The Hunt

Two hunters and a young boy head into the woods to film a deer hunting video. But they enter private property and suddenly find themselves in a mess way beyond their control. Also, the story of a search party piecing together the whereabouts of the missing...

Director Fritz Kiersch (whose only claim to fame is "Children of the Corn") brings us this one. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him, either. And after people see this film, they most likely still won't bother to give him the time of day. Sorry, Fritz. Let's run down the list of problems with this film.

The cover has two problems, which is a bad way to judge a film, but think of it like this: if you care enough about your film, shouldn't you make it appealing? First we have a tagline that tells us "The hunters become the hunted", which is just about he most overused and weak excuse imaginable. I hope that guy didn't get paid. Next, they try to sell the film by calling it "Blair Witch Project meets Predator". I'm sorry, that doesn't make me interested at all.

They were right about the Blair Witch Project part, though, as much of the film is shown through the camera of one of the hunters. (If you know anything about cameras, though, look at the model he is using and look at the film quality -- clearly this is not actual footage.) This gimmick is nothing special, and the fact they already told us it was like the "Blair Witch Project" makes it seem somewhat derivative.

We have a kid who is a horrible plot device and a horrible actor. Maybe he needed to be written out, or maybe they needed a different kid. I don't know. But this boy, who the hunters keep accurately calling "wimp", doesn't really add anything to the film. He could add some family tension (his parents are divorced), but they don't really touch on that.

The biggest ripoff of all is when they offer "the twist". You know I can't say what it is, but I'll tell you this: take two guesses and one of the two will be correct. Sadly, the one that's far less interesting is the one they decided to go with.

The film isn't a complete waste of time, though how exciting is a movie with a couple guys walking through the woods? Obviously the body count can't exceed three, and the conversation is kind of limited when you have to talk about deer and trees. As with other slow movies, I would have suggested this had been trimmed into a one-hour Masters of Horror type episode. Except, of course, there's no nudity or gore and there was already a (better) episode about deer. This still would have been weak.

You might have guessed, I'm not giving this one my seal of approval. Compared to the other films I watched this past week ("Evil Ed", "Henry", "2001 Maniacs" and "High Tension") "The Hunt" is little more than pond scum.... or deer droppings. Look for something else.

Horrible acting

Plot is lazy and confused

Characters are annoying

Meh.

There were dozens of films about hunting, survival in the wilderness, since DELIVERANCE, from all over the world. Many topics are possible from this basic scheme: common urban folks, as you and me, loose in countryside, deep forests, far from the madding crowd. French films are not so bad, and not only French. Easy to produce feature, because never very expensive to make, no matter the acting, cast, only the story and its originality count after all. One of those movies has absolutely to be unique, different from the others, has to offer something surprising, unusual ideas. I repeat, no matter the bad directing, lousy camera work or production design. This one belongs to this category; the director seems to be a real amateur but I don't care at all; anyway I did not expect more. I have seen enough films in my life not to have an instinct. There were tons of this kind of stuff. If I am surprised, especially in the end, I definitely take it. I only, only search, seek originality. That's all, not talent. Talent is for me optional. The link between the little boy and his step dad is quite touching for such a film, low grade one.

'The Hunt' is an interesting film for me. I remember the first time I watched it I was really quite taken with it. I know it's hardly 'fast-paced' and definitely more of a 'slow-burner,' but the final third was pretty terrifying. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I bought it.

A couple of years later, I re-watched it and kind of wondered what I saw in it. I've seen a few other reviews that describe it as 'Blair Witch with aliens' and that's pretty apt. It's about two hunters who take one of their step-sons into the forest in order to film a documentary on 'bow hunting.' Granted it's not all filmed from a 'POV perspective,' but there's enough first-person footage of people running through the woods and talking straight into camera to draw similarities.

I've watched it three times now and each time the only thing I'm left with is the feeling that I must have been in one hell of a forgiving mood on the initial viewing. I'm not saying it's terrible. It's okay, but no more than that. The acting isn't bad, but it has a really cheap feel - like a 'made-for-TV' movie. Even the aliens - when you finally see them - look like they've been animated on a Playstation 2. Plus don't expect many kills, or even gore on the few deaths you get.

I think if the film truly has a 'weak spot' it's the child actor who plays the little boy. I don't want to come down too hard on him as, due to his age, has hardly had many years of 'treading the boards' to perfect his acting talent. He just comes across a bit too weedy to really have much audience support.

Due to the film-makers deciding to tell the story as a kind of 'long flashback,' which is loosely interspersed with what is happening in the present, it does tend to rob the film of any tension as you kind of know what's happened and nothing really comes as that much of a surprise.

Overall, 'The Hunt' isn't an awful film, it's just so mediocre that you've seen a load of better horror/sci-fi films and this one is pretty forgettable (unless you're me, clearly).

Okay so I gave this film a 6 out of 10 stars, but originally it was going to be a 5 out of 10 stars... Here is why; This film starts off pretty good, then quickly descends into a tar pit of 50/50 acting, and mediocre dialogue.. HOWEVER there are a few GREAT things in this movie as well...

I loved the cameraman, he was a crazy dude and was actually believable, and the ENDING... Oh man, the ending is AWESOME! I am sure the ending is almost everybody's favorite part in the film, however I worry that the near 1 and a half hours of in-activity leading up to the ending, may have people tuning out before the best part begins..

As I said, the ending is AMAZING, the acting is "meh...", the kid in the movie is ANNOYING, and overall the film is worth a one time viewing for the amazingly awesome ending.. just remember when your halfway through it... its ALL about the ending! Enjoy