they navigate the story their differences evaporate into understanding.

“Dust Bunny’s” bloodless body count—one that defies the conventions of kid’s entertainment—and mild scares leading up to a wild climatic showdown isn’t recommended for kids under eight, but as gateway horror goes, it’s inventive fun that should spark young imaginations.