The Head Hunter

"The Head Hunter" is compelling with its technicalities; an impressive Atmospheric brilliance that surely grabs your attention with every passing frame. But the same cannot be said for other aspects.

It's one of those rare occasions when a Movie impresses on the technicalities part but disappoints on the rest. Having seen many indie films before; I generally look forward to these atmosphere centric projects. That's why I decided to give it a go.

Well I'm not disappointed on the vibe front! Set in the medieval age; its unsettling imagery, claustrophobic yet beautiful scenic shots did give pleasure to my eyes. Impressive sound design does help setting up the an overall dark tonality! With its eerie, haunting treatment of the sound score does put up a lot of emphasis on the same.

Can't talk much about the performances as there is literally two person in the movie and the rest are non human beings! The main lead 'Christopher Rygh' does a commendable job portraying as a Monster Hunter. But the written material on him is as low as it could get! Lack of character study does take its toll as the film slowly progresses towards it end.

I simply couldn't establish any sort of empathy for him. Same goes for the monsters! I can't feel this guys' angst even when he's ripping their heads apart. That signifies how less of an attention has been gone into writing those characters and the storyline here. The plot raises more questions than answers! That's probably the sole reason for its downfall.

Still as an Indie movie admirer, I adore what they have done in their own set boundaries. With a little more backing up from the producers, this could have been something else.

This was a beautifully shot almost silent film. Fantasy Viking mission on a hunt for Troll Beast. Avenging the death of his daughter you're brought into his world. Angst, pain and you feel every minute of it the actor brings you there 100% the creators of this film knew how to use their low-budget to there advantage.

DO NOT MISS

A man living in the woods with just one purpose, to seek revenge on the beast that killed his daughter.

A very simple story visualised in a simple way. You can either like the simplistic way it is told or not.

The Pros: Like I said, beautiful scenes, the visualisation is nicely done, some beautiful shots of the landscape and snow. I liked the idea of telling a story without much dialog, just a visualisation of some actions being taken and because of those actions you know already what is going on. The main character looked cool. You can see that a good amount of attention was given to the props. The music and sound effects are really adding to the ambiance of the movie.

The Cons: Like I said beautiful scenes but, I could not get into the story or into the tense moments that were created. And I think there were a couple of reasons that caused that.

Character

I could not feel or root for the main character, although he looked very cool. This was because of how he gave his daughter gifts at her grave. The grave is one of only 2 moments in the movie that we can see how much he loved her and therefore needed the revenge, but it felt as if it was just a matter of fact.

Lack of complexity in the actions.

In my opinion if there is lack in dialog, then the actions must make the audience think and that happened, but you could figure out what was going to happen pretty fast and that left the tense moments empty.

I liked the approach of this movie, but I couldn't get into it. Therefore I gave it a 5

What seems like a simple and straightforward revenge story turns into a surprising and uncanny tale of life and death, amidst an eerie atmosphere.

Christopher Rygh's performance is astonishing. Even though the dialogue throughout the movie is scarce, he manages to convey all sorts of emotions through his acting, and turns this "one-character-film" into an amazing journey.

In this movie, what can't be seen is often as important as what is shown on the screen. So keep your ears peeled and let yourself be drifted by the carefully designed sound and the superb music score. Allow yourself to let your imagination flow freely and you won't regret it.

Last, but by no means least, the cinematography in this movie is simply beautiful, especially when it comes to lighting and camera shots. A note also to the fantastic decor and costumes, where no detail is too small to be dismissed.

This movie may have been made with a modest budget and a small crew, but that doesn't mean its quality isn't top-notch.

I watched The Head Hunter in this year's edition of Fantasporto - International Film Festival, and I loved it so much that on the last day of the festival, when the awarded movies were being shown again, I actually went in for a second screening (I don't do that often).

I strongly recommend it! (Rating: 9/10)

A medieval father searches for the beast that killed his daughter.

Ok. So, this is a low budget film but it is filmed well. Some of the landscape scenes are very nice. This is supposed to be horror but I'm a bit of a horror buff and it wasn't horror for me. The biggest problem I have is that the story is so vague. You know what is going on and you sorta know why but it lacks detail. You have no backstory and for me, that is what draws me in and causes me to invest in the characters. The effects were passable but key moments were shot in low lighting and it couldn't be seen well.

It isn't awful but it is short, extremely about being "in the moment" and the scenic shots were good. If that sounds like something you are about, check it out.