The Hunt
Directed by: Craig Zobel
Written by: Nick Cuse & Damon Lindelof
Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Wayne Duvall, Ethan Suplee, Amy Madigan, Reed Birney, Glenn Howerton, Ike Barinholtz, Steve Mokate, Justin Hartley, Emma Roberts, Kate Nowlin, Hannah Alline
Action/Horror/Thriller - 89 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 12 Mar 2020
Written by: Nick Cuse & Damon Lindelof
Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Wayne Duvall, Ethan Suplee, Amy Madigan, Reed Birney, Glenn Howerton, Ike Barinholtz, Steve Mokate, Justin Hartley, Emma Roberts, Kate Nowlin, Hannah Alline
Action/Horror/Thriller - 89 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 12 Mar 2020
Even though they may shudder on the outside, I imagine studio executives secretly smile when one of their products spurs a particular kind of viral controversy. The Hunt caught online attention when folks learned it was employing political polarization for horror entertainment. Humans have hunted other humans on the big screen for close to 100 years, but now it’s liberal vs. conservative. Furthermore, the tweeter-in-chief tweeted about it. That can do nothing but pad the bottom line; if he’s against it, millions will pay to see it in spite and share ticket stub proof on social media. Since The Hunt was the topic de jour at the same time two high-profile mass shootings occurred around its initial release date in September 2019, the studio delayed its release six months. If it was not for the Coronavirus, which is about to empty movie theaters, The Hunt was close to successfully riding a notoriety wave of, “Since everyone is talking about this movie, perhaps we should go see it!”
The Hunt would not work as a straight horror slasher or political thriller. However, horror comedy fits the material like a glove. Writers Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof pull on a thread offering one possibility of where America’s current state of hyper-polarization may lead. Extremists on both sides of the spectrum want to believe that the worst they can imagine about the other side is true. There were/are right-wingers who believe in Pizzagate. Some left-wingers guarantee the existence of a “pee tape” locked inside Vladimir Putin’s personal safe. When you are ready to believe the worst, cherry pick your facts, and demonize those with different opinions as “the other”, perhaps kidnapping a dozen enemies and having them run for the lives in the woods isn’t the most far-fetched fiction yet invented.
The Hunt would not work as a straight horror slasher or political thriller. However, horror comedy fits the material like a glove. Writers Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof pull on a thread offering one possibility of where America’s current state of hyper-polarization may lead. Extremists on both sides of the spectrum want to believe that the worst they can imagine about the other side is true. There were/are right-wingers who believe in Pizzagate. Some left-wingers guarantee the existence of a “pee tape” locked inside Vladimir Putin’s personal safe. When you are ready to believe the worst, cherry pick your facts, and demonize those with different opinions as “the other”, perhaps kidnapping a dozen enemies and having them run for the lives in the woods isn’t the most far-fetched fiction yet invented.
Audiences will instinctively play the “is it takings sides” game. Do the filmmakers have an agenda? Both the liberal elites, who set up the carnage fest with assault rifles and heinous booby traps, and the conspiracy theory inventing, rebel flag waving, MAGA-hat wearing conservatives are thoroughly mocked. The simple reason it goes down so well instead of turning us off with more politics is because of how over-the-top funny it is. The horror label is attached because of the gushing blood, but it’s funny ha-ha blood. I heard multiple rounds of laughter at how eyeballs are plucked from skulls, spikes impale a torso, and the gimmick that anyone, even those you thought were the heroes, can explode any second.
Every movie leads the audience to latch onto a character and follow him/her until the end. You witness and empathize with the character arc as they confront and overcome a particular conflict. The Hunt challenges this most conventional of traditions for the first half hour and continues to rip the rug right from under your feet as you try and keep your balance with whom you believe now to be the real hero. I never thought about what if the person I am supposed to bond with and follow keeps getting their head blown off. Bravo director Craig Zobel.
Zobel gained traction through indie darlings like Compliance and Z for Zachariah. He threads a needle with this latest effort because the slightest hint of a tone favoring one side over the other and the whole thing falls apart. Cuse and Lindelof pepper the script with the buzzwords you would expect to hear from these folks such as deplorables, snowflake, cuck, and deep state and I particularly relished that the sentence, “Climate change is real” is the new “Hasta la vista baby” before yet another person bites the dust. The writers have plenty of inspiration to draw from because most of us are familiar with the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, or at least the movie Deliverance where one social class takes it out on the other. Even The Hunger Games books and movies prepared audiences on how to cope with human targets.
I shy away from discussing particular characters, actors, and plot machinations because the less you know, the more you will be surprised and connect with what Zobel is trying to do to you. However, check out Betty Gilpin (Isn't It Romantic) as Crystal. You know her as Liberty Belle from GLOW on Netflix and her performance here is remarkable. She has no backstory and reveals only the barest of hints of who she is and where she comes from. Therefore, predicting her actions, reactions, and motivations keeps a particular feeling of suspenseful mystery a horror comedy would not usually merit. Crystal is a fascinating character, one the audience is dying to learn about, and could easily spur a prequel if The Hunt earns another installment. Maybe watching a film where political opponents finally step out from behind their keyboards and start killing each other is what America needs to return to a more civilized tone. This film is a uniter, not a divider.
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