Horror Movie Review: Serial Rabbit V: The Epic Hunt (2017)

That’s it. We’ve hit the peak. There is no way that Serial Rabbit V: The Epic Hunt can be topped. It’s the most over the top, fourth wall breaking, campy, violent, and stupid entry in the franchise so far. Somehow topping everything that was done in the four previous films.

I jest of course. I still can’t find Serial Rabbit 2 or 4, but I think that’s the joke. What’s not a joke is what I said before. I really do think this is a good film, and from beginning to end (almost – it’s still too long), I was really entertained. Take a bow, writer and director, Brett William Mauser.

So what do you need to know? Time is up for our serial slasher and all his crimes against criminals are finally catching up to him. Yet, Hell can’t just let him be offed, especially as the haunted bunny suit’s original wearer is waiting in the fiery depths. I think. There’s also stuff about split personalities, characters who have dealt with the rabbit in some form or another, and a ending that takes inspiration from Back to the Future: Part II/III.

It’s as mad as it sounds, and then some, to the point that if you’re coming in fresh to the franchise here, you’re going to be baffled. I was, and I’ve seen all the films up to this point. You really don’t expect a film like this to have so much intricate narrative detail and character stories, but that’s Serial Rabbit V: The Epic Hunt for you. For better, or worse, the writing wants to make the events of the film, and the films that came before, matter.

That means the film, unsurprisingly, gets even more meta and it’s downright hilarious. Nailing the comedy horror tag by combining traditional slasher elements with dumb humour that constantly winks at the camera. One of my favourite moments comes at the end when, to stop the rabbit, two hired killers come up with the idea of spilling blood on the rabbit suit because Brett William Mauser will be too cheap to have it cleaned, ensuring the film ends and the rabbit is defeated.

That is brilliant.

It’s one of many brilliant moments though and once again, just like I said in the previous reviews for this franchise, you’ll get that if you go into it in the right mindset. A mindset that reminds you that this is a franchise not to be taken seriously, and this latest entry proudly wears that badge too. An entry that looks, sounds, and feels better than any other entry up to this point, but an entry that is still, at its core, bad.