The "hunting humans for sports"-formula is one of the oldest, yet most consistent formulas in horror, cult, and exploitation cinema. This thrills-guaranteed sub-genre delivered a landmark classic already 90 (!) years ago, with "The Most Dangerous Game", but also still very recently, with Craig Zobel's "The Hunt" in 2020. And during the in-between period of nine decades, there were several more highly enjoyable and often downright eccentric variations, like "Blood Camp Thatcher" (1980), "The Hunting Party" (1971), "The Woman Hunt" (1973), and "Surviving the Game" (1994).
"Happy Hunting" is a nicely fitting addition to the long but pleasant list. It's not exceptionally good or highly memorable, but it does feature the obligatory excessive violence, loathsome characters, and creative death-traps. What makes the film slightly special, perhaps, is that it blends the hunting-humans concept with another traditional cult/horror sub-genre, namely that of the "creepy little town with a secret". The hunting game is presented as an annually returning festive event at a remote Texan border town called Bedford Flats. The sneaky locals, led by the authorial Sheriff, round up dubious passers-by and even their own misbehaving fellow town members, and let them loose in the desert with a small head start. In this year's edition, the alcoholic drug-addict Warren Novak, who was already on his way to Mexico for some vague reason, is the only participant capable of fighting back.
The first half is slow and rather tedious, notably because protagonist Warren Novak is a very anti-sympathetic character himself. You don't really care for his motivations to travel to Mexico, and his constant mumbling whilst drinking heavily makes the dialogs difficult to understand. The fact he's such a thug makes the actual hunt more exciting, though, since you don't really care who wins. Both the hunters and the preys are total scum, so as long as the bloodshed is outrageous & plentiful, it's perfectly fine!
