Bryan Fuller's Monster Debut Dust Bunny Is Ferociously Fun

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For decades Brian Fuller has been crafting quirky, provocative, and sometimes macabre shows for the small screen. He began as a writer on shows within the Star Trek universe, and then became more known for his more bleak and gothic works. From Dead Like Me to Pushing Daisies through to Hannibal, his scripts often blended the horrific with the blackly comic, swirling genre elements to expand the motivations of his characters in often surprising ways.

His future debut, Dust Bunny, feels as if it gathers up all the elements of his previous projects, much like the titular “monster” at the heart of the film we see from the opening shots navigating the floorboards like the tumbleweed that leads off The Big Lebowski. Reuniting with his Hannibal leading man Mads Mikkelsen, Fuller’s film is a strange collision between a family story and an action-packed hitman horror tale, a wild mélange that despite its disparate elements manages to come together in the end.

Aurora (Sophie Sloan) is a young, precious girl, convinced that under her bed lives a monster. Her foster parents, of course, disbelieve her, and lack patience as she warns of creatures living under the floorboard, and refusing to acquiesce to demands by their daughter to avoid standing on the ground at all costs.

After her parents are seemingly eaten by this monster, she decides to employ a neighbor whom she had previous spied upon. Near a dim-sum restaurant, she was witness to a battle between him and a monster, seeing him as a literal slayer of dragons. The film deftly presents her perspective as the flights of imagination of childhood, obfuscating the simple facts of the man attacking a series of men, and instead her viewing from her vantage point as something more mythic in nature.

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Bemused by her request for employment, the hitman decides to help school the young girl, insisting that there are no monsters to worry about save for the types of people he’s tasked with eliminating. In a meeting with the person charged with his missions, a strong-willed woman in a sharp suit (Sigourney Weaver), the hitman is ordered to eliminate the girl, ensuring there are no living witnesses to his clandestine work.

From here the film spirals in wild ways, the monster growing both in stature and importance as more and more elements and characters glom onto it. There are FBI agents and mercenary fighters, gunfights and knife battles, all while Aurora’s greatest fears aren’t the people entering her home, but the beast underneath her bed.

It would be easy to dismiss this all as a trivial flight of fancy, but thanks to Fuller’s careful crafting of the script and committed performances, each moment, no matter how heightened or even preposterous, carries with it a substantial emotional weight. Mikkelsen is always a delight to watch, of course, and Weaver’s reptilian air is delightfully realized here. But it’s Sloan’s withering looks and disdainful retorts that make her the equal of the supremely talented performers she’s interacting with.

The storyline depends on this young girl being believable when fighting against fears, or succumbing to moments when it all becomes too much. There’s a fine line to walk, and thanks to Fuller’s assured direction of his lead, Aurora never overstays her welcome, nor does Sloan ever slide into the often cloying style of performance that marks films of this nature.

When things truly go awry the film opens up with abandon, and it’s a delight to witness. Although the CGI is sometimes far from convincing, there’s a playfulness in its design as well as its execution, complete with teeth-like parquet floorboards that rattle menacingly, and the gnashing of monstrous teeth. Weaver is clearly delighting in the role, presenting her character with Freudian ferocity. Mikkelsen’s quiet assurance underscores his competence, and small moments of kindness are earned rather than dragged out.

The pace of Dust Bunny hops along, and its 106 minute running time never feels bloated. The production design by Jeremy Reed adds another layer of whimsy, with the colorful walls and cluttered rooms, as well as the crowded exterior environments, the perfect kind of chaos for such a tale.

The whole film feels simultaneously grounded and heightened, like a fable with a documentary underpinning. It’s this dance between the child-like imagination and adult circumstances that produces the film’s most powerful element. There is a stylistic and narrative marriage between seemingly disparate poles, meshing the innocence of youth and the complexities of age into a single whole.

Fuller is in fine form with Dust Bunny, and with its goofy tone, and its unabashedly maximalist elements navigating between more subtle character beats, there’s a plenty to admire about this feature film debut from a well-established storyteller.

Director: Bryan Fuller
Writer: Bryan Fuller
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, Sophie Sloan, David Dastmalchian
Release date: Sept. 9 (TIFF), Dec. 12, 2025 (U.S.)

Jason Gorber is a Toronto based film Critic and Journalist, Editor-in-Chief at That Shelf, the movie critic for CBC’s Metro Morning, and others. He is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and voter for the Critics Choice Awards Association. He also knows for a fact that CASINO is Scorsese’s masterpiece, and has a cat named Zissou.

Bryan Fuller’s Monster Debut Dust Bunny Is Ferociously Fun