Film 'Watership Down' proves gruesome, fearful, suspenseful

By Lia Barnes | Staff writer

The Cinema Series began the Spring 2026 semester at the Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre with a deceptively violent British animation film from 1978 by Martin Rosen titled “Watership Down”

The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Richard Adams. Although the animated film is rated PG by both the British Board of Film Classification and the Motion Picture Association, there are surprisingly gruesome, fearful and suspenseful elements that would not be the best for a child to witness.

We are introduced to Fiver (whose voices was that of Richard Briers), who is a “crazy rabbit in the warren,” prophesying any future danger towards his rabbit neighbors. His most recent prophecy is an extremely horrifying vision of a bleeding field, so he tells the chief rabbit they need to leave, but he does not listen. The other rabbit citizens tend to doubt Fiver, but they know he is always right. They also believe in the leadership of his brother, Hazel (John Hurt), so the two brothers leave the rabbit warren along with other rabbits who believe in the brother duo.

A lot happens in this film. The Hazel warren goes through homelessness, loss and sickness together. Despite these depressing and violent themes, however, the film is a pretty easy watch. The music score composed by Angela Morley creates a generally calm and relaxing atmosphere that makes you fall in love with the beautiful green scenery and the characters’ charm even though the environment is filled with danger and anxiety.

Rabbits may be fast and nimble, but speed is only helpful if you are hyper aware of your surroundings. If you leave your guard down for even a second, you could be snatched by a hungry hawk or chewed by a vicious dog. The rabbits that have decided to travel with Fiver and Hazel are quite cunning and intelligent with their resources, so they were able to outsmart the land animals, but they neglected to pay attention to the sky, causing them to lose a very valuable member of their group.

One of the more interesting parts of the film is when Hazel and the new warren infiltrate another rabbit warren with an evil chief rabbit, General Woundwort (Harry Andrews). Woundwort keeps a heavy paw on his rabbit citizens, branding them and enforcing physical punishment or even death if they try to leave. There is no apparent reason for his militant rule of his warren, but if you were to look at his damaged face, one could assume he was hurt severely from the outside world.

Maybe, to keep his citizens safe, he hurts them before the world could and uses those who leave as an example to others of what could happen to them if they leave. This foil of a character poses himself more of an issue for Hazel and his rabbits than the animals that were made to kill rabbits.  

The artistry of the film is quite intriguing. In the beginning of the film, where we are introduced to the rabbit god, Frith, the style of the art is almost abstract and rough. It was obvious which animal was what, but there was a whimsical, childish touch to it, making them look zany and charming with their round, bouncy bodies.

However, once Frith turned the animals into rabbit-eating monsters, the art style was very sharp and slender. Their bodies went dark and their eyes turned yellow and red. They looked like classic animal villains from any popular children’s book—evil looking while still charming.

However, this makes the addition of gore even more shocking and off putting. You would think these cute bunnies with sophisticated British accents would be filled with fluff instead of flesh and blood.

It was enjoyable to see a British classic on the Maxwell big screen at such a high quality. According to AU film professor Matthew Buzzell, it is extremely difficult to find “Watership Down” in its entirety at such high quality.

Thankfully, this is not the only film the series is showing for the semester. The next Cinema Series outing will be an exciting day for everyone who is watching the Academy Awards because Buzzell will show all of the 2026 Oscar-nominated short films.

Note: Image at the top of the page courtesy of Matthew Buzzell, Department of Art & Design.

Contact Lia Barnes at liabarnes@augusta.edu.