At only the age of 35, Dev Patel has worked with an eclectic selection of directors, including Danny Boyle, M. Night Shyamalan, John Madden, Neil Blomkamp, Armando Iannucci and Wes Anderson to name but a few.

No doubt working with these directors helped him decide to get behind the camera himself, which he did with his 2024 directorial debut Monkey Man.

He’s seemingly paying forward here, starring in the directorial debut of Bryn Chainey, in his surreal folk horror.

1976, and young married couple Darcy (Patel) and Daphne (Rosy McEwen) have recently moved into a remote cottage in the Welsh countryside.

They are obsessed with sounds, and recording them, filling their home with a lot of recording equipment. They soon enjoy exploring their surrounding area, recording equipment in hand, which they analyse meticulously when they get home.

It doesn’t stop there, as Daphne has even recorded Darcy at night, when he was having a nightmare.

One day Daphne is alarmed to a see someone outside their home, who Darcy tackles. He discovers it’s a young person (Jade Croot), who is eventually invited into their home. They’re local, and familiar with the local folklore of the area, that the couple are intrigued by.

But as they get friendlier with them, their lives are confronted by an energy they have no control over, but their young neighbour seemingly does.

Chainey’s film is an audacious debut, that is also borderline pretentious. The British-Australian director has created an intriguing piece of work, that is richly atmospheric, in both images and sound, making it a veritable feast for the senses. The brain may suffer as a consequence however, as this period story is utterly bewildering; it’s as if the film is a private joke, with Chainey - also the film’s writer, being the only one who knows the punchline. So despite creating a fascinating world, many may feel left on the outside of it as the end credits roll 90 minutes later.

It dabbles with sound, energy, mythology, and monsters – possibly – in a mystical cinematic hodgepodge, that however intriguing it indisputably is, may leave you like the characters are when they venture outside – very much in the metaphysical dark.

It’s helped by some very watchable performances, from its main cast of three, especially Patel, who is no stranger to starring in the odd blockbuster, offering his considerable talents to this unknown quantity in Chainey and his low budget effort. Still, it’s another eclectic director to add to his growing list.

And then there’s the character known as the ‘child’, played by young actress Croot; there’s an almost unnecessary ambiguity about the character’s gender, as the child is referred to as a him throughout, despite clearly being played by an actress. It doesn’t go anywhere, and feels pointless, and perhaps a red herring the film could have done without, especially when there’s more than enough weird to try and wrap your head around.

If you can suspend the need to fully comprehend what’s going in the Welsh countryside – which will be helped by its befuddled script - Rabbit Trap can lure you in with a truly sensory experience, by being mystically mystifying.