The Bunny Game
A 2011 American exploitation-horror film, the feature debut of writer-director Adam Rehmeier, that swept the 2011 PollyGrind festival awards before the British Board of Film Classification formally refused it a certificate in October 2011 over its unbroken focus on sexual and physical abuse; it
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- Established
- 2011
- Country
- United States
- Type
- Film (horror/exploitation)
- Director
- Adam Rehmeier (feature debut)
- Writers
- Adam Rehmeier and Rodleen Getsic
- Lead cast
- Rodleen Getsic (Sylvia Grey), Jeff Renfro (J.R.)
- Format
- Black-and-white, shot on 16mm; 75-minute runtime
- Festival honours
- Top jury prize at the 2011 PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas, plus awards for sound design, cinematography and editing and best individual performance for Getsic
- UK status
- Refused classification by the BBFC in October 2011; not legally suppliable in the UK
- US distributor
- Autonomy Pictures (rights acquired at SXSW, March 2012; home-video release July 2012)
- Reissue
- Jinga Films' Danse Macabre label, US Blu-ray and DVD, summer 2025
Overview
The Bunny Game is a 2011 American exploitation-horror film, the feature debut of writer-director Adam Rehmeier, co-written with lead actress Rodleen Getsic. Shot in black and white on 16mm with a 75-minute runtime, it depicts the abduction and sustained abuse of a drug-addicted sex worker, Sylvia Grey (Getsic), by a trucker, J.R. (Jeff Renfro). Before directing, Rehmeier had worked as a camera operator and cinematographer (MovieWeb); on the film itself he also handled cinematography and editing, both of which won awards at its festival premiere (Dread Central).
Festival run
Sales agent Julian Richards of Jinga Films discovered the film at the Downtown Heavy Metal Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, where its trailer reportedly provoked audience walk-outs at festival screenings (Love Horror; Bloody Flicks). It then had its Las Vegas premiere at the second annual PollyGrind Film Festival, which ran October 7-16, 2011, and swept the festival’s jury awards: the top prize, “The Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind,” plus best sound design, best cinematography, best editing, and best overall individual performance for Getsic’s portrayal of Bunny (JoBlo; Dread Central). Festival director Chad Clinton Freeman called it “the epitome of what PollyGrind is about,” praising it as “shot with a one-man crew” and “both brutal and thought provoking with one of the best on-screen performances ever by an actress” (Dread Central).
The BBFC refusal
In October 2011 the British Board of Film Classification formally refused to classify the film for UK video release — an outright ban rather than a cuts requirement. The board’s published reasoning held that “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,” that the emphasis on the victim’s nudity “tends to eroticise what is shown,” and that the film “may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man’s callousness.” The BBFC considered cuts but concluded the pervasiveness of the abuse made them impractical, offering “no assurances” that a re-edited resubmission would succeed; the decision, taken jointly by director David Cooke and the Presidential Team of Sir Quentin Thomas, Alison Hastings and Gerard Lemos, meant the film could not be legally supplied anywhere in the UK (JoBlo). The refusal came just days after The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) — rejected by the BBFC that June — was passed with an 18 certificate following distributor Eureka Entertainment/Bounty Films’ campaign, a contrast noted by contemporaneous reporting (Ain’t It Cool News).
The ban stranded a UK release already in motion: Trinity Films had picked up the film for its Trinity X DVD genre label back in January 2011, eyeing a 2012 release (JoBlo). Trinity co-director Mark Sandell said the company had expected the BBFC “might ask for cuts,” but that “an outright ban gives the film a twisted notoriety that, quite frankly, it doesn’t warrant,” and that Trinity was “considering its options” (Screen Daily).
The filmmakers’ response
Rehmeier disputed the board’s reading. He told Bloody Disgusting that “The Bunny Game is way less disturbing than Pretty Woman,” arguing it was “more socially acceptable to glamorize prostitution under the guise of a rags-to-riches fairy tale,” and that he and Getsic “didn’t make The Bunny Game to glamorize prostitution. It is far from an erotic film. It is a modern cautionary tale grounded in reality” (Bloody Disgusting).
US release
In March 2012, the newly launched US distribution label Autonomy Pictures — founded by Derek Curl, David Gregory and Lewis Tice — acquired all US rights at SXSW, with the deal negotiated by Julian Richards on the filmmakers’ behalf. Curl described the film as “the last word on the ‘torture-porn’ sub-genre,” saying Autonomy was “not afraid to release such a film, which will undoubtedly inspire heated reaction, because it will allow audiences to make up their own minds” (Dread Central; Bloody Disgusting). The US home-video release followed in July 2012 (Dread Central).
The 2025 reissue
In the summer of 2025, Jinga Films — the world sales agent that had also handled the controversial A Serbian Film — reissued The Bunny Game in the United States on Blu-ray and DVD through its Danse Macabre label, as a collector’s edition with a behind-the-scenes featurette, teaser and trailer (Flickering Myth; Bloody Flicks). Love Horror reported the edition was built from newly scanned transfers with remastered audio, and noted that the UK ban’s status remained uncertain while North American collectors could now “decide for themselves whether it stands as a perverse masterpiece or a work of reckless provocation” (Love Horror).
Critical reception
Writing for The A.V. Club, Noel Murray called the film “brutal” and “repellent” but “far from artless, or pointless,” praising its stark black-and-white photography, extreme angles and jumpy editing for achieving “the quality of a nightmare” — while arguing that “after its first 20 minutes, The Bunny Game has done just about all it’s going to do.” Murray also noted the film’s one near-twist, arriving almost an hour in, when Getsic’s character wakes to find her head encased in a tight white leather rabbit mask while her captor wears a similar “hog” mask (The A.V. Club).
The director’s later career
Rehmeier went on to direct the features Jonas (2013) and the Sundance-premiering Dinner in America (2020), which was nominated for the festival’s Grand Jury Prize and took the Grand Prix at the Odessa International Film Festival, followed by the coming-of-age comedy Snack Shack (2024) (PopMatters; MovieWeb).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not repeat the filmmakers’ on-record claim that the film’s depicted violence “really happened” — made on the home-video commentary track as reported by The A.V. Club — as an independently verified fact, since it is self-reported by the parties with an interest in the film’s notoriety. It does not assert that the film was ever resubmitted to the BBFC or received a UK classification; the most recent sources read still describe the ban as in force. It does not resolve the dating variance between 2010 and 2011 listings (this profile follows the 2011 dating used by the film press it cites), and it does not state a day-level date for the July 2012 US release. It makes no claim about the film’s production budget, shooting locations or exact shooting dates, which the cited sources do not document. Content is described here only as far as the cited sources describe it.
Timeline
- 2011-01
- Trinity Films acquires UK rights for its Trinity X DVD genre label, planning a 2012 release.
- 2011-10
- The film has its Las Vegas premiere at the second annual PollyGrind Film Festival and wins the top jury prize, "The Biggest Baddest Mother of the PollyGrind," along with awards for sound design, cinematography and editing, and best overall individual performance for Rodleen Getsic.
- 2011-10-12
- The British Board of Film Classification formally refuses the film a certificate for UK video release, stating it "may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man's callousness"; the board's director David Cooke and the Presidential Team take the decision jointly.
- 2012-03
- Newly launched US distributor Autonomy Pictures, founded by Derek Curl, David Gregory and Lewis Tice, acquires all US rights at SXSW; Curl calls the film "the last word on the 'torture-porn' sub-genre."
- 2012-07
- US home-video release via Autonomy Pictures.
- 2013
- Rehmeier's second feature, Jonas, is released.
- 2020
- Rehmeier's Dinner in America premieres at Sundance, where it is nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
- 2025
- Jinga Films reissues the film in the United States on Blu-ray and DVD through its Danse Macabre label, with a behind-the-scenes featurette, teaser and trailer; the edition is presented with newly scanned transfers and remastered audio.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Whether the film was ever resubmitted to the BBFC and received a UK classification was not confirmed by the sources read for this profile; 2024-2025 genre-press reporting still describes the ban as in force.
- One 2012 Bloody Disgusting report states in passing that the film "was eventually released in the UK," which appears to be an editorial error: no UK release is documented anywhere else, and multiple independent reports from 2011 through 2025 describe the UK ban as still standing. This profile treats the line as unresolved and does not assert a UK release.
- A 2025 Love Horror feature refers to a "fleeting US theatrical run in 2011," while contemporaneous October 2011 reporting described the film as still without US distribution; the scale and dates of any 2011 US theatrical play are not independently confirmed.
- Retail and database listings variously date the film 2010 or 2011 and give the runtime as 75 or 76 minutes; this profile follows the 2011 dating and 75-minute runtime used by the film press it cites.
- This profile does not repeat the widely circulated claim that the film's violence "really happened" beyond noting what the filmmakers themselves said on the home-video commentary track, as reported by The A.V. Club; the claim is self-reported, not independently verified.
- A New York Times profile of Rodleen Getsic (September 2012) could not be retrieved during this research and is not cited here.
Sources
13 sources (2 tier 1, 9 tier 2, 2 tier 3), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
Published here under this site's Creative Works policy, which requires a documented real-world story beyond ordinary critical reception — a censorship or banning episode qualifies, and this film's outright BBFC rejection is exactly that, reported in detail (including the board's own published reasoning) by UK film-trade and genre press, independently of the film's own promotional material. Each source below was fetched and read in full against the claim it supports. A 2006 development-start date stated in the earlier version of this profile was dropped because the cited source, as fetched during this research pass, does not state it. Both credited writers are living; discussed here only in their professional, on-record capacity.
- Supports: Independent confirmation of the BBFC's October 2011 refusal, Trinity's Cannes 2011 acquisition for its Trinity X label, and Trinity co-director Mark Sandell's on-record reaction. Open original source
- The Bunny Game Tier 1Supports: Independent critical assessment confirming the film's runtime, black-and-white 16mm format, rabbit-mask and hog-mask sequence, and the filmmakers' commentary-track remarks. Used only for factual production details and attributed critical views. Open original source
- Supports: The BBFC's full published rejection reasoning, director David Cooke's statement, the joint decision by Cooke and the Presidential Team, the legal effect in the UK, and Trinity X's January 2011 rights pickup. Open original source
- Supports: Autonomy Pictures' acquisition of US rights at SXSW 2012, the label's founders, Derek Curl's on-record framing of the film, and the planned July US release. Open original source
- Supports: Rehmeier's on-record responses to the BBFC decision and Julian Richards' negotiation of the Autonomy deal. Its passing remark about a UK release is flagged as an apparent error in openItems. Open original source
- Supports: The full 2011 PollyGrind awards list, including the top jury prize and the sound-design, cinematography, editing and performance awards for the film, plus festival director Chad Clinton Freeman's and Rehmeier's on-record comments. Open original source
- Supports: The October 7-16, 2011 festival dates and the film's Las Vegas premiere listing. Open original source
- Supports: Julian Richards' discovery of the film at the Downtown Heavy Metal Horror Film Festival, the 2025 Danse Macabre edition's newly scanned transfers and remastered audio, the trailer walk-outs at festival screenings, and Rehmeier's subsequent filmography. Open original source
- Supports: Jinga Films' 2025 US Blu-ray and DVD reissue through its Danse Macabre label, the bonus materials, and confirmation that the UK ban remained in force at the time. Open original source
- Supports: The Bunny Game as Rehmeier's 2011 feature debut, his second feature Jonas (2013), and his producing and editing work on the documentary Land Grab (2016). Open original source
- Supports: Rehmeier's pre-directing work as a camera operator and cinematographer, Dinner in America's Sundance 2020 Grand Jury Prize nomination and Odessa Grand Prix, and the 2024 release of Snack Shack. Open original source
- Supports: The October 12, 2011 date of the refusal, the contrasting Human Centipede 2 outcome earlier that year, and the film's undistributed status in the US at the time. Used only to corroborate dated facts stated elsewhere. Open original source
- Supports: Corroboration of the summer 2025 Danse Macabre collector's edition announcement and the film's discovery by Julian Richards for Jinga Films. Open original source
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