Dev Patel Faces a Fae Menace in First Trailer for Welsh Folk Horror Rabbit Trap

By Jim Vorel  |  August 14, 2025 | 12:00pm
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Dev Patel Faces a Fae Menace in First Trailer for Welsh Folk Horror Rabbit Trap
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There’s a thrill in discovery as an artist, in knowing that you’re hearing something for the first time–sounds that no one else has ever encountered. But in discovery, there is of course also danger, as Dev Patel looks poised to discover for himself in the just-released first trailer for U.K. horror psychological/folk horror film Rabbit Trap. The film premiered to mixed reviews back at Sundance in January, and will make wider release landfall in the U.S. on Sept. 12, 2025. It thrusts its married duo of protagonists into an auditory-themed descent into faerie chaos, as the official synopsis implies:

Seeking new inspiration and a fresh start, married musicians Daphne (Rosy McEwan) and Darcy (Dev Patel) move to the Welsh countryside to finish their new record. While collecting audio samples, Darcy inadvertently creates a field recording of mysterious sound never before heard by human ears. The discovery renews Daphne’s creative energy, but as the echoes of her music bleed into the surrounding landscape, ancient and malevolent woodland forces are disturbed. One day, a stranger arrives on their doorstep. The couple initially embraces the stranger, who helps them navigate and understand their new environment, but Darcy grows suspicious of his obsession. As jealousy and paranoia infect the makeshift family, the line between reality and myth begins to blur.

Taking a look at the trailer below, Rabbit Trap feels like it evokes a few comparisons. The focus on sensation–sight and especially sound–reminds one of the aesthete-driven horror sensibilities of director Peter Strickland, especially Berberian Sound Studio in 2013. The Welsh setting, meanwhile, and folk horror leanings with references to ancient fae powers being awoken, calls to mind this spring’s unnerving Irish horror Fréwaka. And of course the presence of Patel in such visually stylized fare set in the countryside may recall some stretches of The Green Knight.

Regardless, Rabbit Trap looks like a style-forward piece of horror expression for first-time director Bryn Chainey. We’ll listen in with curiosity as it arrives on Sept. 12, 2025. Meanwhile, you can check out the trailer below.

 
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