Night of the Hunted

I am a big fan isolation horror and really enjoy movies that take place in a single location. That is if the writing is good and the payoff is worth it. That was not the case with Night of the Hunted. A nihilistic, predictable and ultimately bland thriller set inside a gas station.

Without going into too much detail, the plot revolves around Alice, a selfish but resourceful pharma executive who gets attacked by a sniper while getting gas in the middle of the night.

What follows is a run of the mill cat and mouse thriller without any real original ideas. Alice is unlikable at best, though she does use some very clever ways of avoiding the shooter.

When you have an isolation horror movie like this, the script has to be really good and that is just not the case here. The movie never decides on what it wants to say. It's filled with philosophic monologues about trauma, personal loss, conspiracies and it just goes on and on and on. It's as if the writers couldn't decide which social issue they wanted to tackle, so they just tried to tackle all of them with vague conversations that go nowhere.

It's competently shot though generally uninteresting in it's cinematography. The acting is okay, with Camille Rowe giving a passable performance. The shooter was pretty bad all around with a monotone voice throughout that wears thin pretty quickly. It's not Keifer Sutherland, thats for sure.

One thing I did like about this movie was the practical effects. There didn't seem to be much CGI blood or gore, which is rare these days.

This movie had amazing potential, but the severely saturated political BS and message passing was just too much.

A little political isn't bad but the writer went overboard from racial, vaccine, mask wearing, abortions, guns and religious bases touched. It was just as if the writer had gone crazy during Covid-19 shutdown and thought "how can I project me anger and frustration at the world"..and here we have the is projection.

The actual premise isn't unlike some other single shot location movies where the lead is trapped and 90% of the film is revolved around that place.

Splinter/Phonebooth/Night of the Living Dead.

I have to be honest, this was not my favorite... there was just a lot of things that didn't work for me.

It felt like this movie was three hours long with very slow pacing and was quite repetitive in nature. The acting also generally didn't help, it wasn't the best on anyone's part and there wasn't a likable or redeemable character to enjoy. Also the amount of suspension of disbelieve required to navigate your way through this plot is hearty. But what really got me about this movie was the message/point.

It got to be extremely preachy, talking about all of these modern day issues... like, ALL of them. It felt like it was taking itself very seriously and thought that they were being very clever and woke while simultaneously not really saying or doing anything of substance. It touched on 101 different topics and issues, but none of them felt like the main premise. It also then left us completely and utterly unfulfilled in the end.

All of this added up begs the question, what was the point? I hate saying this about movies but it felt like a bit of a waste of time. It wasn't total trash but I would not recommend.

I like movies which takes place at an isolated gas station situated in the middle of nowhere.

I thoroughly enjoyed Open 24 Hours (2018).

This movie enticed me via the settings of a gas station but found it to be a disappointment.

Nothing original bah this unnecessary lengthy movie. The editing is so atrocious that the movie gets very repetitive n boring.

The villain doesn't sound intimidating or terrifying n there is absolutely no character study or background story.

This movie is lifted from so many other thrillers. Some of them r mentioned below.

Carnage Park (a psychotic sniper terrorizes a bank robber and his hostage). Carnage Park is boring n had lots of flickering lights n hand held shaky cam stuff.

Roadside (A couple fight for their lives when they are held hostage in their car by a concealed gunman at the side of a desolate road). Haven't seen Roadside but very bad reviews on IMDb.

Phonebooth (A publicist finds his life under threat when he answers a ringing phone at a phone booth. The caller tells him that he will be shot the minute he cuts the call).

Phonebooth is one of the best thriller n everything has already been said bah this movie.

Downrange (A group of friends are killed one by one by a ruthless sniper after they get stuck in the middle of nowhere).

Downrange is violent, brutal n tension filled. It's from the director of Midnight Meat Train.

And the recent To Catch a Killer (A cop is recruited by the FBI to help profile and track down a sniper).

This one has top notch acting n it is a thriller. This has more to do with catching the sniper.

Again, another gas station movie. Again, another shooter movie. Again, at night. Again, nobody comes to the rescue. Again, same lame conversations. Again, the movie starts interesting but in 10 minutes everything starts to fell apart. Again, you know what is going to happen because you have watched this movie several other times. Again, this movie isn't realistic because people here act like robots. Again, the movie ends as many others. Honestly, I don't understand why independent movies are not risky anymore. This one is an example.

So, consequently you can skip this movie again, and follow with your life. Again. Happy Halloween.