bob the moo Everyone who has seen David Lynch's Inland Empire will be familiar with the rabbits of this short film (screened in some places broken down into episodes). Personally I struggled to work out if Inland Empire was brilliant or rubbish and ultimately I concluded that it was both but that it was worth seeing because of what an unnerving and unusual experience it was. The rabbit snippets are all part of it as they meant very little to be but yet managed to actually make me feel uncomfortable and uneasy while watching them. As a result I decided to check out the full Rabbits film.In an interviewer about Lynch's website project, someone did describe Rabbits as one for the hard-core Lynch fans and this description is bang on the money because it does deliver everything that he does well while also failing (or rather, not trying) to deliver in other, usual areas. Where the snippets hit home for me is in their sheer menacing stiffness. "Normal" things such as the apartment and the idea of a sitcom are all presented in a twisted and perverted way that Lynch viewers will be used to. Just like in Twin Peaks (where backwards characters talk in a red velvet room) the movement is strange, the lighting is eerie, the dialogue is confusing and the whole thing is delivered under a brooding score that suggests an impending destruction or evil.In this regard the film is quite brilliant and it is very disturbing to watch it in a dark room n a quiet night. But this is also the problem with the film because there is nothing more to it and ultimately the novelty value of it wears off long before the 45 minute mark. After a while I did want more but the film just continued to deliver what it had done at the very start. Die-hard fans of Lynch will love it and take pleasure in trying to pick the meaning out of it but for me it was more a matter of hanging on until the conclusion. It is a shame because in small sections Rabbits is really well done and fascinating. Lynch's creativity is powerful and works across the board – many have neglected to mention the physical actors in the film (not the famous voices) but their work is important, with a stillness and deliberate movements being key in the delivery.Overall then a very strong film for those that love Lynch's creepy work but it is hard to ignore the fact that the running time is too long to sustain the long pauses and very slow pace. As a result it never works as well as it does in its limited use within Inland Empire. Fans should still watch it for what it does well but for the majority of viewers the running time will be far too long and boredom may take away from the uneasy and creepy delivery.

Daan Swakman When I read the comments on the David Lynch works, it's always remarkable to see the division of people into two groups; one admiring the hint of deeper meaning in his works, and one disliking the lack of an obvious statement. I always start to think about the fact whether (David Lynch's) movies should carry out a more clear message... Fact of course is, that it is very interesting to see what people make of the movies. I think that the openness of Lynch's work allows everyone who watches it to think freely about the content. And that is what I think is a great thing about Lynch's work. This especially goes for Rabbits; the total lack of plot or explanation of the dialog made me wonder what it was actually about. I saw in the eerie house room a reflection of a domestic scene of some period of regression. There is shabby furniture, and a classical situation where the husband goes out from time to time (to work), the wife stays at home to iron clothes and what I assume is the kid is sitting on the couch reading. I got the feeling of a family situation that had experienced something horrific in the outside world, which is never shown. It came pretty close though when the door opened and a scream and flickering light suggested some bad events that happened on the outside, and were discussed through the weird dialog.All in all I very much like the way Lynch is making subtle suggestions and lets everybody free to wonder about the true meaning of his movies. Very inspiring.

MisterWhiplash I had known of David Lynch's made-for-his-website shorts called Rabbits long before his latest feature-length film came out, Inland Empire, and when I saw what he had taken from the shorts into the picture it worked a lot better than taken out of context and left by their own. The interpretations can only be so many- are the rabbits meant to be symbols of emotively-drained TV caricatures, or are they just, um, rabbits? The shorts ended up working better in I.E. because they could go alongside with the other wild and manic scenes of surrealism, and be in a much stronger sense of 'dream-logic' when taken as part of the completely non-linear structure of the picture. By themselves, they're much more confusing- even as a Lynch fan I admit this- and to use the word often maligned with auteurs, it's self-indulgent to a fault. It's not that seeing how the rabbits interact isn't absorbing in the sense of wanting to see what will happen next, or when the laugh-track is implemented. But what the shorts lack are clearer ties to what is being abstracted. Only Lynch knows, which is just as well. I wasn't unhappy to see the Rabbit segments on their own online, and a few times the ultra strange humor that may or may not be the point of these cinematic exercises. But I wish it could've been more on their own legs, or ears, or whatever. It's not like it's nothing, but it's not as substantial of a Lynchian 'something' as usual with his shorts.

yiokkasd It's spooky, it's strange (hell it's even funny) and it's dangerously spellbinding!!! Rabbits is the mother and father of all nightmares. The acting, the movements, the lighting and the colors are all brilliant and some of the singing of Rebekah del Rio reminds you of Greek tragedy. I always say that there are no bad David Lynch films. There are just people who don't understand them. Once you take the trip down the abysmal world of the subconscious, you don't want to wake up. We all have fears and we all definitely have Rabbits in our heads. CAN'T WAIT for INLAND EMPIRE...