Bunny Room by Oscar Brady Is a Bleak Cannibal Masterpiece

Bunny Room by OSCAR. BRADY
on March 2, 2025
Genres: Splatterpunk
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A gripping, fast-paced tale of travelers who take the wrong exit and find themselves faced with a cannibalistic family and their sadistic whims.
Sam wakes to find herself naked and strapped to a filthy bed. She hears her infant daughter crying in another room but no matter how hard she tugs, the ropes only get tighter. Upon learning he has inoperable cancer, Daniel begins playing a solitaire version of Russian roulette, which is interrupted when his childhood friend calls him out of the blue with an invitation. Can they make it out of the house, or are they doomed to be eaten alive, piece by piece?

This book contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Also by this author: Janitor

In Bunny Room, an elderly hillbilly living in the Appalachian mountains is just doing his best to take care of his twenty-something-year-old granddaughter and her brother. The story is told through Krystal, his granddaughter, and Sam and Daniel, who are more than just dinner guests. 

I’ve read a few cannibal themed books this year, and the majority of them have been tongue-in-cheek or over-the-top comical. Of those, Bunny Room might be my favorite, primarily because of its darker tone. The novel is bleak and just makes you feel hopeless, and that’s what I love about Bunny Room. It affected me exactly the way I expected it to. I think what enhances that dreadful tone is the first-person point of view we get from Sam, Daniel, and Krystal. We get first-hand accounts not only of what Sam and Daniel are experiencing as victims, but we also get the unhinged thought processes of Krystal, who is committing these acts and attempting to rationalize them. In any other context, the dialogue between Granddaddy and Krystal could come off as comical, but Brady does an excellent job of making sure you know these people are not to be laughed at.

On the surface, the plot seems simple enough. A hillbilly family captures unsuspecting people and uses them as food. But the real story comes from what the characters experienced in the days leading up to their abduction. Sam’s mom recently suffered a stroke so, along with her newborn daughter, she heads out to visit her mother. They’re both captured by the cannibal family, and Sam’s main concern now is her daughter’s safety. Meanwhile, Daniel, who recently found out that he has terminal cancer, agrees to travel across the country with his childhood friend. Unfortunately, they also end up in the basement of this hillbilly family, but he finds the will to survive. 

Brady wrote Sam and Daniel in such a way that they are relatable, likable, and you can feel what they’re going through. And I can’t tell you how happy I am that Oscar wrote Sam to be such a strong female character; she’s a fighter. Too often in extreme horror and splatterpunk, we see female characters who are fragile and easily broken. Daniel went from hopelessness and wanting to die to finding a desire to live despite his terminal cancer. 

Even the secondary characters feel like they could be people who actually exist. Not only that, but they serve a real purpose other than moving the plot forward. Jared, who is Sam’s husband, only has two or three chapters of his own, but they do so much to increase our sympathy for Sam. 

In my opinion, Oscar Brady has written what I would call a masterpiece. While reading Bunny Room, I’m pretty sure I went through the full range of emotions, and towards the end, I’ve never been so anxious to turn a page until the very end. And as for the ending, it was so satisfying, I couldn’t have asked for better. This absolutely needs to be on your TBR.