The Head Hunter

The amazing beauty of The Head Hunter is the minimalist storytelling that creates a high impact effect with virtually no extraneous dialogue or superfluous characters. The Father and his role are clearly defined as a singular, over-riding purpose; yet the Land and the Time in which he lives in is kept vague, building the larger-than-life mythology of the film. This story reminds me of the first, simple stories I read in grade school (Beowolf, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) that set my imagination on fire and created a lifelong yearning for reading.

That being said, the action fans, gore aficionados, and special effects/CGI devotees are going to be disappointed. This is a low budget film, and from the outset, it's evident the producers were more focused on the quality of the storytelling than shiny bells and whistles. If you watch the film with this managed expectation, you are going to be more apt to enjoy it. After all, at one hour eleven minutes, it's a tale that moves along nicely.

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)

The visuals are amazing, you wouldn't guess this movie is shot on such a low budget. Story and character is paper thin but that's kind of the point. It's not about the action but the main character and his journey. The film is indeed a horror fantasy but it also plays as a mystery, the cuiorsity of what happened is what keeps you watching. The lead actor does a phonemeal job with only his expressions and without much dialogue. The last 20 minutes are a bit of a downgrade in regards to the rest of the movie but I would still recommend. The ending will stick with you long after you've finsihed watching it. It's a monumental task to try to create a fantasy movie on a low budget since the genre requires a lot of expensive visuals but this is a more than worthwhile effort, I hope more movies are made in this style.

This film is far better than its current IMDB rating.

For the budget this film is insane... great locations, cinematography and costume design. It's very atmospheric and at times reminded me of The Revenant, you get a real sense of the cold, harsh, isolated existence this character faces.

Like others have said its no action packed blockbuster. They clearly didn't have budget to rock out a big monster battle with CGI effects, so rather than ruin the film with a low budget attempt they made smart choices and spent the money wisely.

Nothing about this film felt low budget, the character design is amazing I would buy a hot toy figure of this dude tomorrow seriously!!

I really liked this movie. Beautifully filmed and great suspense. I can't understand why some people rated this so lowly. Maybe they didn't understand it. Definitely worth a watch.