Aurora (Sophie Sloan) has a monster of a problem. And it is living under her bed. This isn’t a metaphor. Nor is it some friendly critter that hangs with James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski. In writer/director Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny, we’re talking the real gnashing-teeth-and-ripping-claws variety. So please don’t touch the floor or risk suffering the fate of her foster parents, gobbled up by a leporine creature.

Now living on her own, salvation might await Aurora next door, where the mysterious Resident 5B (Mads Mikkelsen) resides. One night, the girl catches him slaying a “dragon” and decides 5B’s just what the doctor ordered. A secret assassin with monster-slaying ability. What luck.

Being a cynical adult, Resident 5B has no patience for fairy tales. Additionally, his colleague Laverne (Sigourney Weaver) urges him to look out for himself. Still, he can’t detach himself from Aurora’s plight, especially when rival assassins who see the little girl as a witness in need of elimination start coming after her. Plus, there’s still the matter of that monster under the floorboards.

The atmosphere of Fuller’s prior TV shows, such as Hannibal, reverberates throughout Dust Bunny. Visually, it especially harkens back to the sumptuous imagery like that of Pushing Daisies. However, this particular story also takes some wise cues typical of Roald Dahl stories. Like Matilda or James and the Giant Peach, Dust Bunny follows a child protagonist in a world where youngsters have all the answers. Adults, on the other hand, are caricatured morons.

This approach ensures Dust Bunny doesn’t feel like a rejected Hannibal or Pushing Daisies script retroactively transformed into a standalone movie. It also gives the proceedings a distinctive ambiance and complicated tone compared to most mainstream American cinema. It oscillates between the fantastical and Chad Staheliski-style hand-to-hand skirmishes. That makes it a nightmare for algorithm-driven streaming executives, but enjoyably daffy cinema for audiences. Just try and package this one into a thumbnail on Netflix.

It helps that Mikkelsen is a perfect anchor for this chaos. Viewers don’t need a name to get invested in Resident 5B. This Hannibal veteran’s innate aura captures and holds the frame. Juxtaposing his immense dramatic conviction and lived-in weariness with an insistent child and increasingly unhinged madness is a recipe for divine entertainment. I’m chuckling as I type this, recalling a scene where he reacts to Aurora disobeying his orders to stay out of his lunch with Laverne. It’s a glorious example of the comic timing and subdued line deliveries Mikkelsen delivers throughout

However, the real stars are the behind-the-scenes folks who realize the feature’s wondrous visual aesthetic. Cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, production designer Jeremy Reed, and costume designers Olivier Bériot and Catherine Leterrier (among others) deliver excellent work imbuing every inch of Dust Bunny with vibrancy. Sometimes it is as simple as the green patterns littering the walls of Aurora’s apartment. Other times, it’s the electrifyingly colorful flowers dominating an eatery. There’s no shortage of dazzling sights. Bright colors even abound in nighttime scenes chronicling back-alley fights with hordes of assassins.

It all looks remarkable and, combined with that layered tone, accentuates Dust Bunny’s status as a unique delight. The visual impulses grow rougher in the film’s climax as it leans increasingly on CGI. Some impressive practical effects work is still present, but they serve to underline how the digital elements pale in comparison to the more tangible bursts of spectacle. So much of the movie unabashedly blazes its own trail that a finale goosed by CG foes feels disappointing.

Dust Bunny’s cramped scope—much of the runtime takes place inside Aurora’s house—occasionally reeks of budgetary restrictions rather than accentuating a claustrophobic atmosphere. Luckily, even when it feels too small for its own good, visual delights save the day. That includes solid fight choreography, an area one doesn’t usually associate with Fuller. The director has a fleet-footed approach, though, suggesting he’s been working in this field for eons.

As a standalone film, Dust Bunny left this Hannibal aficionado giddy witnessing Fuller and Mikkelsen create more unusual magic together. What really leaves me feeling joyful, though, is imagining how this original feature now belongs to the next generation of film geeks. It feels bound to become a cherished movie for budding cinema nerds, the same way Time Bandits or Scott Pilgrim vs. the World have previously.

Here’s an idiosyncratic story that isn’t rehashing characters and plot beats from an ’80s movie. It’s instead full of vibrant images and aesthetics that a fresh wave of audiences can call their own. Dust Bunny may bite off more than it can chew, especially in its third act. But isn’t it only fitting that something this oddball and unabashedly itself would have jagged creative edges?

Dust Bunny is now slithering underneath seats looking for its next meal in multiplexes everywhere.

Dust Bunny Trailer: