Matt is a deplorable in The Hunt (review)

The Hunt

Dir. Craig Zobel

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@cleric20)

“Did you see that article? Every year these liberal elites kidnap a bunch of normal folks like us, and hunt us for sport.”

In these trying times when toilet paper seems to be worth more than gold bullion, here’s a refreshing and insanely gory distraction from the madness of real life. The Hunt is a fiendish, funny, clever and
very dark satire that takes the old ‘rich people paying to hunt poor people’ scenario and injects it with some adrenaline.

"a new action hero in the making"

Director Craig ‘Compliance’ Zobel (also from Westworld, Leftovers and American Gods shows) goes all out unleashing the worst of human behaviour. Before you can say ‘oh an adult hunger games’ a group of working-class Americans labelled ‘deplorables’ awake after being drugged and transported to some eastern European wilderness. They find a crate with weapons but rather than fight between themselves they must try and survive being hunted by better armed ‘liberal elites’ who are paying for the chance to shoot those less fortunate than themselves.

The action is intense, extremely violent and well-crafted – there are some deaths here that you may never forget and horror fans craving bloodshed get plenty to feast on. But The Hunt isn’t really a horror movie – it’s a fast-moving action flick that introduces a superb girl-power heroine to turn the tables on the rich scumbags.

"The poor get no voice"

Crystal (Betty Gilpin) is excellent. Imagine a kind of female John McClane - cool, resourcefully deadly, and quick with a wisecrack. She is the deplorables secret weapon and watching her take the fight back to the elites is a total joy to behold.

Sure the violence is gratuitous but the constant threat of really nasty death keeps the stakes and body count high. The writers do a good job of messing with your expectations and there are some
deliciously paranoid ‘who, if anyone, can trust’ scenes.

The supporting cast have fun in their short-lived roles many with fun names like Vanilla Nice (Sturgill Simpson), Staten Island (Ike Barinholtz) and Yoga Pants (Emma Roberts). And Hilary Swank is great as the big baddie Athena – her one on one fight with Crystal is a classic, set in a well-stocked kitchen.

"Who can you trust?"

The Hunt has angered rightwingers in the States, even Trump himself and the marketing of the film uses the controversy to its benefit. It might be dangerous to venture out to the cinema at the moment but The Hunt is worth the trip if you’re in need of some violent escapism!

"Look out baddies"

Out of a potential 5 - you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Excellent dark action horror fun)

Awesomeness ööööö – Lots of pure class(war) scenes

Laughs ööö – Darkly humourous

Horror öööö – Gets grim in places

Spiritual Enlightenment ööö - Shoot your neighbour?

Click this image for darker sci-fi !!

– Read what other people are saying about COMPLETE DARKNESS (here)